Miss Em's Paper Trix

Saving Dinner

2012-01-25T07:43:00.000-08:00

I am struggling with dinners. Not too long ago I talked about setting a weekly menu. Well that has helped but now I am tired of the regulars that appear on this menu and would really like to start cooking healthier for my family. I have been looking around for a while and stumbled upon savingdinner.com. It is a subscription service that sends out weekly menus, recipes and grocery lists. The fun thing about it is there is not just one option, they send 4. Every Tuesday you get 4 weekly menus sent to you, a general menu, a healthy heart menu, a low carb menu and a Paileo menu...yeah I had to look that one up. You can even upgrade to the premium service where you choose your menu. I can see how this will save you money because you shop once a week and you don't buy a bunch of stuff you don't need. Not to mention time and the dreaded "what do you want for dinner?" conversation that just makes everyone mad.

Anyway, last night I made my first saving dinner meal. It was suppose to be breaded pork chops but I didn't have pork chops so I used chicken and it was delish! We had Gage and Jessica over for dinner and the kids liked it too.

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Anyway, just thought I would pass along a good thing.

Really People????

2012-01-18T12:25:00.001-08:00

Paula Deen announced on the Today Show that she had type 2 diabetes earlier this week and people are in an uproar.

So we all aren't aware the fatty food is bad for you, or that not excercising is bad for you, or that being over weight is bad for you???? Really? Because those facts aren't plastered EVERYWHERE. Like on the news, in stores, on the radio, the internet, in schools, even the work place when your insurance companies give you discounts for gyms and healthly living initiatives? Everywhere we look we are told that we are not a healthy society but we choose to live that way and ignor what is constantly being thrown in our face. Hey, I am not saying I am any different. BUT I am also not going to chastis Paula Deen for making a living pushing fatty foods....because that is what she does and without apology. She has never claimed that her foods are lowfat or that they are good for you. Nor has she ever said "Hey folks, eat my food for every meal of your life and you will be thin and healthy". All in moderation as most things should be.

I guess what irritates me so much about this is that I can see the law suits flying already. Similar to the "McDonalds made me obese claims". Really, you think? People need to take responsibility for thier own decisions, good or bad and not blame them on corporate america. Don't get me wrong, I see PLENTY wrong with corporate america but always look at your self before you go blamming other people for your problems.

Ok, off my soap box now.

Living Room - Before & After

2012-01-16T19:54:00.000-08:00

Update: I found the before picture. This is what the living room looked like before us.

and after:This room has really come a long way. I am not thrilled with the tables but they will do till I find the right ones. Finally this room feels right or at least righter. Pink backpack and little kiddo head are optional features for this room.

I finally got the canvas pictures I ordered and this is my first stab at my mantle with them. I am not thrilled with it yet but I don't hate it either. Hmmm are you getting the feeling I have a love/hate relationship with my mantle.

This is the finished lamp. Not bad huh. I found a shade a the Goodwill and wrapped burlap around it. I burned the #$&# out of my fingers but it looks good. Total cost for cool blue lamp and shade.....$6.48. See mom the blue lamp does match something in the room. The pictures on the mantle.

And as mentioned previously I redid my pillows because the floral pattern clashed with the floral pattern in the rug. I am not sure what I initially bought this green and brown leopard print upholstery fabric for but it works perfect for these pillows and I didn't have to buy a thing.

One last picture. I have been trying to find something for this little wall in the dining room and I decided to frame a couple of Marla's pictures. I didn't have to buy a thing. The frames were holding ugly prints in a closet in the basement and the mattes are made from scrap book paper. I know, I know artwork only a mother could love.....and I do. See my sad little basil plant in the window. I have visions of making that little useless window a mini green house with herbs. Another project for the future.

That is it for now. Have a good day.

Pay It Forward 2012

2012-01-14T09:09:00.000-08:00

My bloggy buddy Ms. Yarn Devil aka Cindy introduced me to this fun little project she found on the web.

Pay It Forward 2012 ... I promise to make something homemade/handmade for the first 5 people who comment on my post. You must then re-post this on your status and make something for the first 5 people who comment on your status. *The rules are it HAS to be handmade by YOU and they must receive it before 2012 ends. It can be as simple as making a friend a cup of coffee ... Who's in??

So leave me some comments and I will pass along the goodies.

PS. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER!!!!!

Project Life - Week One

2012-01-11T18:00:00.001-08:00

Blogger is royally ticking me off at the moment. I have no idea why this picture is side ways but I can't fix it. *&#$&#^*@
If you contort your head just so you will see that this is my cover for my book.

and here is the cover when you flip back the title pagey thingy.

and here is week one. The hardest part was picking out the pictures. I think some weeks there will be a lot and some not so much.

100 Things to Eat Before You Die

2012-01-10T14:14:00.000-08:00

I saw this going around the web, check it out.

"They" say most people have tried about 20 things. How many have you tried?

1. Abalone
2. Absinthe
3. Alligator
4. Baba Ghanoush
5. Bagel and lox
6. Baklava
7. Barbecue ribs
8. Bellini
9. Bird’s Nest Soup
10. Biscuits and gravy
11. Black Pudding
12. Black Truffle
13. Borscht
14. Calamari
15. Carp
16. Caviar
17. Cheese fondue
18. Chicken and waffles
19. Chicken Tikka Masala
20. Chile Relleno
21. Chitterlings/Chitlins
22. Churros
23. Clam Chowder
24. Cognac
25. Crabcake
26. Crickets
27. Currywurst
28. Dandelion wine
29. Dulce de leche
30. Durian
31. Eel
32. Eggs benedict
33. Fish Tacos
34. Foie Gras
35. Fresh Spring Rolls
36. Fried Catfish
37. Fried Green Tomatoes
38. Fried Plaintain
39. Frito Pie
40. Frog’s Legs
41. Fugu
42. Funnel Cake
43. Gazpacho
44. Goat
45. Goat’s milk
46. Goulash
47. Gumbo
48. Haggis
49. Head Cheese
50. Heirloom Tomatoes
51. Honeycomb
52. Hostess Fruit Pie
53. Huevos Rancheros
54. Jerk Chicken
55. Kangaroo
56. Key Lime Pie
57. Kobe Beef
58. Lassi
59. Lobster
60. Mimosa
61. MoonPie
62. Morel Mushrooms
63. Nettle Tea
64. Octopus
65. Oxtail Soup
66. Paella
67. Paneer
68. Pastrami on Rye
69. Pavlova
70. Phaal
71. Philly Cheesesteak
72. Pho
73. Pineapple and cottage cheese
74. Pistachio Ice Cream
75. Po’ boy
76. Pocky
77. Polenta
78. Prickly Pear
79. Rabbit Stew
80. Raw Oysters
81. Root Beer Float
82. S’mores
83. Sauerkraut
84. Sea Urchin
85. Shark
86. Snail
87. Snake
88. Soft Shell Crab
89. Som Tam
90. Spaetzle
91. Spam
92. Squirrel
93. Steak Tartare
94. Sweet Potato Fries
95. Sweetbreads
96. Tom Yum
97. Umeboshi
98. Venison
99. Wasabi Peas
100.Zucchini Flowers

I have tried 57 that I can think of maybe a few more if I knew what they were. =)

Weekend Recap

2012-01-09T09:11:00.000-08:00

We were in Zhu Zhu HELL!!! So my master plan back fired on me slightly. She loved them but I had a splitting headached after day 1. They are LOUD and constantly moving. By end of day 2 I think I became immune.......well I still have dreams of gleefully hearing the crunch of a Zhu Zhu under foot.

"Whoop whoop" Ask Marla what her favorite food is...."FRENCH FRIES!" everytime. But do you think the girl will eat a potato not in french fry form to save her life.....that would be NO.

Look at these lovelies. My sister raises chickens and I envy her fresh egg supply. I found a local lady who raises chickens and bought some fresh eggs. Can I just tell you how wonderful they are. Marla laughed hysterically when she saw brown eggs.

"Mommy that is so silly, where is the white?"

And since we had farm fresh eggs I just HAD to make them for dinner.

So I pulled out my new favorite cook book. Every thing is so simple and fresh in this book. I don't know about you but I am needing simple and fresh food after the last couple months.

So for dinner I ate this..... Bottom of dish is 2 slices of viginia ham, next I added sauteed tomatoes and garlic and topped with a farm fresh egg then baked. Seriously good food!!!!!

Zhu Zhu Heaven & Project 366

2012-01-05T11:55:00.001-08:00

$19.25....need I say more? Of course I will though. Toys R Us is having a buy 1 get 2 free Zhu Zhu pet sale. I know, I know I am a horrible parent for getting all of this right after Christmas with the intention of giving it to her but I couldn't stop myself. Besides daddy will be gone all weekend and we will have plenty of time to play with these babies. I may be practicing bad parenting skills but she will LOVE it.

Grandma- Hint Hint....the outfits are super cheap and would make great random mail presents.

Also, I have decided to attempt to do the Project 366. Basically a picture a day for the entire year. I created a new blog for this so if you want to follow check it out here.

Ok Resolution Time and a Before and After

2012-01-04T08:18:00.000-08:00

Not so sure these are resolutions of just things I do but want to continue

-spend more quality time with my family

-show Paul how much I appreciate him

-read and study my scripture

-cook healthy meals at least 4 nights a week for my family

-exercise on a regular basis

-learn about photography

-do my project life book

Project Life??????

Yes, I am beyond excited about it.

Project life is a bout capturing your life in a quick simple way. I have decided to capture 2012 by the week. You can do it anyway you want though. Basically you take pictures and slide them into a photo book and then add some talking points and WALA! Your year in book format. Here are a few examples that might help explain it better.....

This is my inspiration for my cover page. I will show you my cover page when I a finally finished with it.

This is a layout of events. She decided to capture events of the year rather then weeks or days.

and this shows how you can incorporate every day items like awards, tickets, tags....whatever.

I am SO EXCITED!!!!!!!! Yes, I will finish this....don't judge me I may not finish EVERYTHING I start ...only the important stuff.....most of the time

Now for a little before and after. I bought this sad little lamp at the Goodwill for $1.49. It was in tough shape, scratched up, stained.....how do you stain metal....wait I don't want to know, generally the little lamp had just seen better days. So I washed it, sanded it, washed it again and painted it...blue.

It makes me happy now. I still need to find the perfect lampshade, I am thinking wicker or burlap....this one is just a random shade I found in the closet.

See the pillow in the background there? I redid them too. The brown flower pillows that came with the couch just did not go with the olive green flower rug. I will post a picutre of them soon, here is a hint they are animal print...EEEEEEEE.

Happy New Year

2012-01-02T15:23:00.001-08:00

Ok, I am going to get a little sappy on you, but at the moment I am feeling very blessed and very optimistic for 2012. Last year was not an easy year but along with the trials were the blessings. Many, many blessings. We moved into our current dream home, Paul started a new job which allows us family time, we finally found our church home and we are all healthy. I am blessed to have a wonderful family, both Paul's side and my side love us and support us. Marla is growing like a weed and she happy and healthy. I have a great husband who is my best friend and is by my side through it all. I am blessed.

I hope you all take a moment to remember your blessings as well.

Wishing you a wonderful 2012.

Our Christmas

2011-12-27T18:33:00.000-08:00

Just a few pictures of our Christmas. This is our annual family picture on Christmas Eve before church.

After church we opened gifts from my side of the family. Marla LOVED her LeapPad from Grandma and Popa.
The next morning we opened presents from Santa and from each other. Marla was very surprised that she got her "princess piano with a seat".

This is Marla and I showing off our kinda matching water boots. Cute huh!

The rest of Christmas day was spent with Paul's family. Look at this ridiculous display of presents. We had lots of fun and enjoyed our day with family.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T15:17:00.001-08:00

Don't ask me why I put Marla's name before mine. Another lapse in my proof reading.

Sorta White Christmas

2011-12-23T15:09:00.000-08:00

It is December 23rd and we still have not seen any real snow. We got a light dusting today and decided to get all bundled up and enjoy it. Marla made snow angels in the driveway.

We found out that the slide is SUPER FAST when it is covered in snow and you are wearing slick snow pants.

We also found out that a scooter works perfectly well in a dusting of snow and leaves really cool tracks. Although looking at the tracks while riding to scooter was not a graceful process.

Have a good day!

Parenting 101

2011-12-21T13:06:00.000-08:00

I have the most stuborn child know to man. We are talking Attila the Hun stubborn. This was dinner last night. Relatively harmless roast and carrots.

Marla can not sit still and refuses to eat on most occassions. It is a tiresome battle for daddy and I and for some reason last night we decided enough was enough. Marla likes roast and she eats carrots at daycare with no apparent issue. However, when it comes to what she will and will not eat at home....well that is another story. Oh the fight that insued was epic. Did I mention I can be pretty stubborn myself? So here is how it went down.

Daddy: Marla if you are not going to eat your dinner you can go sit on the stairs until you are ready.

Marla: AAAHHHHHHH!!! (As she stomps her way to the stairs)

2 minutes later

Marla: Mommy I am done crying.

Me: Marla when you are ready to sit down and eat you can come to the table till then you sit on the stairs. You need 3 bites of roast and 1 carrot.

She comes to the table and sings or plays or talks until she goes back into time out. Repeat, repeat, repeat.......for a very long time.

FINALLY she comes to the table and puts a carrot in her mouth and gages it down.

Me: "Good Job Marla, now you can go play"

Then she promptly throws up on the floor.

Score one for the the stubborn child, zero for the parents. I guess I won't be teaching any parenting classes anytime soon.

2011-12-19T16:55:00.000-08:00

Weekend Whirlwind

2011-12-19T09:36:00.000-08:00

We had a busy weekend. Fun but busy. Saturday night we took Paul's mom out for dinner at a Japanese restaurant. They made her wear this head thing.....

She was not happy about it....we thought it was hysterical. Nothing like getting tortured for your birthday!

Scary!!!!
Marla sang in the children's choir at church on Sunday. She did wonderfully! I have video I will try to post later. Blogger is not cooperating right now.

Then we went home and I made Christmas cookies and took naps, did laundry and watch a movie together. Good Day!

Visiting Santa

2011-12-12T19:12:00.000-08:00

We did it....we waited in a really long line to visit Santa and give him our Christmas wishes.

We posed for pictures

...and tried to smile even though our cheeks were frozen.

But we finally made it and told Santa what we wanted.

Marla: A princess piano with a seat

Gage: A new tool bench

Merry Christmas!

More Christmas Crafting

2011-12-07T14:24:00.001-08:00

I have been seeing these fabulous jar scenes all over blogland and I just couldn't resist. Here are the supplies and the only thing I had to buy were the trees which were about $7 with a coupon at JoAnne's.

...and these are the finished product. I put too many trees in the big one so I a going to have to fix that. I love them.

Here is my mantel for the time being anyway. I am not thrilled with it yet but I am working on it. I have been scouring blogland for ideas and can I just say there are some amazing crafters out there.

Happy day!!

Christmas Cookies

2011-12-06T08:43:00.000-08:00

Well, haven't I just been in the spirit lately! Saturday morning Marla wanted to make cookies so I decided it was time to break out the cookie cutters. In a former life I would have made the homemade dough the day before in bulk and spent hours baking and meticulously decorating a bazillion cookies. Now a days we mix up a batch of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix and spend about an hour on the whole shebang. Result - Perfection!

Why do I insist on only taking pictures of myself when I look the most honest....you know like this one with no makeup. Oh well. That playdoh practice has really paid of in the cookie cutting territory. Marla did a very good job at cutting the shapes out.

Next the sprinkles. There were ore on the pan then on the cookies.

...and the best part, the taste testing. No one seemed to mind that I over baked the second pan to a nutty brown verses a golden brown.

DIY Button Ornaments

2011-11-30T20:13:00.000-08:00

Hhhmmmm....what do you do with a bunch of buttons and a three year old with a 60 second attention span.....You start by sorting the buttons just so while the a fore mentioned three year old takes over your camera and takes 169 pictures of her baby and the wall and 1 picture of you sorting said buttons.

Then you have the three year old help string the buttons, which takes precisely 58 seconds....

...and leaves 2 seconds to say "Mommy that looks like a snowman!"

Pretty cute and fits on the 60 second time frame of a 3 year old.

Turbo Fire - Week 3

2011-11-30T05:24:00.000-08:00

I decided that I needed to do something to improve my health and energy. I don't feel bad...but I don't feel good either and lets face it I could afford to lose 20 lbs. I tried to just diet for a while....oh, and by the way I like bread and I feel off that band wagon after 3 days. I tried weightwatchers which was just frustrating. I decided that if I was serious I needed to work out and eat right. I looked around at the local gyms and while I was impressed with what they offered I was not impressed with the price it would cost to join. I also know that the reality is that I won't go. So I started looking around online for programs to do at home and came across Turbo Fire. It is along the same lines as P90X which I wasn't interested in because I don't want to "bulk up", I want to tone up and get in shape. I started Turbo Fire2 weeks ago and have lost 5 lbs. 4lbs the first week and 1lb last week...I LOST WEIGHT during thanksgiving week when I ate a TON and didn't work out everyday. The workouts are intense but effective and most of them are under 30 minutes which is a real plus as I a getting up at 5am to do them. My goal is 15lbs by Christmas. If I keep going at this rate I might reach 20lbs.

This is not a cheap program and you really have to be mentally ready to take it on but man the results are amazing. It is not just the weight that I a losing it is also that I see my body changing everyday. Anyway, thought I would share. I know the new year is right around the corner and if you are looking for a excersise program this one is worth the time to check it out.

2011-11-28T11:52:00.000-08:00

Miss me? For some reason when life gets crazy my blog gets neglected.

I hosted Thanksgiving this year and took my job pretty seriously. My family visited from out of town and we had 5 additional people in the house AND Paul's family added to the brood for Thanksgiving dinner. It was awesome! No seriously, we had a lot of fun.

First up was decorating cookies that Auntie Ami made. This picture cracks me up because we have Marla being a ham and Davian being shy. BTW Marla's shirt says "Everyone is Thankful for Me!" Ha ha ha!

Here is what my tables looked like. There were three seperate tables and I made the runner out of burlap and made the centerpieces out of lime green easter baskets. I loved how it turned out.

Pictures of part of the family playing games. Auntie Bonnie is handing out the annual ornaments for the grandgirls. I love them and know that Marla will appreciate them someday.

Lastly we decorated the christmas tree. Marla was not interested at first but once she saw the Cars ornament she was hooked. The bottom foot of the tree is pretty ornament heavy but I will gradually move them up.

My sister and I went shopping on Black Friday but we didn't go till the rush was over and I must say it was rather pleasent. We got a lot of shopping done and still got the great deals without all the people. The only craziness we witness was a women on her cell phone telling whoever she was talking to that she hasn't slept since the night before because she has been shopping....it was 10am. She had been shopping for 12 hours. That is NUTS!!!!!

Marla's Room

2011-11-13T12:24:00.000-08:00

I finally finished the last couple projects for Marla's room. I am not into the girly pastel princess type rooms so therefore my child isn't either. I went with blue walls and coral and green accents. I love how it turned out.

I made the bed skirt because I couldn't find a coral bed skirt anywhere. Then I made the curtain to match and green pillow cases with coral ribbon to match. I love all the polka dots and paisley.

The ribbon accents were an after thought because I thought the curtain and pillowcases were kind of boring. I really love how it all turned out. I don't have a before picture but the room was lavendar with a castle painted on the wall. Cute but not my style.

Happy Veteran's Day

2011-11-11T12:18:00.000-08:00

I have been trying all day to get a video of Marla telling Popa "Happy Veteran's Day!" but she is not in the mood to do much of anything. Sorry Popa but we mean it just the same.

She is very into her Leap Frog at the moment. I found it a children's thrift store with all the books and cartridges for $5. It is not the latest and greatest but she loves it just the same.

Before and After

2011-11-08T12:04:00.000-08:00

This is our coat closet turned pantry by the kitchen and it is, as you can see, a mess. My pet peeve is quite specific in relation to this mess though....see all those white plastic bags tucked in willy nilly? Those have been driving me crazy for some time.So on our lazy Saturday this past weekend, I grabed my sewing machine and a scrap piece of material and whipped this bag holder up in a matter of minutes. I didn't even measure it or square it up. It works great and I can easily grab a bag out the bottom.

And look what this simple invention did to my pantry. It looks so much cleaner and all I did was give the plastic bags a home.

I love simple solutions!

Candy Coma

2011-11-02T15:57:00.001-07:00

I SO needed a good laugh this evening...I got one when I saw this. This is what I found when I went to get Marla out of the car after daycare. She fell asleep with her Kit Kat bar wrapper in her mouth. Priceless!

It's HALLOWEEN....or was yesterday

2011-11-01T07:52:00.000-07:00

Marla was suppose to bring her costume to daycare but decided she wanted to wear her favorite jammies instead. Who am I to argue, it is Halloween after all. I did bring her final halloween shirt but she didn't end up wearing it. I wore my usual Grumpy Bear Just Gimme Candy shirt and I had a orange glitter spider in my hair. Do you like my new haircut by the way. The back is really short.

Trying to get these two fed, dressed and out the door was a whirl wind but we finally made it out. Aren't they cute! We just need Dorthy and we would have been set. They were both SO excited and had a blast.

This is the first time since I moved to MN that I lived in a neighborhood and actually had trick or treaters. I can not tell you how wild it was. We had over 300 kids come to the house. Many houses had bon fires in their driveways or sat on their steps because there were so many kids that it was not worth opening and shutting the door 300 times.

We saw at least 6 trailers pulling kids around the neighborhood. This one was moving so the picutre is blurry and the kids were at the doors but seriously crazy! Kids and parents EVERYWHERE!!! It was pretty cool.

I hope everyone had a great halloween!

Day 5&6

2011-10-30T19:09:00.001-07:00

Day 5 did have an actual halloween shirt but we didn't get the picture taken before bed time so we have our halloween jammies to represent day 5. Not that she would sit still long enough for a posed picture.

Day 6 was a busy halloween day getting the costume together, buying candy and carving pumpkins. You know all the stuff I would normally have done weeks ago. Nope not this year this year I am totally out of sorts and constantly two steps behind. AKA...normal.

Marla was an AWESOME pumpkin carver. She got right in there and was so very excited about it. I helped her with one and daddy helped her with the other with the strict instructions that he WAS NOT going to be on my blog. Because you know he has never been on here before and pumpkin carving is so incriminating.
She was so excited we couldn't get her to stop jumping. I can't wait for tomorrow because she is so excited about it.

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!!

Halloween Day 3&4

2011-10-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

I am a little behind posting and to be honest I was lucky to get Day 3 & 4 pictures as they were always at the end of the day and a last minute effort. I can't seem to get around to taking the pictures in the morning as I am notoriously running late. Nnoooo, not me.

Anyway, here is Day 3 while eating dinner, including a "nilla" shake at the star resturant AKA Hardees. Hardees just opened up in our town and I have been promising we would go for about a month and finally I relented and we went.

And Day 4, showing off her card from Auntie Bonnie and her plethura of stickers on her belly.

Nothing else new at the moment. Have a good weekend!

7 Days of Halloween

2011-10-26T09:19:00.001-07:00

We are officially in our week of Halloween and as per usual Marla has a new halloween outfit everyday.

This is day one and yes my little monkey is in the tree again. No farting this time....I don't think anyway. I completely forgot to take a picture of her outfit yesterday. We are very excited to go trick-or-treating in our house. Marla can't decide what she wants to be this year it changes hourly. She will be a witch though as I already have the costume. I won't be able to controll what she adds to the witch costume like bunny ears or princess dress underneath but that is OK. Have a good Halloween week!

Just because.....

2011-10-21T13:01:00.001-07:00

My husband loves me. I love "just because" flowers they are the best!

Healing through crafts

2011-10-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

I can't seem to turn the TV on with out getting depressed and the thought of cleaning or organizing my house at the moment is not possible. Other then playing with my family and loving on them the most productive healing thing that I have been doing is creating. Not sure why crafting is so theraputic for me but it really is. I am relaxed and enjoying myself and most importantly....not thinking. I have a problem with thinking, I can't seem to stop my mind and they are not always comforting thoughts. So, I craft. I thought I would share few things I have done as of late. After all is has been quite some time since I posted some paper crafts!

I fell in love with this little crab stamp. Seriously, how cute is she?

Marla saw mommy making cards so she wanted to as well. She suprised me that she wanted hers to look like mine. Usually she just grab anything she can get her hands on and slaps it down. This time she took her time and was pretty maticulious about what went where. She knew exactly who she was making each card for before she started. She even picked out the envelopes. When we went to put them in the envelopes she knew exactly which card was going to who. Witnessing little things like this are truely amazing as a parent. They grow up so fast!

Sweet little birthday card. Good for either boy or girl.

Not sure what inspired me to create this one but it is pretty cute.

The inside says "You light up my day"

Love, love this layout. So many layers and I love the pictures they still make me smile.

Pumpkin Pickin'

2011-10-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

After a lovely morning of picture taking on Sunday, lunch at a local cafe, followed by ice cream at the soda fountain and a very short nap we decided to cram in the pumpkin patch to an already full day. I must say that 80 degrees is not preferable weather for visiting the pumpkin patch.....it just feels wrong. Very strange weather these days I tell ya. Regardless, we had fun.

Look how tall she is!!!! Over the 3' mark.

Playing on the hay bales with daddy.....or is that straw....I never know the difference.

Getting a ride with the pumpkins.

The only picture of the three of us and on the hay ride no less.

Not a very good picture of any of us to be honest.

Marla ate her apple during they hayride. It amazes me that she will chomp on an apple and eat pretty much the whole thing. Do 3yr olds do that? I think it is pretty awesome.

They also had a mini playground inside that had corn instead of sand and yes, her face really is that dirty. So was the rest of her come to think of it.

The pumpkin patch is one of my favorite fall traditions. Too fun!

3 Year Pics

2011-10-10T18:14:00.001-07:00

Thank you to everyone for your love and support this week. I don't know that things are going back to "normal" yet but we are starting with some normal activities. I FINALLY took Marla's 3 year pictures yesterday. Considering that I was fighting with some new equipment they didn't turn out too bad.
I love this picture of her. It is a common look I get when she is irritated about something and now I have it on film to prove she was always sassy.

Defiantely one of my favorites. I have to figure out how to frame it because you can't put it in a frame. Maybe canvas?

Look at my big girl. She has such a proud look.

One of the few pictures I got of her sitting still, smiling AND looking at me.

This was one of the last pictures of the day, this one has a mind of her own!

Another Angel in Heaven

2011-10-03T23:07:00.000-07:00

We lost the baby. My heart is a broken and my spirit wounded and the anger is consuming. I thought for sure we would be OK this time. 12 weeks was that magical number that meant we made it right? At my 13 week check up today we found no heartbeat. No heartbeat.

What you may not know is that this is the 3rd time I have heard these words and it is simply too much. We lost baby Matthew at 22 weeks, we lost a baby this past March at 10 weeks and now this one at 13 weeks. No cause.....simply "these things happen". No, see the problem is that these things do not happen to most people. Most people get pregnant and 9 months later they have a baby. I lost the innocence of this being true 5 years ago with my first pregnancy when I heard the words "there is no heartbeat" during the ultra sound that was suppose to tell me if we were having a boy or a girl. I lost the innocence and joy of pregnancy completely 5 years ago but I kept trying. Pregnancy is scary for most people but for me it is terrifying and heart wrenching the entire time, every time. I absolutely hate ultrasounds, I fear them with my entire being because I have heard the words "there is no heartbeat" three times now.

After we lost Matthew in 2006 we had our perfect, wonderful daughter Marla at 35 weeks in 2008 after a very stressful and scary pregnancy simply because I feared the words "there is no heartbeat". She spent the first week of her life in NICU hooked up to tubes. Then we took her home and she is my heart. So we tried again just to hear those words "there is no heartbeat" a second time and now a few short months later I hear them yet again..."there is no heartbeat". I hate those words....they take my babies from me and break my heart every single time. I am done, I can't bear to hear them again. I am angry and tired and getting older every year. I am done. 5 years, 4 pregnancies and one adorable, sassy, perfect little girl and I am done. My heart is broken for this big house that will never be filled with children, my heart is broken that I can not make my daughter the big sister that she longs to be, my heart is broken that I will never hold a tiny little baby of mine in my hands again.

A few words of advice when dealing with me or someone in similar situations. Don't say at least you have "Marla" or whoever their children are. Because you have a living child does not mean you mourn the loss any less. People do not understand how losing a child during pregnancy affects a mother regardless of how long she was pregnant. When a women becomes pregnant her entire present and future changes to include the life living in her. This baby is not something that comes into being 9 months from now when there is something physically in your hands, this baby enters your heart immediately. Also, do not say "At least you can get pregnant" for those very same reasons above, those words have almost ended friendships for me. They have been uttered twice by friends that were angry about their fertility problems. It took me some time to get over but I did...eventually because I knew they were in pain and did not understand what they were saying.

I really don't expect people to understand our pain all I ask is some respect and prayers as we heal. I realize we are blessed but we mourn the loss of our children and our future without them. I am broken but I will heal. Our life will go on but I will always have these scars on my heart. I do not believe that God did this for a reason so it does not suite to ask "why" but I will be angry for awhile simply because my heart hurts and I will ask God to hold me together as I feel I am falling apart. Please pray for my heart and those that love us as I know they are hurting too. If you know me personally and would like to spread the word please do so. I dread telling people and would appreciate your help if you don't mind.

~Emily

Halloween Soaps

2011-10-01T13:51:00.000-07:00

I turned this

Into these!!!!!!!

Ok so I totally stole this idea from Alison at Oopsey Daisy you can check out her blog for the great tutorial. I love them and they were super cheap to make.

Crafty Me

2011-09-29T06:51:00.000-07:00

I have actually done a little crafting lately. My niece was having super hero day at school this week and asked me to make her some capes for her and her friends.

Look at my sassy little Abby isn't she a cutie! Love the mask Abs.

I made three big girl capes complete with words thanks to my handy new Silhouette. I didn't realize that one of the girls was going to be a shorty like me, poor thing was dragging her cape around all day.

Of course I couldn't leave my litte super hero out. I had to make her one too. Hers has SN on the back for "Super Naughty" which has been one of her many nicknames since she was 6 months old. She isn't too thrilled with the cape yet because when she tried it on she found out that "It doesn't fly mommy!". We still need to work on the "pretending" skill I see.

I have also begun decorating for Halloween. I decided to do something a little different for the front door. I found an old frame at GoodWill painted it orange, found a glitter trick or treat sign in the basement and tied it all together with a bow. Cute huh! I have an idea to use the same frame and concept for a Thanksgiving door piece as well.

I just cleaned my craft room last night so now I actually have space to craft, lets see if I find my mojo some time soon.

12 Weeks

2011-09-29T05:26:00.000-07:00

Looks like after several pregnancies your body just knows what to do as I have popped out already. It was a rough couple months, very sick this time. I am starting to feel better now and getting more and more excited. I thought about a full body picture...you know including my head but it was the end of the day, my hair was a mess and it just didn't work. So belly shots are just that...belly only.

I Hate Cooking

2011-09-27T17:06:00.000-07:00

The first thing to go once I get pregnant is my ability to cook. I am not sure if it is the issues with food (nausea, food aversions etc.) or that I am too tired to figure out WHAT to cook or maybe it is my complete loss of all memory on HOW to cook. I just plain can't cook. My ability is completely gone and when I attempt....well lets just say it isn't pretty. So I decided I needed some help. I have been looking for a Meal Planner and ran across a printable one and it was for a good cause so I couldn't pass it up. It was here on Shop for Sharlie where friends and family are selling printables and tutorials to raise money for Sharlie's lung and heart transplant. SO MANY cute things and you would be helping a young mother with Cystic Fibrosis. So I laminated it and bought some wet erase pens, because dry erase pens rub off, and now I have a weekly meal calendar. Which should help right?

Not sure if you can see but Tuesday says Tuna Noodle as in Tuna Noodle Casserole. So seconds after running in the door I start dinner, get Marla settled and I begin cooking. I get the food on the table and take the first bite to learn that there was no Tuna in the casserole. Believe it or not without the tuna the casserole quite bland. So Marla and I had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches instead. The other helpful thing with the meal planner is the reusable shopping list because as you can see the white board that was intended for lists of all kinds has turned into an art board.
My picture taking ability has yet to go but I fear that is only time. I haven't done Little Miss' 3 year pictures yet so I better hurry up. I will leave you with a few pics of the princess.

This second one is of her actually laughing because she is sitting in the tree farting and farts are very funny!

Little Big News

2011-09-23T06:12:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed that I have been a little absent from my little blog lately. Well due to constant nausea and extreme fatigue I just can't keep up.

Here is the reason why, Welcome Baby!

We are officially 12 weeks today and both mama and baby are healthy. Please keep us in your prayers that we will have a healthy, long pregnancy.

New Fall Favs

2011-09-22T07:31:00.000-07:00

It is no secret that fall is my favorite time of the year. I LOVE boots, coats and sweaters. The MN colors of fall are beautiful and the weather is perfect for a stroll or a bonfire. Best of all, fall foods! You can start cooking those wonderful comfort foods that are you don't make in the summer because you don't want to "heat up the house" and everything "pumpkin" comes out this time of year. I wanted to introduce a few of my new fall favs for the year.

I love apple cider and my lookie here, my wonderful Keurig can now make wonderful apple cider. Just a squeeze of Carmel syrup and dollop of whip cream and you have a coffee house version of apple cider. YUMMM!!! I also found these awesome pumpkin spice marshmallows recently and am putting them on and in everything. Coffee, cupcakes, ice cream......I am even thinking of making them in rice krispie bars this weekend. Marla loves them too but they are marshmallows so of course she loves them.

So there you go, now run out and buy them.

Big news tomorrow so check back!

Call me Betty Crocker

2011-09-19T05:51:00.000-07:00

I made homemade pasta sauce. Homemade people!!!!! Here is the first taste and Marla attempting to take a picture....of the cabinet??? Tasty!

The sauce tasted very good but was a little chunky for my families preference. So I used Marla's "mufflers" while blending the sauce down a bit.
Here is a picture of dinner with some awesome homemade bread....not my homemade bread but still YUMMM!
This is the book to thank for my awesome sauce. It is a great cook book. The recipes require a little more work then normal slow cooker recipes but the food is SO much better then regular slow cooker food.

Quick Trip and Airplanes

2011-09-14T17:41:00.000-07:00

My dad is retired Air Force and this is the first year that he has ever watched an air show. Paul, Marla and I traveled home to visit my family and watch the air show with my dad. It was a short trip but it was very nice. Marla was in a great mood all weekend and dad was very pleased with the day at the air show. This is one of his great days I think.

Here are the kids playing with their airplanes and sporting very fashionable "mufflers"

Take Off!

This is four airplanes flying really fast 18 inches apart.

Seriously amazing.

It was a good weekend my only regret is that it was too short to visit much family. I guess they are just going to have to come and visit MN!

Childhood Obesity

2011-09-07T09:44:00.000-07:00

When you hear the term "obese" when in reference to a child

is this the picture you imagine with it???

How about this one?
Go ahead and take a minute to scroll through any previous posts and view any pictures of this child and tell me that this is what you picture when you think obesity, not chubby, not healthy, OBESE....go ahead, I will wait.

Well, according the American Academy of Pediatrics, Marla is obese because she is 36.5 inches tall and weighs 36 lbs. Can I just tell you how insane this is!!!!!!

This perfectly healthy and happy child is in no way shape or form obese!

According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 31.9% of children and adolescents are overweight and 16.3% are obese in the United States. That is 48.2% of our children, that according to these institutions, are overweight. So if Marla is in the 16.3% then I am questioning the validity of the metrics of these judgements.

What bothers me even more is that going forward we are going to have to "keep an eye on her" according to the doctor. So even if she doesn't have a complex now lets make sure that as she grows up we impress upon her the importance of being stick thin and anorexic. Yes, I realize I am being a little dramatic here but this calls for it. We complain that the media has warped reality and children have weight complexes, then we apply terms like "obese" to children at a healthy weight for their body type. BODY TYPE such a key word here.

Let me give you another example. According to my doctor and whatever Academy determines adult obesity I should weight between 100lbs and 120lbs at 5ft tall to be in a healthy range. Prior to Marla I weighed 123lbs and was wearing a size 4. However, I was considered overweight. Seriously?????

I am so angry!!!! The insanity.

Birthday Girl is 3

2011-08-29T07:01:00.000-07:00

We survivied another Little Miss birthday! The theme this year was Cars. I think this is my last year of picking her birthday theme though because as her party got closer she got more and more opinionated about what we did for her birthday. Fun was had by all and it was so nice to have our family and friend over to help celebrate. I can't believe my baby is 3!!!!!

Anyway, here is the party table complete with birthday cakes, Cars cookies and race car pretzel rods.
And here is the birthday girl in her Cars outfit that Grandma Donna made. Seriously how cute is she!!!

I decided that I just wasn't going to stress myself out with the details this year. Normally I make Marla's cakes from scratch (here & here) but this year I just couldn't do it. So I had a local bakery bake the cakes and frost them white and I decorated them. Seriously the amount of stress this one simple thing relieved was amazing.
Blowing out the "cake fire" as Marla put it.

Of course, the presents. Everyone had fun with these google eye goodies.

I let Aunti Ami in on a little secret.....Marla wants an umbrella like in the "you will be her best friend" kind of way. She got one! She was so mad that I wouldn't let her take it to daycare with her this morning.

And lastly the parting gifts. The red thing sticking out the top is a giant cars pen. So cool!

House Updates

2011-08-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't know if hanging pictures counts as updates.....I guess in my world it does as I have been trying to hang pictures for over a month.

Anyway, here is my $20 bathroom wall. I am very impressed with it. The 3 canvas prints were on clearance for $3.97 each and the Star was on clearance for $4.97 at JoAnne's. I will tell you why I am impressed though....because I didn't want to repaint and this wall had holes and missing paint in really weird spots. I specifically laid out the wall as to cover the imperfections. Cool huh?

And this is a Pottery Barn wall that I fell in love with however each piece cost around $50 and there is no way I was going to pay that. Seriously who would spent $300+ on a wall like this. Crazy!

So here is my take on the all using boards from Target and a sorter from HomeGoods. Total spend was around $50. It is awesome though and we use it all the time. Marla loves putting the step stool there and "painting". This is what you see when you enter the house from the garage which is our main entry. Very cool!

So that is the latest and greatest for now.

Minor projects

2011-08-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

Ever had a minor home repair turn into major repairs? A couple weeks ago our garbage disposal quite. I thought nothing of it and figured we would get it replaced when we had time. About a week later Paul replaced it costing us about $100. No big deal. A couple days later I notice the dishwasher was not draining. Paul again checked it out and it was determined that because I used the dishwasher while the disposal wasn't working the dishwasher sucked in crude and burned the motor out. So another $700 later and a new dishwasher is in place. This was last Friday right before we headed out of town. THEN we got home. After I unpacked I asked Paul to take the bags downstairs Monday night. He found the ceiling sagging and bubbling with dripping water. Later that night it turned into this....

See that little green cirle? Well that tiny little pipe had been leaking for several MONTHS (yes, even before we moved in) without us knowing it as the insulation and ceiling tiles were absorbing the water. It seems that Paul aggrivated the leak when he replaced the disposal and dishwasher and several days later the ceiling was falling down. So now we are up to about $2000 and don't even have the ceiling repaired yet!! Not happy.....not happy at all.

Our mini vacation

2011-08-09T20:00:00.000-07:00

We really have not had much family time this year. Due to the move and getting life in order we have rarely even all been home at the same time. I decided enough was enough and we were going to carve out one weekend to have some family time. We decided to head up north to Brainerd MN one of our favorite places to visit, also home of Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox. I heard there was a great Holiday Inn water park in Brainerd and thought that it would be a perfect place to stay for my water baby. Boy was I right. We swam 3 times in 2 days and exhausted ourselves but it was a blast. Marla has absolutely no fear. I don't have many pictures of us at the water park because.....well it is water park and I didn't want to ruin my camera but this smile was on her face the whole time.

...and her favorite thing to do was jump into the pool. She didn't even care if we caught her because she had her floaty on. She also went on all but one water slide, I don't mean the little baby water slide I mean the big, fast, fun ones....and she loved it.

Of course we carved out a little time for fishing. This was her first fishing experience and her Barbie fishing pole lasted about 3 seconds out of the packaging before it broke. It was really no big deal as she loved helping daddy reel in her first fish. Look at those smiles.

This horribly cropped picture is Marla kissing her first fish. @#($#*@# damn photoshop. I totally screwed it up and on the disk no less so I can't even recover it @(#@*&#@.

Anyway, that was our weekend in a nut shell. A well deserved, relaxing, memorable weekend.

Talk to you later!

Broken Toe

2011-08-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

So last night Marla was watching TV in our room eating a snack when she bellowed down to the main level that she needed a drink. So I went up to accomodate the princess and stubbed my toe on the bed. I put the drink and my snack down and began to flop around on the floor in agony. Marla simple looked at me and matter of factly said "You OK mommy". She then proceeded to look at my bowl of snacks now on the bed and say "MMmmmm what is this?" She proceeds to start eating it as I am still howling in pain and looks down and me and says "SSShhhh mommy you OK." Paul finally comes up grabs my broken toe as I scream for mercy and says "She's right you will be OK"

Seriously where is the sympathy?

Grandma's Visit

2011-08-01T20:35:00.000-07:00

At the last minute grandma decided she just couldn't wait till the end of the month to visit so she came to see us! It was so nice to have some relaxed family time. We went shopping and grandma got to stay home with Marla yesterday and they had a little grandma/Marla time. They did a lot of this....

and this ....

...grandma's apparently have some hidden rights that mean you can spoil the child rotten.. so we are going to have to retrain the child when she leaves. What a really nice weekend with Grandma and I must say a second bathroom made having a guest SO much nicer. Yes, I am still fascinated by the multiple bathroom concept.

We have also had a break through in the smile territory. I am actually getting to see a beautiful natural smile, instead of the that scrunched up, strange "CHEEEESE" smile. Good thing because I am taking her 3rd pics next weekend.

Lots of Little Miss

2011-07-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe it has been so long. To be honest I have just been in a funk and not that I don't have things to blog about.....I just haven't been in the mood. Not sure I am in the mood but guilt is getting the best of me. =)

First up....Princess Marla. She had been infactuated with her dress up clothes lately. She even accessories. When she is all done she comes and finds me or daddy and says "Look at me, I'm a princess!". Yes, you are sweet pea.

Next...THE FISHY HAT!!!!! We just got it in the mail last night and it is more then adorable. I wish I would have had Marla's reaction on video it was too precious. "Is this for Meee?" Imagine a high pitched "me" followed by a squeal of delight. She grinned ear to ear when she saw herself in the mirror. THANK YOU CINDY!!!!!

We also got a neck warmer and some cute stickers to play with this weekend in our package. Too sweet!

Lastly...dance class. So we started off pretty well. We made it to 4 dance classes and all went well until halfway through the 4th class during shoe change when Marla decided she was done. No reason given, she was having fun 5 seconds before. She just looked at me and said "I done mommy." When I tried to talk her into going back into class she said "No, I want my water bottle and to watch my friend dance." When I tried to push her little butt back into the studio she screamed bloody murder and therefore we left. This picture was right before this very class. She seems in pretty good spirits right? Grandma Donna even made her a bag for her dance shoes.

This week was week 5 and between our daycare lady and myself we have been talking up dance class for the past week. We got dressed for class, Marla was dancing around the house in her shoes minutes before class, we got to the building and she was completely fine we walked up to the studio door, opened it and she burst into tears. So.... we left and we aren't going back. When I have asked her repeditively why she doesn't want to go to dance class it went from "It's hot in there mommy" to "I scared of dance class" to "CUZ!". It is not that she doesn't want to dance that bothers me, really I don't care. It is because there was no reason....she just decided out of the blue that she wasn't gonna do and you aren't gonna make me. I am invisioning the teenage years here and about to have a break down.

I am sure I will be better with the blogging next week. Have a good weekend.

A freaking talk show host....

2011-07-14T13:03:00.000-07:00

I am hiring for a new Customer Service Rep and have hired a staffing company to do the recruiting for me because I just don't have the time. We are using a local company that we have a corporate agreement with. It is Thursday and we have been working on this since Monday. I have had roughly 102 conversations with the staffing company about what it is EXACTLY that I am looking for. My qualifications are quite simple and direct.....must have at least 3 years customer service experience, excellent phones skills, high end customer service mentalality and here is the kicker.......minimum of 3 years order entry experience. Pretty simple right. This first group sent included a store manager and a customer service rep. Store management, although customer service related, is just not what I am looking for we are missing the phone skills and order entry skills here. I decided to do a phone screen on the customer service rep and found out quickly why she was let go. Her phone skills were ATROCIOUS. So back on the phone with the staffing company to clarify yet again my bare minimum qualifications.

The second round of candidates consisted of a Teacher, a Data Anyalyst, a jack of all trades and a Finance Administrator. Any customer service reps in there...no I think not. So back to the staffing company again to once again clarify what I thought I had already clarified and am not sure how else to clairfy unless...I don't know.... maybe speak another language. I thought I had made it completely and undeniably clear that I do not want to see another resume unless they are a 100% qualified candidate. Most of the day went by and I heard nothing, and then.......wait for it......a freakin' talk show host. Yes, the staffing company sent me a resume for a talk show host.

A joke you ask??? Nope apparently not, they were serious! AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Rock of POWER!!!!

2011-07-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

I bought this....

because of this....which is my office....which is currently my hub of stress and frustration...

What the hell is it you ask? Why a salt rock lamp of course! Here is what it does:

"Improved the air quiality by emitting negative ions to their surroundings which helps combat many of the harsh elements that bombard our bodies, causing us to feel unwell."

Ok so I don't know about all that but I am willing to give it a try. Plus it makes me giggle. I feel like Clark Kent or something with my Rock of POWER...Rrrr...Rrrr...Rrrr

Fishy Hat!!!

2011-07-13T09:04:00.001-07:00

I bought Little Miss a brown and teal blue coat for next season.....What??? No pink you say?? Yeah, I know crazy right. All of Marla's hats and mittens are pink or pink related and just don't match. Well I was checking out my friend Cindy's blog and she had made the most adorable fishy hat for daughter. So of course I just HAD to have one for my little fish....

Isn't it adorable?

Seriously, so freakin cute. I can't wait to get it. Thank you Cindy!!!!!

Favorite Revival Project Yet

2011-07-09T07:18:00.000-07:00

Remember this worn out mirror I found at a garage sale for $2.75????

Well here she is now!!!! I used my new Silhouette to cut out a vinyl R and used etching cream to frost the R into the mirror. I also painted the frame black and sanded it lightly so that it would stay in the same character as my table.....that I adore. So freakin cute!!!

and this is a close up. I found a lamp shade made to look like a basket in the pottery barn book for oh about $60 and I think I am going to try to figure that out too because wouldn't that just look cool in this little corner.

Have a great day! I have to go work my tail off at the old house getting it cleaned up and garage sale stuff ready. I will show you what I did with the ugly chandelier above soon!

Big hee hee hee, Chicken AAHHHHHAAAAAAA

2011-07-07T19:25:00.000-07:00

....I am crying here....heee hee hee haa haa haa...seriously tears in my eyes crying......snort, haa haa haa haa...so hee hee hee...dang ha ha ho he....funny....BLAAAAAHHH HA HA HA.....

http://thebloggess.com/2011/06/and-thats-why-you-should-learn-to-pick-your-battles/

Click the link...totally worth it

2011-07-07T12:51:00.000-07:00

Been busy as usual with half finished projects here and there. I am feeling quite desperate to scrap again but just can't seem to carve out the time just yet. The best I could do was download the July desktop from The Shabby Shoppe and put a couple of Marla's recent pics in it. Take a good look. Yep, that is her eyes closed sipping on her "nilla" shake. When I asked her if she wanted mom to take her drink she gave me a pretty violent head shake and continued on sipping and falling asleep, which is the latter picture still with a good grip on the shake.

Hopefully I will have more for you soon! Like some projects using my new Silhouette SD. EEEEEEEE!!!! (Squeals of delight)

Dance Class

2011-06-29T04:22:00.000-07:00

Little Miss had her first dance class last night and LOVED it. I don't think I have seen her enjoy something so much before. She cried when class was over. Her and her friend from daycare were the only 2 that did not have leotards on so I guess we have some shopping to do.

It was pretty darn cute if you ask me!

Crafts and Kitchens

2011-06-26T19:08:00.000-07:00

We are back to the house posts. Do you want to see what I have been up to this weekend? Other then fighting with my 2 year old that is. I must say we are 2 months shy of 3 years old and she is getting tougher and tougher on dear old mommy. I wonder how people with lots of children do it. I think we are going to have the terrible 3's not 2's.

Anyway, here is one project I finished. I got this picture for free at a garage sale...is smelled musty and was very sun bleached and the cork board I had hanging in my last craft room, was not well utilized and the frame was falling apart. But you put them together.....

...and you get this beauty. I invested about $10 in fabric and paint. Not bad for a fancy new cork board for my beautiful new craft room. Hubby promised to help me hang it tomorrow night. It will look so cool against my apple green walls but I couldn't wait to show you. I will

take a final picture when I get the new lighting installed.

I also finished another project, it was an after, after project. Remember this after picture of my kitchen...well I did a little more personalizing.

We added bronzed hardware! It looks so nice and finished now. I replaced all the hardware in our last house but this was a much bigger project as I had to drill the holes too. It took me all day and three trips to Home Depot for different screws but I did it. Seriously, we had so many different width drawers that I kept have to go back and get longer and longer screws but it looks so nice.

My next project is lighting. I got the inside scoop on an unadvertized Lowe's lighting sale last week and stocked up on light fixtures for my craft room, Marla's bathroom and our bathroom and the grand total was $60. You will die when you see what I got for $60. Seriously, the lights I bought retailed at $460. I am SO excited. Did I mention that the previous owners lacked any kind of personaliztion in this house. That is fine with me though because then I don't have to fix their mistakes. =)

Talk to you later.

Some Little Miss for ya

2011-06-21T09:42:00.001-07:00

Taking a break from the house to update you on Little Miss. She is such a little girl now a days, I know I keep saying that but she just keeps surprising me with all she knows and getting further and further away from being my baby. She is about 2 months shy of 3 years old and she can sing the ABC's, dress herself...kind of, tell you how she feels and what she wants and what will happen if she doesn't get it. Yeah, we have to constantly remind her who is the boss....her answer "Tanya" which is her daycare lady. HA! I can't tell her she is wrong either. We had a super crazy storm early this morning and Marla wanted to make sure she was prepared for the rest of the day. Here she is all decked out in her rain jacket and "water boots". She wouldn't look at me because she spotted a puddle she just HAD to jump in.

After day 5 of moving and unpacking Mommy needed a break and Marla needed some mommy time so she stayed home from daycare and went to the zoo with Jessica and Gage. This is her with her bike helmet and tutu waiting for Jessica to come.

We made it to the zoo without the helmet but she wouldn't take the tutu off...and she has grown out of it so it doesn't even poof anymore. Kids are funny.

I really need to take some more pictures of her or better yet video she is hilarious.

Craft Room - Before & After

2011-06-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

You might be tired of seeing pictures of my new house, Lord knows I am tired of unpacking it but when I get something accomplished it feels so good I just have to share. This is the most dramatic before and after yet. Take a look!

Before: I shall resist my urge to discuss the decorating stylings of the previous owners.

After: YEAH!!! Apple green walls in my crafty heaven. I have had that table sitting in my basement at the old house for about 5 years. It folds down to store and the other side folds out for a big table. I pretty much had everything already in this picture, just not used in this fashion.

After part 2: My wonderful and very logical husband put these cabinets together for me. They are fabulous. I was going to try to be cheap and "get by" with some cube shelving things but he knew better and knew I wouldn't be happy so his "let's do it once and do it right!" argument won out. I am SO glad it did because this is perfect! The picture still needs hung. It was actually in my last craft room and I love it. I got it at a garage sale for $15 and met the painter her name was Bertie and she was about 90 at the time. Side track sorry.

After part 3: Just another view. It is great isn't it! I can't wait to get started. The pantry closet still needs some organization but that is minor. BTW majority of the boxes fit in this room. Two went down stairs till futher notice and one went to the garage sale pile. Not bad!

Have a good day!!!

I have a CUTE laundry room!!!!

2011-06-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

Never mind cute....I HAVE a laundry room. My friends keep laughing at me because I am easily amused with common house hold things like...ice in your fridge door (mind you we still used I trays at the old house), plumbing that doesn't shake the whole sink, laundry rooms, more then one toilet in the house...you get the idea. Things most people who have them think nothing of but I just can't be thankful enough for them....that will wear off I know.

Anyway, onto the laundry room. I really need to start remembering the before pictures. So for this one it is during and after. This picture is a freshly painted laundry room. The walls were filthy....ugh! I wanted to paint the room blue but due to the placement of the cabinet you see here and the sink I thought it better to just go white.

Look at my new (used) washer and dryer....they are so cool!!!

There was no storage in here except the cabinets and that just wasn't enough so I found these cute little baskets at a garage sale and the hanging rack at Home Depot.

And here is the final touches. I couldn't paint blue but no one said anything about blue accents. I love that the blue baskets add storage. The cute little sign above the towel rack (which I added as well) says "Life is like laundry, full of fun". Cheesy I know but cute, appropriate and on clearance at Target which of course makes it irresistible.
I also added a second set of blue baskets on the shelf and am going to dye the fabric part of the baskets (the rolling ones mentioned above, not the blue ones on the shelf) blue as well.
I also added this handy tool holder behind the door. You can't even see it and it fits perfectly there. There you go, cute, functional and finished!

Breaking in the house

2011-06-11T14:06:00.001-07:00

Marla and I took a break from the unpacking to break in the house by making cookies. Marla "helped" by eating chocolate chips and spilling flour everywhere so we are offically home now.

Here is Marla's play room. I got the tree at Target and it turned out so cute.

This is the view from the doorway and I have a feeling it is always going to look this way. I guess that is what a play room is for right?

This is Marla's bathroom. It was an ugly dark green and we just went very neutral with the paint and a very light fish theme.

And now the craft room....yeah all of this stuff, is suppose to fit....

....in here....yeah right! We are heading to Home Depot here shortly to find some storage solutions. I will let you know what we find. Ugh! This was the worst room to pack and I left about a third of it at the old house for the garage sale. It looks like another third is going back for the garage sale.

That is it for now, have a good weekend.

Hello?.....

2011-06-07T05:02:00.000-07:00

Is there anyone still checking in? =)

Sorry for the absence but this move has been.....horrible. Nothing went wrong, moving just sucks and if we have to do it again soon, like within the next 20 years, I think there might be a divorce. Paul and I have VERY different ideas of how to move. I have moved 13 times and he has moved.....0. Seriously, he moved his one box into our old house when we got married from his parents. My kind of moving involves complete organization and 1 moving day. Paul's idea of moving involves following me around the house and as I pack a box he loads it into the truck and once the truck is full he drives it to the new house and unloads it in the garage or even worse unloads the box into any available cabinet so that we can "reuse" the box...this method goes on for two weeks. I wanted to kill him. In this case I am right and he is wrong.

We are all in now and I have been unpacking for 3 days. Ready for a little before and after?

Before: Ugly Rustic Angel boarder gone, ugly stools gone

After: Beautiful "Ten Penny" orange paint and nice organized counter. Ignor my breakfast on the counter there. Black and natural stools to come, these will do for now. These were the $2 garage sale finds! Keep in mind these were the cabinets that were stuffed full of everything that had to be emptied before I could actually put anything away and I had a 3 foot pile of stuff on every available counter for 3 days. This was horrible, NEVER again.

My mama was up a couple weekends ago to help with the sanity and occupy the child. She helped with my container garden as there will be no time for a real garden this year. The beans will grow up the trellis and are already 2 inches high after a little over a week. We also have 2 kinds of peppers, a tomato and some herbs. I am very happy with my little garden.

Ok, I will be back soon! Have a good day!

We Made It!

2011-05-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

We finally have our new home in our possession. YEAH! We took Marla to see the "new" house yesterday and she was beside herself with excitement running from room yelling "Is this for me?". We just laughed and said yes.

Funny little storey though. There is a round spot of grass missing out of the back yard where there use to be a pool. It has been raining for days....weeks....a very long time, needless to say it is full of water. Marla looks out the window and says "THAT'S MY SWAMP!". It was really funny actually.

Anyway, I promise more pictures soon. Just a little overwhelmed at the moment.

More House - Part 2

2011-05-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

This is our lovely new living room. It is a nice open area shared with the kitchen and dining room. I have decided the only thing wrong with our new home is that it has no personality....it is shall we say, boring. I think I can rectify that though.
This is my inspiration for the living room. We aren't particularly fond of the current fire place and will be replacing it with a stone one similar to this at some point. I adore this room. It is so light and cozy and I LOVE the color.

Anyway all is good we are getting close to closing and the stars are aligning finally. Will post before and after pictures once we get in. YEAH!!!

What's up?

2011-05-09T07:54:00.000-07:00

Marla has turned into a little girl right before my eyes and I love it....and hate it. That is the curse of motherhood though. You love watching your child grow but miss the baby they were. Anyway, I took this picture last weekend and reminded me that she is still so small. I like that.

It was Gage's 4th was this weekend and I made the cake/cupcakes and did a little table for the goodies. That is him in the red shirt. He too is growing up right before my eyes.

Happy Birthday Gage!!!!

Marla helped with the cupcakes. I must sayt hey were a lot of fun to make and you can't mess them up. The cat tails were made out of skewers and candy bars.

And it is garage sales season of course so here were my finds from last week. The stools were $2 each, I almost fell over. I think I will eventually paint them black but for now they are perfect for the new kitchen. The chandelier was $5 and I am going to paint it hot pink for Little Miss' room. Daddy isn't thrilled but I had to put my foot down and her room is hands off. =)
I sound so tough, ha! The mirror was $2.75 and I am going to paint it as well. Not sure where it is going yet but I am confident it will have a home.

That is it for now, I hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day and will chat with you soon.

What May 2nd Looks Like

2011-05-02T19:06:00.001-07:00

It included a bon fire, a bag of marshmallows, a girl and her dog.

I have never seen a kid that loves marshmallows as much as Little Miss. She wanted nothing to do with roasting them though.

She even shared a few with mommy.

But none for Duke.

Did I mention that this was today.....May 2nd?

....and that we are sitting by a bon fire with coats on?

Welcome to the frozen tundra. Tomorrow is suppose to be in the 60's which is a heat wave in these parts. Hope you all had a good day and took some time to enjoy yourselves.

Easter (lots of pictures for Grandma)

2011-04-27T07:26:00.000-07:00

First, the chickens. I have a lot of artists in my family and I am blessed to have a lot of there work in my possession. My Grandmother did Batiks before her health failed and this is one of her works. She did mainly flower and Victorian scenes so I was shocked to find this little goody in her portfolio. I recently had it framed and will proudly hang it in my new house. I love how it turned out. I think she thinks I am crazy because it was obviously not her favorite but it is mine.

Ok, now on to the Easter events through pictures.

We had some friends over on Saturday evening and they helped dye eggs but I of course forgot to take pictures of that. This is before bed time Saturday when we finished the eggs by adding stickers. See her empty train basket.

Little Miss woke up at 5am.....I was not so happy about that. The first thing she did was eat the ears off her chocolate bunny. The Easter bunny left her a note that he hide her basket and she was off to find it.

"THERE IT IS MOMMY!!!!"

"WOW!"

She tought the eggs were great!

We didn't get a picture of the three of us in our Easter best for some reason and Little Miss would not sit still very long for me to snap a picture of her all pretty and clean. At least this is not her standard "CHHHEEEEESSSSEEE" face.

The Easter egg hunt was a huge success.

"Look!"

And that is Easter in Pictures. I must say for getting up at 5am she was a very good girl. We even made it to sun rise service and home for a nap before dinner with the family.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter.

Wedding Invite

2011-04-23T11:06:00.001-07:00

Due to the very hectic schedule lately I have not done any parties. I have a couple coming up that I am excited about but due to the move I think I will lay low on the party front for a while. I did do invitations for a wedding recently and I am loving how they turned out. To be honest I was not thrilled with the color palette, it just seemed so dark and dated but it was the wedding colors and I tried about a dozen different designed till I came up with this. The black and blue paper are iridescent, the filigree are embossed and white invitation part is raised with foam. The bride was happy with them and that is all you can ask.

Update, hair and donations

2011-04-22T12:26:00.000-07:00

So three days into it and I feel GREAT! I think this low carb thing might be good for me. I am not hungry and not sleepy. I haven't been this awake since before Marla was born. I keep reading that women's bodies are not designed to handle carbs. I am beginning to see the truth in it.

Don't mind the quality of the pictures as they are from my phone but I got a hair cut! I fell in love with Chelsey Kane's (Jonas and DWTS) hair. Hers is more dramatic then mine as she had longer hair to start with but I love it. Long in front short in back....you know opposite of a mullet.

And here is a funny little story. I finally donated the books, toys and blankets from Marla's birthday for the Night Night Project. I know, it only took me 8 months. Marla and I drove 45 inutes to a women's shelter to drop off the bags and all was well until we left. Marla broke down because we were leaving her toys behind. Funny, she has never played with any of them nor has she really even seen them but to her they were hers. She was crying in the car and I said "Honey these kids are really sad and the toys will make them happy." She proceeded to cry even harder and said "But mommy, you are making me sad." I couldn't help but laugh because she is so smart. She is too young to grasp the concept of what we were doing, as she should be, and I felt bad for that. However, she is so very blessed that I am even more convinced that she needs to do these things.

Have a wonderful Good Friday and Happy Easter.

Being Real

2011-04-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

So 3 weeks later and I have lost .4 lbs with the new WeightWatchers Points Plus plan. To say the least, I am not digging it. This new plan to way too lenient. You get too many points and things that were worth points before are not anymore. So, I have decided to go drastic. I am going low carb, low calorie for 4 weeks and working like hell to lose 10lbs in 1 month. Should be doable....miserable but do able. Then I can go back to my WeightWatchers eating to maintain.

Here is what I like about WeightWatchers. It teaches you to eat like you should eat & makes you think about what you are putting in your mouth. So I will stick with it for a few months after my 10 lbs initial loss.

Now, let me explain. I want to loss 10 lbs so that I can fit into my clothes. I am no bikini model and never plan to be. However, word of advice. When people are trying to better themselves, don't make snide comments. It is not necessary to make comments like "You don't need to loss weight" or give snotty little comments about their situation vs mine. It is not a competition and I am not judging others because they can't or won't loss weight/exercise/run a marathon/eat only grapefruit....you get the point. Lets make a goal to lift each other up and support one another rather then tearing each other down.

Ok, jumping off my soap box. More pics of the house to come soon.

Cruel Jokes and More House

2011-04-16T11:08:00.000-07:00

This is not a "ha ha" funny type of joke rather a "Are you kidding me?" type of joke. It snowed last night. It also melted about an hour later. But still, enough already.

This is the entry way. Paul loves the deer but being that he doesn't have one, then darn I guess we have to do something else. Upstairs are the bedrooms, this level has the kitchen and living area and the basement is FINISHED with a guest room and living area. That is all for a later post though. See that carpeted room to the right......

That is this room. Which apparently is suppose to be a formal dining room but.....

I have something like this in mind for it. Who wouldn't want a nice comfy reading room???? I am completely in love with the idea. Now I just need to convince the husband that we don't have formal dinner parties and never will so we really should have a room like this.

That is it for now. More to come later and eventually before and after pictures.

Mud Puddles

2011-04-13T18:20:00.000-07:00

Nothing like a bombshell

2011-04-07T07:45:00.000-07:00

So now you know why my blog has been neglected lately. House hunting is miserable and if we didn't get this house I was going to cry, not because of the house so much but because that meant we had to keep looking and I feared that I might have to stuff an mount my husband on the wall like the deer he wants in our living room.....yeah not gonna happen. I feel so relieved that the process is over and excited to move into our new home and blessed that we have this opportunity when so many families are on the other end of it.

Now here are a few more pictures of the important rooms in the house.

Love the kitchen, it is so light and open. It needs some personality and the boarder needs to go.

A MASTER BATHROOM!!!!! Wow, never had one and am so very excited.

New Houses

2011-04-06T17:19:00.000-07:00

Marla got a new house.....and so did mommy and daddy! YEAH!!!! We are so excited. Not exactly sure when we move yet but can't wait for more then one bathroom!

Good News, Bad News

2011-03-29T16:56:00.000-07:00

The good news is that 3 cookies are only 1 WeightWatchers Point.

The bad news is that no can eat just 3 cookies.

It is that time of year again, the dreaded pre-swimsuit season. I have been able to hide my pasty white, pudgy bod from the world for the past 6 months but the snow is melting and the temps are above freezing which means only one thing. It is officially WeightWatchers season.

Good luck!

Being Creative

2011-03-27T16:43:00.000-07:00

I actually went to scrap day about a month ago and am just now getting around to blogging about it. I wasn't in much of a scrapping mood that day but still completed 3 LO and 1 double LO. They are pretty generic but they will work.

For Paul's birthday last year I surprised him with tickets to the new Twin's stadium. It was a good day and such a different experience then the dome.

I have no idea why blogger is inserting this picture side ways. I really do like this LO even if it is simple.

Marla is actually playing my my Barbie's from when I was little it was pretty cool to experience that with my daughter. Did I mention that Barbie's do not age well? We went through about a half a dozen Barbie's that day breaking heads, legs and the hair...ugh Barbie hair gets really nasty after 20 years.

OK, Blogger is really annoying me today, this one is sideways too. This picture or Marla and the surrounding polka dot paper was the first picture we got of Marla from the nurses in the NICU. The little ribbon was actually in her hair in this picture. We just took this picture off the fridge after over 2 years. It really is a priceless picture if you ask me.

These are some cards I made today while "cleaning" my scrap room. I didn't get a lot cleaned but these turned out pretty cute. You know me I can't just make one card in the same design, I have to do several.

Anyway, not much new to report. Marla and I went to the park today in our snow boots. I guess we truly are Minnesotans if we still go to the park when there is still snow on the ground. We weren't the only ones there so we are not the only ones who just needed some fresh air.

Talk to you later!!

Freak Spring Snow Storm

2011-03-23T07:00:00.001-07:00

Ok, so maybe it is not so freak as much as irritating.

Mother Nature please turn into your enjoyable spring self, we are getting rather sick of your crabby winter attitude. You have been rather harsh this year, don't you think?

This my friends is a plow truck loaded with salt...in the ditch. Hmmm you think maybe I should have stayed home this morning....yeah me too.

Don't worry mom, I was stopped when the picture was taken, see the break lights in front of me. =)

1 Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed

2011-03-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

She fell off and bumped her head....specifically her chin. Mama said no more monkeys jumping on the bed and got laughed at. Maybe some lessons are never learned. =)

Waxing my floors turned into the perfect opportunity to make a fort. The forts demise was when Marla figured out she could stand on the recliner and jump onto the blankets. Talk about giving mom a heart attack. Thankfully she laughed the whole way down and didn't get hurt. Needless to say there was no more fort after that. Little monkey!

Love Hate Relationship with the Keurig

2011-03-11T09:18:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I TOTALLY blame this on my parents. They own a Keurig and now I am addicted to the Keurig and decided that I just HAD TO HAVE ONE for my birthday....from myself. That is how we do it in our little family...Paul buys his own presents and I buy my own presents and EVERYONE buys Marla presents. So last night I loaded Little Miss up and stocked myself with multiple JC Penney coupons and headed out to buy my Keurig. I spent what I would deem a ridiculous amount of $ AFTER coupons for this little beauty.
Then I spent an hour playing with it and making moch drinks with water only because lets not waste the good stuff on just watching that machine work if you don't intend to drink it....it was 10pm and I didn't want to be up all night.

And here is me this morning on my 3rd cup of coffee and wired to the hilt because normally I only have one cup. Notice my nice rosey cheeks and lips sans lipstick because I wore it off on the cup? I am wearing my new make-up but it doesn't really look like I am wearing much make-up. Cameras are too damn honest if you ask me. Anyway, hope you all have a good day.

Just a little color!

2011-03-09T14:33:00.000-08:00

Sometimes a girl just needs a little…ok, some….let’s just say “new” make up to make her feel fresh and not so boring...I mean pretty. I recieved a gift card to Ulta for Christmas and while I don't normally shop at Ulta I did need some new moisturizer and while I was there I hit the mother load of make up. I am a sucker for a good deal and they were offering a great freebie and they had some kits on sale too. So I got ALL THIS for $50 minus a $25 gift card, so I only spent $25 on all new make up.

And here is me showing off my new blush and lipstick. Believe it or not it is really hard to take a picture of yourself in a mirror with out taking a picture of the camera too especially when it is a little mirror. =)

I had to play with my make up at my desk at work...after hours of course because I knew little miss would never let me do it when I got home. Maybe I will break out the old make up and have some fun with it tonight. Marla is such a girly girl sometimes.

Have a good one!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2011-03-07T17:28:00.000-08:00

Hi all, sorry I have been a stranger there is just too much happening lately and I just have not felt like writing much. It is my birthday today and we are just hanging out at home enjoying each other. Thank you to all those who sent me well wishes, it is so nice to have such great friends and family.

Talk more later.

This is how we roll in the frozen tundra.

2011-02-21T17:06:00.000-08:00

Yes, it is February and we just got another foot of snow. Of course we are sick of it but lets not dwell on that, we are making the best of it. Keep in mind it takes 20 minutes to dress for a 15 minute romp in the snow but it is well worth it. Hope you are all staying warm.

At It Again

2011-02-17T06:51:00.000-08:00

Hum, what is that big blob and what does glitter and various extracts have to do with it?????That my friends is homemade playdoh which we colored, sparkled and scented. How fun right! Marla has her first sleep over Friday night and I wanted to bring something fun for the kids. Since it is my friend's daughter she is having a sleep over with, I will be having a sleep over too. Marla is only two after all and even mommies like sleepovers.

Marla was not much help with the making of the playdoh, she preferred to play with it. I found these cute containers at the Dollar Store. I had the bear ones already and the lids magically fit yogurt containers so that makes them even better. You can always use plastic baggies instead for a cheaper packaging option.

HERE is the recipe for homemade playdoh. I know there are non-cook recipes out there too but I have not tried them. This was pretty simple and as you can see it made a lot of playdoh. Most of the stuff I had on hand and we used lemon, mint, almond and vanilla extracts for smell factor. Although, "No taste very good" per Marla but it is completely food based if they are tempted to try it. Great gifts or party favors as well.

Knowing When To Say When

2011-02-13T11:22:00.000-08:00

I got some wild hair to take Marla to a movie today. Her first movie at the movie theater. I should have slapped myself. I looked online for show times and found an 11:30 movie at the cheap theater that I thought was acceptable. We ran a few errands and drove by another theater to see what show times they had. They had a 11am show for a better movie then the cheap theater so we got out and went to purchase the tickets only to find that it is a 3D film and that wasn't going to work. That was theater #1. I decided we would grab something to eat and try to hit the 11:30 movie at the cheap theater after all, only to find that when we got there they rescheduled to 12:05. Which was theater #2. So....not giving in, I decided to hit the theater close to home. I know I should have given up and just went home at this point but no. We went to theater #3 anyway and as I got Marla out of her seat I realized that she spilled her whole cup of juice on her blanket. At this point REALLY should have gone home but of course I wasn't that smart. So we went to the theater to find that they were playing the movie we wanted at 12:30 and it was only 12 but of course I bought tickets anyway and set out to occupy 30 minutes...with at toddler...that has been running around with me for 2 hours already. WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING?????Needless to say we made it 20 minutes into the movie before she freaked out because she needed her blankie. So we went home, only to continue the hysteria for the next hour till her juice soaked blanket was thoroughly washed and dried. It is now 2pm and she is snuggled up in her bed with her slightly damp blanket and tears still freshly on her cheeks, sound asleep. I am exhausted and feeling like a complete idiot who really needs to know when to say when.

I hope you all are having a much better day then me.

Stink Eye

2011-02-11T10:42:00.001-08:00

I have been getting this look A LOT lately. I have absolutely no idea where she gets this from, I mean it can't possible be from her perfect mother with the non-transparent face. I know I am not suppose to laugh but seriously this is the funniest face I have seen on her yet.

Proud Mama Moment

2011-02-10T06:19:00.000-08:00

I was making my dad a get well card last night and Little Miss decided she wanted to make one too. She insisted on using her "baby cutters" AKA scissors and then proceeded to cut for about 15 minutes. She then used markers to color and "white" on the inside which by the way is backwards and upside down....which I guess means that the front is actually the back. Anyway I am so very proud of her first card I think she did a magnificent job!

I have a crafty little girl in the making and I LOVE it!

Monster Cake

2011-02-07T07:15:00.001-08:00

It was so nice to be home this weekend and do absolutely nothing except make a

"Monster" cake and play with a funny little 2 year old. Yes, I absolutely let her stick her fingers in the frosting and lick them. It was just the three of us eating it. I could not get a picture of her actually looking at the camera. I think it is a new avoidance technique of hers.

I am home....finally

2011-02-04T12:48:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a week. Work meetings went well and Marla and daddy made it through. I am so glad to be home and didn't want to leave my little one this morning to go to work. I will make up for it this weekend. We will plan something REALLY fun. Hope everyone is well. I will write more soon.

More Cards

2011-01-29T20:35:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it? Can you believe that cleaning my scrap room and actually spending some time in it might actually inspire me to create something. Huh, who would have thought? Well it is a good thing because my card stash is quickly dwindling and we are going into the birthday season pretty quickly.

I am very happy with this cute little Valentine. I actually had this CTMH Valentine stamp set in my stash for about 4 years and have never used it. I was just never inspired by it. Well it's time has come.

Then there are these two. I am not so excited about these two but they will do.

And to completely confirm my dorky simplistic nature, these are my favorite of the night. They took me roughly 60 seconds each and I adore them. I made several of them because I liked them so much and I can tailor them to my needs as occasions arise...birthday's, thank you's, whatever. I knew I was stocking up on rhinestones for a reason.

I might be missing for the next week or so, I have to do some traveling for work and am leaving Little Miss and Mr. man to fend for themselves. I have a feeling there will be a lot of grandma time this week as we are expecting snow not to mention Mr. Man does not cook. I am excited for some sleep but am going to miss the dickens out of those two. Wish them luck!

Talk to you later!

Playtime and Progress

2011-01-27T08:06:00.000-08:00

We had Gage last night. Marla and Gage have been asking for weeks to go play at each others houses and it just hasn't worked out till now. We all think it is funny because they spend all day together at daycare and then want to go home together. It was just me and the kids for the night. We ate dinner....kinda these two don't really eat they prefer to snack. We played with PlayDoh

Got Faux Mohawks

Played rockstar. "I a rockstar mommy"

and played with the trains....and just about every other toy they could find. They really do play very well together it is nice to not be Marla's play friend once and a while. When it is just her and I, I turn into her play friend and it makes it very hard to get anything done around the house. Which is what I will blame the state of our house on. =)

And this picture represents progress. Reread the last paragraph....sometimes progress comes in small doses which in this case is a clean floor. I am starting the organization process with cleaning first and then figuring out what I really need to help organize the mess.

That is it for now. Have a good day!

Spinning

2011-01-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to post this for a couple weeks.

Totally not taking credit for the clothes, we are giving that honor to daddy.

Cards and My Dirty Little Secret

2011-01-19T19:07:00.001-08:00

Here are the cards I promised.

This is my sister's birthday card. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER!

HAHA YOU ARE STILL OLDER THEN ME!!!!
I stole the idea for this Valentine's card from a magazine...yeah, baby brain causes me not to remember which one.

This is a sweet little card for someone needing a little boost. The inside says "kneel".

I love that saying.

OK...

Here is is....

My dirty little secret....

This monstrosity is my scrap room. Embarrassing isn't it. Well my goal for posting my dirty little secret is to kick myself in the rear to not only clean it up but to also organize it. I just dread this job. Don't get me wrong I LOVE making the mess but am so unorganized that I hate cleaning it up. Organization costs money and that is in short supply. So I am on a mission to find cheap, effective ways to organize the chaos. If you have any idea I am all ears! My goal is end of February to completely redo this room. I will post as I go along. Wish me luck.

Growing your hair...

2011-01-19T14:00:00.001-08:00

...is a horrible thing. Since I have nothing important to blog about I thought I would show you what I have been doing the past year.

This is me last January with my cute little pixie hair cut and pretty fingernails. Oh and chubby little baby who is now a total little girl with no baby left at all...sniff sniff.

And this is me now a whole year later of letting my hair grow.....and not so pretty fingernails which you can't see thankfully. Personally I like my hair shorter as I think it thins out my face and brings out my eyes. Hubby however prefers the longer hair so I thought I would grow it out and see how I feel about it. Lets just say I remember why I cut it in the first place. I had to make this face in order for my cheeks to have some definition. Seriously though it has been a year shouldn't my hair be down to my butt by now???? Ugh, I hate growing my hair. So chime in on the short verses long hair debate.

High Temps and Dress Up

2011-01-13T09:20:00.000-08:00

So the past week has been plagued with sickness. Little Miss had the stomach flu on Thursday and Friday last week. Then was running high temps Monday thru Wednesday this week. The doctors think it is just a virus because other then the temp (and mood swings) she seems fine. All tests came back negative and we are just suppose to wait it out. Her fever finally broke today. YEAH!!!! So we have been spending a lot of time at home playing. Little Miss has really gotten into playing dress up lately. She loves her tutu and play shoes. So fun. Of course I am her play friend and she has to dress me up too

We also got Marla a "big girl bed" this weekend. This is a horrible picture from my phone but that is all I have right now and really wanted to show it off because it is so cute. Yes, that is a sheep and a duck right by her bed. I have no idea why the HAD to be there but she insisted.

I have a couple cards I will post for you later this week. One is for my sisters birthday and I want her to see it first. It's only fair.

Have a good day.

Barbies are timeless

2011-01-09T20:26:00.000-08:00

Marla got a Barbie and a Barbie car for Christmas but didn't think it was right that the passenger seat in the Barbie car was empty. She was having a hard time playing with it as she just couldn't get past the empty seat. I decided it was time to pull out my treasure chest, which of course was full of Barbie's and all the accessories circa the 80's.

She was in heaven. It is true that Barbies are timeless however, they do not age well. 25 years later and they are brittle and the hair is clumpy and falling out. We lost about 8 limbs today and 2 heads. I think I will have to invest in new dolls for her however the clothes are to die for. Seriously...leggings, ponchos, short shorts and polyester...lots of polyester. It was so much fun to reminisce and I could not believe that I forgot that my sister and I both got Brooke Sheilds Barbie dolls. Yes, we did and I still have them. The worse for wear but they are here. In fact it is the one above in a evening dress, poncho and miss matched boots. Gotta love it. Notice the barrette in Little Miss' hair, that was mine when I wasn't all that much older then her.

She loves her car now that she can fill the empty seat. Yeah, for Barbies!!!

2011

2011-01-06T08:10:00.001-08:00

I have been struggling these past few days trying to find something to talk about. I got nothin'! I haven't even been taking pictures of Little Miss. I guess we just haven't done anything new this week that I can post pictures of. Marla did finally figure out the potty but I don't think she would appreciate a picture of her hiney sitting on the pot broadcasted to blogland. So thanks to an idea from a fellow blogger I am posting a summary of 2010 and hopes for 2011.

What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before? Had two close family members die, shot my grandpa out of a canon, took photography classes, went to a Twins game at the NEW outdoor stadium, made a train cake, discovered cake mix cookies and pudding cookies, did LOTS of new crafts, went to Jay Cooke State Park and am SO going back, went trick or treating with Marla, made homemade ice cream, made a gingerbread house

Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Not sure, it wasn’t until I went back through my blog did I realize I made one. My resolution was to be a better friend and reconnect with friends that I have not had much time with. I guess my answer would be yes and no, I think I am always working on being a better friend but I have to say I have not reconnected with many old friends. I think I will make that my resolution for 2011 again. I also want to keep learning how to use my DSLR camera and become a better photographer.

What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010? A Cricut machine

What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? December 19th Joe passed away, May 29th Grandpa passed away

What was your biggest achievement of the year? Surviving it.

What was your biggest failure? Apparently my resolutions.

Did you suffer illness or injury? Does the flu count?

What was the best thing you bought? My laptop…love my laptop

Where did most of your money go? bills, bills, bills

What did you get really, really, really excited about? My grandpa left me his camera. I am so excited to learn how to use it and capture our everyday life in beautiful ways. Was excited about it and still am. Also carving pumpkins and trick or treating with Marla.

Yes she is wearing my bra, this picture doesn't really fit in this post but I thought it was funny.

What song will always remind you of 2010? Stuck Like Glue by Sugerland…if was the first thing that came to mind.

Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? sadder & happier depending on the topic
b) thinner or fatter? about the same
c) richer or poorer? Richer I guess, we have been paying our debt off. Maybe our pocket book isn’t richer but our debt has decreased considerably.

What do you wish you’d done more of? Spent more one on one time with my hubby. We are in desperate need of a date night schedule for 2011. I also wished I could have crafted more.

What do you wish you’d done less of? Stressing out and wasting money on stuff I didn’t need.

What was your favorite TV program? The Big Bang Theory

What was the best book you read? I reread the 7th Harry Potter Book. I read lots of books but that one still sticks out.

What did you want and get? A laptop and a new camera.

What did you want and not get? A second bathroom….ugh! Desperately needed at this point.

What was your favorite film of this year? Ok this one is going to catch you off guard but The Expendables. Paul and I went to it and both thought it was pretty good. I gave it to him for Christmas and we watched it again. I think it was my favorite simply because it was time spent with my hubby. I will tell you in advance that my favorite movie for 2011 will be CARS 2 coming in June….can’t wait!!!!

What kept you sane? My husband and Jessica

Who did you miss? Matthew, Grandpa and Joe

Who was the best new person you met? Tiffany Livingston….I can’t wait to be great friends.

Tell us a valuable life lesson(s) you learned in 2010. That I could love Marla so much more then I already did. That girl really is my heart. How amazing Paul’s family truly is and how alone I really am with out them. I guess to sum it up I learned a whole other level of love this year.

Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

Well it has been decided that 2011 has to be better then 2010 in my house hold. It has been a rough year but we made it through and bringing in 2011 feels like a new start. We spent our New Years Eve with friends. Jess was kind enough to let me set up a table and have free liberty with the design. It turned out pretty cute if you as me! Click HERE for more pictures. I think I am going to have fun with my new party business, so remember me if you need some help with any upcoming parties, I can ship if you are not in the Minneapolis area.

We had a good time, there was LOTS of gaming going on. Here are the wee ones pretending to play guitar hero as the adults play behind them.

And of course us girls turned a dance game into a competition between us. It was actually a lot of fun and even if we didn't have the remote we were often dancing along.

Just thought this one was pretty cute. Marla was playing in the play room and as soon as she heard my camera clicking she turned and said "CHEESE"

So happy New Year to you all and I hope your 2011 is better then your 2010 as well.

Christmas and Potty Training

2010-12-28T10:42:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas is now over and our house is busting with toys, as it should be I guess. It was a very laid back holiday, I think Christmas had lost some of it's magic this year but we must move on. Joe would have wanted that.

Here is Little Miss and her loot from Santa. You can see daddy's stocking there in the background. We were too busy playing with her toys we forgot to see what Santa brought us.

This is the only picture I took of us unwrapping presents. As you can see she was more interested in what was already new and ready to play with then seeing was was in all those pretty wrapped packages. Uncle Jim gave her the cool craft table. She LOVES it.

And of course I have very little in the house from breakfast Christmas morning so why not just eat chocolate?

And this is us right before we left for grandma's house. I can't believe we are all smiling. It is a Christmas miracle.

Marla gave us a Christmas present too. She decided that she will no longer wear diapers on Christmas Eve. We are officially in full fledged potty training mode and mommy is doing LOTS of laundry. She does pretty good till evening. Not sure what the deal is there.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and I will hopefully be getting back to my regular blogging soon.