Tagged!

I was tagged by the witty Kristi!

My roommate and I once: went mudsliding in the quad while freshmen in college

Never in my life have I: done illegal drugs or have detention!

High school was : a breeze! I didn't really have to do a whole lot to make it through. That changed once I went to college!

When I'm nervous : I laugh! I also get a little shaky and my belly feels sick!

My hair : is so gosh darn thick and wavy! It has a mind of it's own! I am letting it grow out and it's driving me crazy!

When I was 5 : I had a silly haircut. Sorta like a long bowl cut, I guess. I still giggle at my kindergarten picture!

When I turn my head left : I see the ugly wallpaper on my kitchen wall. It's coming down soon!

I should be : getting ready for the day, washing my hair, throwing some wash in the washer, doing the dishes. Anything but sitting here and playing on the computer!

By this time next year : I hope I am thinner and my little monster child is better behaved!

My favorite aunt is : That's so hard to say! I will pick my Aunt Holly, my dad's sister. I remember her doing my hair when I was little. She is a very successful business woman in California now and I rarely get to see her!

I have a hard time understanding : why we can't all just get along. Why life has to be so difficult. Why babies and children die. Why I worry so much. (sounded like a good answer, Kristi!)

You know I like you if : I talk to you a lot. I'm very shy and quiet until I get to know you. This is not good for me because some people take my quietness as me being snobby!

My ideal breakfast is : one of those great breakfasts that you get out that include eggs, homefries, pancakes or french toast, bacon, blah blah blah. Can't forget a great cup of coffee too!

If you visit my home town : I will take you around to show you the pretty sites. We have some great mountains with neat trails. I could even take you for a bike ride, you could ride on the tandem! :)

If you spend the night at my house : We can be silly, eat lots of yummy snacks that are no good for us. Play some games, scrap and have a few drinks!

My favorite blonde is : I don't think I have one. I guess my kids and Chris are the closest to blondes.

My favorite brunette is : me! LOL

The animal I would like to see flying besides birds : are we considered animals? If yes, us! I always had dreams of flying when I was little! If we are not considered animals, how about pigs?

I shouldn't have been : so grumpy the other day!

Last night I: watched Rescue Me with Chris and then went to bed. I was tired!

A better name for me would be : hmmm, I don't know!

I've been told I look like : me! I don't think I really look like anybody! I am a mix between my mom and dad. Sometimes when I look in the mirror, I see my brother looking back at me too! Funny! I have been told that I have Julia Roberts' mouth. We both seem to have big mouths and teeth! Chris even calls me "teeth" sometimes! LOL

If I could have any car, it would be : I don't really care. A car is a car to me. Even though I love my minivan, I wouldn't mind ditching it for my previous car, a Chrysler Sebring! It was red and SO nice!

Ok, I am tagging:

Kimberly
Trish'
Dina
Alicia
Angie

Goodness!

Today is going to be a good day!!! I'm out of my funk!

We'll spend the day at the pool, it's going to be hot and sticky today at 91 degrees! That water will feel so good!! I bought a new bathing suit on Sunday, so it'll be even nicer! It always feels good when you have new clothes to wear!

So many of my flowers are now blooming!! The different varieties of daisies, lillies, the new perennials I bought (which I can't remember their name!) and my annuals. The hydrangeas are starting to open as well. Those are really beautiful! I get blue, pink and purple snowballs all on the same bush! I'm still waiting on the black eyed susans, hibiscus and butterfly bushes! I just wish I could spend all day out there planting!! I also wish I had a bottomless pocketbook for all the varieties that I would love to have!! Slowly but surely, I guess!

Here are a few pics of what is blooming right now!


Have a wonderful day!!

Major 'tude!

Usually when I talk about a case of the 'tude, it is Macy that I'm talking about!

Well, I've got it today! I don't know what it is, maybe premenstrual, but you definately don't want to come near me!

I feel like I've had a grumpy look on my face all day.

I didn't want to play, I couldn't wait for kid bedtime!

I just wanted to be by myself.

I didn't wake up like this. I was fine this morning. I even took the kids to the mall to Planet Teddy. Jack made a Garfield in Army Camo. He appropriately named him "Garfield". Then tonight, he shred half of the birth certificate! Macy made a nice white bunny in a cheerleader outfit complete with pom poms. She named her Daisy, after Daisy Duck, I think. So now we have 2 Daisy's here. Macy made me and Jack promise her that we'd take good care of Daisy while she was at VBS! Jack did, he strapped Daisy into Macy's car seat when we got in the car after dropping Mac off!

So, I was good this morning, I don't know what happened. I sure do hope it is gone tomorrow though! I think it will be. Today was an overcast, yucky humid day. Tomorrow we will go to the pool and everything will be good.

I don't like "off" days. I feel like I totally wasted an entire day! It's not fun being unpleasant to be around!

I am being strong though and will not eat like I normally do when I feel like this!

Here's to a good day tomorrow! :)

Bike adventure!

We had such a nice day today!! We loaded up and drove to Birdsboro and hopped on the Schuylkill River Trail. Once you get to Stowe, there is a nice park with picnic tables, so we had lunch! The kids explored a bit and then we headed back.


This was a 15 mile bike trip!! Let me tell ya, I sure was losing steam on the way back! Macy was too, she wasn't helping me pedal! Phew, I was so glad to see our truck again! I am so tired that I think I am going to be in bed by 10pm and will finish my July SBS kit tomorrow instead!

Here are some pics.

This is what our little caravan looks like! Jack goes in a trailer on Chris's bike and I have a tandem bike on mine for Macy.



Here are a few other random ones.

Sneak Peek!!

Yesterday I got the July SBS kit from ILove2Create! Wow, this is an awesome kit, full of the 12 limited edition papers from Rouge de Garance!! Fantastic colors!! I can't wait to use them some more tonight! For now, here is a little (well, big actually) peek of what I'm working on. If you want to see some more, check out the ILove2Create blog (link over there on the right!).


This page was actually supposed to be an 8.5 x 11 landscape. Silly me was so excited to do a landscape page that I forgot to cut 1 inch off of the 12 inch size! DUH!! So, this is an 8.5 x 12 layout. Do you think I could turn this into the new trend? LOL

In other news, I'm super excited! I have been drooling over the Cricut Expressions machine!! I think I am in love with the Accents cartridge that comes with it and the fact that it will cut thinner chipboard. The original one never did anything for me. The fact that they are working on the USB capabilities is exciting too. I figured I might as well get it now before the price is higher. I talked with the boss and he gave me the go ahead, so I ordered one last night!! I'm hoping it will be here the end of next week! Woohoo!!!

We are getting ready to go to the pool. It is going to be mighty cold though. It's only 76 degrees right now!! I'm going to have to take a blanket!

Have a great weekend!! We don't have any big plans!

Hi!

I'm putting off some housework, so I thought I might as well blog!

We are supposed to get a little break from the heat today. It's only supposed to be low to mid 80's, a really nice break from the 90+ degrees the last 2 days! We spent all day yesterday at the pool! Last year, Jack would last maybe 1-2 hours. Yesterday, we were there for 4 hours and they didn't want to leave then! It'll be nice next year when he will be a little more independent and I won't have to be in the water with him constantly, I just may be able to sit on the blanket and watch after him! Woohoo!! Macy is finally getting more comfortable with the water. She is now just in arm floaties, she graduated from the inner tube! All of her friends are pretty good swimmers and I think her increased confidence has a lot to do with that! I'm hoping that by the end of the summer she will be even better! It's at this time that I am really kicking myself for not continuing swimming lessons with her when she was a baby. I started her at 9 months, but didn't keep up with it. Jack on the other hand has no fear! He was going under himself and everything yesterday! If these kids didn't look alike, you'd never think they were related!

Taking the day off from the pool today. It thunderstormed last night and the grass is all wet. I have this thing about going to the pool when the grass is wet. For some reason it grosses me out! So, I think we'll hit the mall and maybe browse some new bathing suits.

Here are my latest layouts. I did the Home one at GNO on Friday. The other one was a quickie from last night. That's my first 8.5x11 layout since probably late 2000! I just had an urge to do it! Now I want to do a landscape one!!

Have a great day!!

Fun Weekend!

We had such a fun weekend! I love weekends, all four of us get to hang out and have fun!

Saturday we did some yardwork and Chris put a swing in our magnolia tree. The kids are really enjoying that! Macy gets a huge running start and then hops on it! Jack had a little trouble getting on at first, but quickly learned!

I went out Saturday evening and finally bought new porch furniture! I got 2 nice cushioned swivel chairs with a matching glass table.

Sunday, Happy Father's Day! The kids gave Chris his present, we got him a new bathing suit and some smelly Bath and Body Works stuff. We then went to Cabela's and let him pick out his new upgraded handheld GPS! He's been wanting a new one, with all the new bells and whistles, so this was perfect! We stopped and ate on the way home.

We wanted to try out the new toy and we haven't been geocaching in awhile, so we picked 3 supposedly easy ones and went to it! Well, I don't know what happened, but we couldn't find them! We were having a hard time getting a good satellite signal in the first one because of it being in a gully. The second one, I don't know what happened! For one thing, they didn't say what type of container we were looking for, so knowing that, that would've helped! But, we had fun "treasure hunting" anyway and will be doing it again soon! It's hard to find kid friendly ones around here!

Sunday night, I whipped up a double batch of Strawberry Margaritas and Chris and I drank it all out on the porch! If anyone has a good mixed drink recipe, I'd be interested in it! We are going to try out some new ones every 2 weeks or so! This was just a mix since I wasn't quite sure how to make one from scratch!

Look what is developing in our backyard!!! I cannot wait until they are reading!! I cannot wait to make fresh bruschetta! I cannot wait for a nice fresh tomato sandwich! I can live on them in the summer!! YUM!!! I planted 12 plants this year: 4 grape, 4 early bird, and 4 big boys!


I don't have much mojo lately! If anyone sees it, send it home!! I'm just dying to create and can't!! Here is my latest layout. I decided to give the whole 6x12 thing a try! It was not easy! This is a pic of me as a kid (probably about 5, judging by my haircut) with a fox that my Pop Pop hunted and had stuffed! My cousin and I loved that thing!


Have a great day!! It is going to be a hot one again today! We are headed to the pool after we pick Macy up from camp and get some lunch!

Soggy laundry and a new layout!

You know how I love to hang out laundry. Today, Jack's sheets, comforter and mattress pad needed to be washed, so I did them and hung them out.

We then get all packed up and head to the pool. Weather is nice, not too hot, just right! We arrive at the pool and swim for less than a half hour and it starts to thunder. We hung out a bit and it just kept doing it and the sky was looking pretty dark, so we decided to pack it up and walk back home. We got stuck walking home in a thunderstorm last year and it wasn't fun. I did not want to repeat that.

We make it home, there is a clearing in the sky, and then bam, downpours. My poor laundry! It got so heavy that the retractable line slipped out and now it is laying in the grass. I think I'm just going to prop it back up and deal with the rewashing, etc tomorrow. I can't dry the comforter in the dryer anyway, for one it's too big and secondly, it will melt in there because of all the synthetic materials. Bummer!

Here is a layout I did last night. It has a few of the zoo pics on it. The kids got their faces painted; 3 dogs and a zebra! I used some Hambly and some of the Doodlebug sugared cardstock. I made the WILD myself with white foam, my Sizzix and a good old Bic marker! ZOO is Tinkering Ink alpha die cuts that I painted. I love those! The font is so fun!

When I first started to scrapbook did I ever think it would be such a huge deal in todays world?

No, I didn't! I have always loved it and got addicted fast but I can't believe how competitive it has become! What is supposed to be a fun, creative outlet for people has just turned into nastiness at times and I think it's really sad! Why can't everyone just get along and enjoy the commonality we all have?

Strawberry picking

On a whim today, I decided to take the kids strawberry picking. It was the first time for all 3 of us! We had a fun time and got lots of yummy, sweet strawberries!! We have eaten about 1/3 of what we picked already!! YUM!!!







I'll share some pictures of our visit to the zoo soon, too. I just have so many that it will be hard picking which ones to post!!

Also, remember a few days ago when I posted about the July guest designer spot for ILove2Create? You still have time to submit for it! Once you see this little peak of the July kit, I don't think you are going to want to pass up this opportunity!! These kits are truly incredible every month! Melynda is always on top of (or many times ahead of) the trends, plus you learn a cool new technique each month!!

On to today's blog challenge from Lisa: list the last 5 things you do before you head out the door.

1. Start the big hunt for the kids shoes. They can never seem to find them!
2. Everyone goes to the bathroom
3. Fix up the hair and make up
4. Yell at the kids to stop putzing and get their shoes on!
5. Make sure all the lights are off in the house

Tagged!!

I was tagged by the talented Edith Turk!!

These are the rules.... each player starts with 7 random fact about themselves on their Blog. People who are tagged need to blog 7 facts about themselves and post the rules as well. At the end of the blog list 7 people you are tagging. Let them know that they are tagged by leaving them a comment.

**I LOVE to hang out wash on the clothesline in the spring and summer. I am known to go around the house looking for stuff to wash so I can do it everyday!

**I was a goody, goody in school! I never ever had detention.

**I am part French. My great grandfather came from France. I was going to minor in French in college but it didn't fit into my very structured nursing curriculum.

**I was once addicted to nasal spray, back when I was in high school or college (can't remember which). Yeah, I know you are laughing, but it happens!! I finally kicked my "habit" with an allergy pill prescribed by my doctor!

**I love me some Disney Channel!! Hannah Montana is my fave! You can find me belting out her songs when the kids and I are listening to her music in the car!

**Tags sticking out of shirts makes me cringe!! If I am behind someone that has one hanging out, I must fix it. This goes for strangers too, unless they look mean! LOL

**I have to get a bath at night. I can't stand the thought of going to bed with the days skank on me! YUCK!!! If for some reason I cannot get a bath, like if we go camping or something like that, I still must wash my feet off before getting between the covers. Clean feet are a definate must!! I always wash my hair in the morning!

With that, I tag:

1. Tracy
2. Karen
3. Kimberly
4. Lora
5. Nicole
6. Rollie
7. Sarah

It's the weekend!!

Yay, it's Saturday and Chris is home! I love the weekends, it's so nice having all four of us together for the day! Sad that it is only 2 days long though!

We may go on a bike ride/picnic today, depending on how hot it's going to get. Those are always fun, nice to let the kids run off some steam while Chris and I can relax a bit after lunch! I really, really want to get mulch today. I'm so behind on that this year, I'm usually done by Macy's birthday. Also hoping to go check out some furniture for our porch, we really need some new stuff besides the old resin bench and chair out there!

Yesterday we hit the pool for the first time this season! It was a sweltering 94 degrees and the frigid water felt so good! The kids had a great time! It was finally the time to move away from the baby pool area! Gosh does that feel good! We moved way over to the other side of the pool grounds! It is less crowded over there and it is not filled with the little cliques that seem to accumulate over on the baby side! We actually spent 3 hours there! That broke our record, we usually last 1 hour, maybe an hour and a half! It should be a fun summer, a lot of Macy's friends will be there and hopefully Jack can meet some little boy buddies!

What sort of shoes do you wear in the summer? I'm definately a sandals girl, I do not like wearing sneakers, ever. I have a few pair that I love and wear over and over again. Bass are always my favorite! I did buy a pair of those new Crocs wedges but don't seem to have anything to go with them! They are comfortable though. I have a pair of black beaded sandals that match my bathing suit. I need to get a few new pairs of sandals, the ones I have are old!

Here is a layout that I did last week for my recipe challenge at ScrapGal. Lately, I have been having SO much fun mixing up different papers! If I like it, I use it, who cares if those colors aren't usually viewed as matching! I really love the back side of the Love, Elsie papers, they are all kinds of fun ledger papers! This is a picture of my kids and my cousins daughter with my Grandmother (their Great Grandmother) at my Aunt's 50th bday party last Saturday. Love this picture!



Lastly, I want to let you all know about a great guest designer contest going on at ilove2create. This is a great monthly kit club that focuses on techniques! This month we did printable fabric! It was a lot of fun, we got cotton inkjet sheets and organza sheets! If you scroll down a bit, you will find some projects I did using it! Here are all the details!

ILove2Create.com is looking for a Guest Designer to work with its Scrapbooking Society kit for the month of July. We are hosting a contest that ends June 14, 2007 for this position.

Because the Scrapbooking Society kits are developed around an art technique that can be used for scrapbooking and other paper crafts, the requirements for this contest are as follows:

1. One layout that includes using one of the following art techniques
Monoprinting
Colored Pencils
Making Memories Paint Effects paper glazes (gloss, glitter or pearl finish)
Stampbord
Beeswax
Fabric inkjet printer sheets
2. One other item that you feel represents your best work. This item may be a layout, card, altered item, etc.

Only one entry per applicant. Please email .jpg files of your layout and other item to contests@ilove2create.com. Resize the photos/scans to a maximum of 100K. The contest will begin June 1 and concludes June 14th. The winner will be announced by/on June 17th.

If you are chosen as our Guest Designer, you will receive the July Scrapbooking Society kit for free. During your term as our Guest Designer, you will be required to create two layouts and two other items assigned to you by the Design Team Coordinator by the newsletter deadline (typically, you have about 5-7 days to complete your assignments) with the supplies in the kit and post them in our gallery. You will also be required to post on our message board and leave praise in our gallery during your term as Guest Designer.

Please note: to be eligible for this contest you must be an active member of the ILove2Create message board. A member would be considered to be active once they have a post count of more than 25.

If you have any questions about the contest, please email them to contests@ilove2create.com .

Recap

I feel like I haven't blogged in weeks! I guess it's only been 3 days though.

It's been busy!! We've had birthday parties galore!

This past Saturday was my Aunt Barb's 50th bday, so we had a party for her at my Aunt Jean's house.


Here are the cousins boating in the pool!


Sunday was Macy's 5th birthday! We had her party at an inflatables party place called The Jump Factory. It's new and town and oh so cool!! The parents are even allowed to play!! What a great time! We will definately be going back there!! She had 22 kids there and got a ton of great presents! We ordered a Cold Stone cake for her - YUM!!! For favors, she gave out a Macy's Music Mix CD with 8 of her favorite songs on it. Here is the cover she designed:


Some pics from the party, they didn't turn out very good because of all the movement!











And now the SG Blog Challenge from yesterday, name 5 things that I am grateful for today!

*our wonderful home
*my kids - even if they do drive me crazy
*my wonderful hubby who tolerates all my craziness
*my extended family
*my friends - both real life and online - who also tolerate all my craziness!

Not a fun day!

I decided not to go to the gym this morning since I've had to set the alarm the last 5 days (I am NOT a morning person!). We've been so busy and I've been so tired, so I decided I was going to sleep until whenever I wanted to.

Mother Nature woke me up at 8:50am. I go to the bathroom and hear the kids toilet running. It happens all the time, they push the handle too hard and it gets stuck and the flap thingy doesn't close. I went about my business and would fix it as soon as I finished putting in my contacts, brushing teeth and washing face.

I go down, to be greeted by about an inch of water in my second floor bathroom. I quickly fix the toilet. Jack loaded it with t.p. and since the flap didn't close and it clogged, the water just kept going and going! I yell for Chris and he comes down and all freaked out. He goes to our laundry room, which is right below that bathroom and it is raining in there! UGH!!!! Nothing like getting rained on by toilet water!! Luckily it was clear!

So, guess what I did today? Sure gives you that boost to clean!

So not fun!! Maybe I should've gotten up to go to the gym this morning, this may have not happened if I did!

I've got the laundry room all done and am now just working on cleaining up the stuff that got wet in the hallway. Glad we don't have carpeting!

Macy's birthday party was great yesterday! So much fun!! I will try to get pics edited and posted tomorrow!!

Happy Birthday my sweet girl!!

I won't have enough time to post tomorrow morning but I wanted to say HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY to my sweet Macy!!! I cannot believe that she will be 5 years old tomorrow!! How fast did that go? WOW!!!

Five years ago at this time, I was so excited and nervous. I was making sure I had everything in order in the nursery and all my hospital bags packed with a sweet baby girl and a sweet baby boy outfit! We didn't want to find out the sex, we wanted to be surprised when my doctor yelled out "it's a boy" or "it's a girl"! We picked the name Macy for a girl and Joshua for a boy. I was going in at 8am the following morning for a scheduled c-section because he/she was breech!

The c-section was rough for me, I have a horrible time with anesthesia. But it was all so worth it when I heard my doctor yell "it's a girl!". It was a Macy!! She was so precious, so small. She weighed in a 6lbs 13.7 oz and 18.5 inches long! She was the sweetest thing! The joy of our lives!! Wow, we were parents!

I watched my whole surgery. Yeah, I know, kinda gory, but I was a critical care RN working in that same hospital at that time and it was fun! I did't watch him cut me open, but I watched the rest of it on a huge mirror that they brought over for me! Dr. Ferry even pointed out my tubes and ovaries, etc to Chris after Macy was out! LOL Very interesting and neat to see!

So, happy birthday my sweetheart!! Mommy and Daddy love you so much and we are so proud to have you in our lives!!

Here I am waiting to go to the OR:


Here I am holding her:


Macy and Daddy:


Sweet Macy minutes after her birth:


Macy today, the little diva that she is!

Feeling yucky today and a few fun things

Just need to whine for a minute.

I didn't sleep well last night. Lots of tossing and turning, feeling hot, woken up by the thunderstorm, just couldn't get comfortable. Plus we had to get up earlier than normal because Jack's speech therapist comes at 10:15 on Friday mornings.

I've got a horrible pain in my neck, besides my kids! LOL It is so tense and stiff. I've got a huge headache going on. I am going to the chiropractor tomorrow to hopefully get things all back where they belong. It's really not fun!

I've been trying to rest on the couch, take a nap, and watched Over The Hedge and the end of RV. The kids didn't like that idea so they were off and I'm sure their rooms are just ripped to shreds! I got Macy's room all nice and cleaned up this week and now I'm sure it is back to a disaster area. Jack just goes to town in there ripping everything out.

I finally remembered to pop some ibuprofen, so hopefully that will make things a little better. I'm probably going to have to forego the gym tonight and hopefully be able to get there on Sunday morning before I have to pick up Macy's cake.

Ok, enough whining from me.

Here are 2 layouts that I did for the Scrapgal June newsletter. The theme this month is Relax, just what I want to do today!

and a little project