Just say NO!!!

to Moon Sand, that is!!

Yeah, about a month ago I gave into the Floam begs. Today, I willingly bought Moon Sand! It was my idea, the kids didn't even know what it was! AC Moore has it on sale 2 for $7, I decided I'd buy it for the kids.

Why? Why did I do it? With a name like Moon SAND, I should've known better!! It is exactly that, SAND!!! It's got some sort of stuff in it so it sticks together when you squeeze it, but it quickly falls apart after that!

Not a good idea!! Very messy!! I had purple sand all over my kitchen floor, the white kitchen floor!! Plus, I am all out of Mr. Clean!! Luckily, it cleans up nicely with the Dustbuster, but it is still a mess!!

So, those of you out there reading this, if you have ever looked at Moon Sand and have thought about buying it for your kids (especially if you have an almost 3 year old), JUST SAY NO!!! Take it from me!! Your floors will love me for it!!

Double Duty Challenge!

My friend Patrice over at ScrapGal issued a challenge to use 2-3 black and white pictures, a yellow background and 5 patterned papers! My friend Mimi and I also challenged each other to use 3 of our purchases from CKC and one frosted Prima on a laout!

So, I combined both of those challenges together and came up with this!


It sure was fun to do!! It also made me reach for more than I normally would, making me feel like my purchases were justified, even if I used just a sliver of the paper!! Of course, I had to use some of the new Basic Grey that I scored! My layouts don't seem to be complete these days without my Cricut! The title was done using that!!

You know, I tried to do this on 12x12 but had a really hard time!! I started varying my layout sizes about a month and a half ago and have totally been loving 8.5x11!! I don't know if I'll be able to go back to 12x12! Never thought I'd say that!!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Macy and I did a little shopping today and then we just all relaxed here at home together!

I did it!!!

I can't believe that I'm admitting this, but this morning I sent off an entry for the Memory Makers Masters contest!! ACK!!! I have never entered anything of this magnitude before! Even if I don't win or get a runner up spot, I am proud that I challenged myself to do this!! I got 5 great layouts out of this that I am very happy with! I'm not stressed about it either, I feel peaceful, maybe that will change once the date of notification gets closer! At least I will be away on vacation for part of it, so that will take my mind off of it!! Sooo, wish me luck!

Went to CKC with Mimi today. We had a nice time. The vendor faire was okay, they usually don't have much more than what we already have, which is good on the pocketbook! I did manage to snag some of the new Basic Grey lines, which was cool!

We went to the usual Bahama Breeze afterwards and then headed to see Hairspray.

What a fabulous movie!!! Very funny, laughed throughout the whole thing! Had to love John Travolta as a woman!! I'm seeing lots of awards for it!!

I'm pooped! Had to get up early everyday this week! Can't wait to sleep in tomorrow!! I think Chris and I are going to cap off the night with a movie now!!

More shore pictures!

Here is the last installment of our vacation pictures!!

Pirate Macy!

The pirate ship:

Strike a pose!

The beach babe!

Gotta love this expression!


Seashore State Park beach scene:

I've got it bad!!!

For trashy reality tv shows!!! Geez!!! They just suck me in!!

First, it was Flavor of Love - EWWWW, he is SO gross!!

Next, I Love New York - she's just as bad!!

Then, Mo'Nique's Charm School - that one isn't quite as bad!

Now it is Scott Baio is 45 and Single and Rock of Love with Brett Michaels!!

I never knew how much of a player Scott Baio was!! He always seemed so sweet!! Couldn't imagine him sleeping around with everyone and cheating on every girlfriend (except the current one) that he had! In this show, he's hired a life coach and she's going to help him find the root of his lack of committment problem! She's making him go back and apologize, etc! Definately have a different perspective on him now!!

Brett Michaels. Man, was he hot, still is!! Getting a different view on him now though, making himself trasy doing this show, not that he probably wasn't trashy before! There are some really not nice, risquee girls on that show!! Sheesh!!!

They are trashy but I just can't help it!! Chris makes fun of me!! I don't have to watch them every week, but during my tv flipping time at night, if I come across one, I must stop and watch!

What are your guilty tv shows? Any other trashy reality junkies out there?

Here are 2 of my latest layouts.

This one I did for Kimberly's challenge over at ScrapGal. She challenged us to create a layout of what we say or do when we get excited!


This one I did for my ad challenge over at ScrapGal


Look what I got out of my garden yesterday!!! I made fresh salsa last night and will be making bruschetta tonight!! Mmmmmmm . . .

August IL2C sneak peek!!!

Ugh, I'm having a hard time getting back into the swing of things post vacation! I don't want to do anything!! I can't get motivated to do anything but scrap!!

Scrap motivation is easy when you've just received the August ILove2Createkit to play with and make newsletter projects!! It is chock full o' Rusty Pickle Mayflower paper and these cool shimmer sprays by Luminarte!! They are Twinkling H2O's in a bottle!!! Now it doesn't get much cooler than that!!!

Here is a sneak peek!


I have had this layout in my head for a long time! I even started one about a year ago and just couldn't get it right. I think I got it this time! My Pop Pop died unexpectedly in Sept of 1996. Obviously, these pics aren't from '96 but I like these two of him, so I used them. I am thinking they are maybe early 80's, perhaps 70's?

Check out the ILove2Create Blog for more peeks!! Seriously, it's an awesome kit, once again!!!

We're home!!

We got home from down the shore yesterday afternoon! We spent a week with my inlaws at their home in Rehoboth Beach, DE!

Chris and I have enjoyed going to the Delaware shore since before we were married. It's nice to continue on our little tradition every year with the kids!

It was hot and humid all week, up until Friday then the humidity and temp dropped! It stormed every night which was perfect because we could still do what we wanted to during the day! It was very relaxing! The shore was perfect! The kids enjoyed themselves. Jack got blasted by some waves a few times but loved it! This is the first year that he's really been able to enjoy it. Last year he basically just took naps on the beach! Macy, of course, made friends right away, she's my little social butterfly! She makes friends everywhere we go, within minutes of arriving! They "surfed" on their boogie boards. She also got her first tatoo, a Hello Kitty on her upper left arm.

Chris and I went out just about every night, sans kids! We hit up our favorite local microbrewery as well as some shopping and walking the boardwalk, plus hitting the bookstores and Starbucks! A trip down there isn't complete without going to the land and sea buffet at the Rusty Rudder in Dewey. Who can resist all you can eat crab legs and steamed clams? Well, Chris can, but I ate his fair share!

Macy and I had some girly shopping time, Jack and I went to get fresh donuts and hoagies and Daddy and Macy went on a pirate ship adventure! It was very relaxing! Now we can't wait for our next vacation in less than a month!! Not exactly sure what we are doing for that one yet, probably do the opposite and go to the mountains!

Here are some pics from the first few days of the trip. I will post more tomomorrow or Tuesday!

Chris and Jack at the top of the tower at Cape Henlopen


The shoreline at Cape Henlopen, atop one of the batteries


Helicopter and swings rides at Funland on the boardwalk



The kid cousins at a cookout with Chris's aunt and her family. We haven't seen many of them in about 5 years and it's the first time for us to meet the 2 youngest girl cousins!


Jack and his cousin, Jordan. He just loved her!


I've got a lot of scrapping to do now that I'm home, plus a lot of catching up to do on the blogs I read!! Time to get back into the swing of things!!

Oh, be sure to check out the ILove2Create blog for some pictures of CHA and some great giveaways!!

Hi!

Sorry to my blog friends, I have not been doing a good job of keeping up with all of your blogs! I promise to stop slacking and catch up on you all soon!! I appreciate you still stopping by here!

Jack is doing better! We just do prn treatments now, which he hasn't needed. His chest xray came back clear - yay! He is as bad as always, so I know he is feeling better! Just has a residual cough left over.

When Jack is bad, Macy feeds into it. She will regress down to a 2 year old as well and just annoy the heck out of me! LOL This always seems to happen when we are in a store, say an Ace Hardware! That store had a ton of Radio Flyer bikes, wagons, everything as soon as we walked in the door. Now what kid is going to want to go to the other side of the store to shop for what mom wants? I had to literally carry Jack around to get what I wanted. I really needed it, so I couldn't just pick him up and leave, unfortunately! He was kicking and yelling and I was so embarrassed! I got what I needed, went to the checkout and let them play while I did that. Jack took a little cruise around the aisle. Then it was time to leave, he didn't want to again. Swoop, up under my arm. 27 pound kid under my left armpit, 15 pound purchase under my right armpit. I'm sure I was a sight!

Remind me again why I wanted kids! Macy was not this bad at almost 3! Jack has made up for all of her good kid ways! But, I love 'em! Went for haircuts after that fiasco and it went surprisingly well. I had to go through the McD's drive thru for a large vanilla iced coffee pick me up!

We got a little break today, heat-wise. I think it only got to 83. It's going to be nice weather for the shore!

Shore = flip flops. Here is a really quick layout I did tonight for Tracy's summertime challenge over at ILove2Create. I used more of the limited edition Rouge de Garance papers that came in the July kit. This layout just fell into place, gotta love that!
OUT FOR PUBLICATION!

I am totally loving my new Cricut Expression! I did the title and the sun on it!! Another cool new toy is my new binder punch thingy from Stampin Up!! Gotta love that loose leaf look these days!

Well, I must have a crumb stuck under my period key, so I will sign off!!

Have a great Friday and weekend!

A Whole Week!

Sheesh! I haven't updated in a week!!

Just been doing my thing. Chris comes home today from his guy weekend. He went to Railfest 2007 with his brother and 2 friends. I have been alone in my house with my 2 children since Thursday evening!! Needless to say, I am SO ready for him to be home!! The daytime is okay but bedtime is rough by myself, especially when Jack decides he's not ready for bed! My GURLZ came over on Friday night to keep me company. We, of course, laughed, ate, ate, laughed, ate, ate, drank strawberry margaritas and Coronas, played a little game and talked scrap for several hours! Lots of fun!!

I had to take Jack to the pediatrician on Thursday, his breathing was super tight. I knew he needed an aerosol treatment. They got us in within 40 minutes of calling. Sure enough, he had audible wheezes so they gave him an aerosol which helped a bunch. It seems as though I have passed my asthma gene onto him. I had childhood asthma as well. I'm just praying that he outgrows his like I did. I wasn't this young when I developed it though. Friday he went for a chest xray. So, he is on aerosols every 6 hours, which he hates!! I haven't been able to get him to take any since yesterday morning. Daddy is going to hopefully work some magic when he gets home!

It seems as if bad luck happens when you are at home by yourself. I was sitting in the kitchen on Friday night and our roof started to leak again! ACK! We had a great roofer out a few months ago and thought he got the problem. Apparently that was not the problem! So, now we will need a whole new roof! Since we have no idea how long this leaking has been going on, we will probably end up ripping our kitchen out and getting a remodel! It's funny, I was just talking to my mom about refacing our cabinets! As much as I don't like the thought of spending all that money, I'm excited about it!! I never really cared for our kitchen. It is all white and is hard to keep clean, not to mention the lack of cabinets and the horrible countertop that absorbs every single thing that is spilled on it! Thank goodness for Clorox Clean Up.

I've been thinking about just going all out with the home improvements. We need new windows badly. We weren't going to put them in since we were thinking of moving within the next year or so, but if we have to remodel the kitchen and put on a new roof, I think we'll stay for at least another 5 years! So, why not get new windows and new siding while we're at it?! It'll be fun, right? It'll cut in to the [non existant] scrapping budget though! LOL

Speaking of scrapping, I LOVE my new Cricut Expression!! It's so fun and there are SO many possibilities! I played around with it for about an hour the other night, just cutting some fun things out!

Here are a few random layouts.
Macy and Jack goofing off. She created these silly glasses out of pipe cleaners!


Some bike adventure pictures. Sorry for this bad pic!


The little monster!


Have a great week!! Hopefully I'll update more often this week!

Happy 33rd Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday to my hubby!!! Yep, he's 33 years old today!! To celebrate, he went to work! haha! He got his big present on Father's Day, his upgraded handheld GPS, so today wasn't very exciting! The kids sang happy birthday to him and he got one of Macy's famous cards!

I finally caved today and bought the kids some Floam. Macy has only been bugging for it for probably 2 years, when we first started seeing the commmercials on tv! I just couldn't stand the thought of paying $7 for styrofoam balls in glob! One of my favorite little craft stores is going out of business and they are currently at least 30% off of everything, so I broke down today! I think it was $4.49. They are playing with it now and having a blast so I looked up a knock off recipe for it and will probably make some, as long as I can find the polystyrene beads!

Speaking of that little craft store, I am so sad! I love that place! They have great prices and cool fabrics! The scrapbook section wasn't the greatest, but I could always find something to buy. I am definately sad to see The Rag Shop go. Their space sure would make a great LSS though! Any takers?

Here are my other projects for ILove2Create's July kit featuring the Rouge de Garance Limited Edition papers!! The technique was office supplies. Fun Stuff!! They are also looking for the next guest designer for August!! You can check out the message board for details!




This is a little mini album that I made using a CD Mailer. I'm going to use it for summer day trips!

More weekend fun!!

We had another busy weekend here!

It's the Lower Alsace Ambulance's 20th anniversary so they had a little celebration yesterday. There was a parade, the kids got to ride along with Daddy in the squad truck. Afterwards there was a cookout and presentation. Lots of yummy food and awards presented! It brought a little tear to my eye when the founder was talking about the beginning of the ambulance and all the struggles it has overcome!


Jack loves pretending to drive the ambulance!!


This morning, we loaded up the bikes and headed to Jim Thorpe to bike Lehigh Gorge State Park, which runs right along side the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway! It was beautiful. The kids (and Chris) loved watching the train ride by 3 times while we were out!


We did about 10 miles this time. I did not think I would make it! The first leg of the ride must've been on a slight uphill grade! My legs started to feel the burn almost immediately!! We took many breaks!


I wanted to turn around but Chris refused! The ride back was SO much easier! I think it took half the time on the way back!



Chris found an old Benchmark from 1932 on the old rail bridge at the point we turned around at!! Very cool!!


When we were all loaded back up, we drove right into Jim Thorpe and had an early supper at our favorite restaurant there, JT's. I've never had a bad meal there and this time was no exception!!

We got home around 6:30. I had been planning to scrap tonight. I was designing a layout in my head the whole time we were bike riding!! Guess what though? I am TOO TIRED to go and do it!! I was even going to play with my new Cricut Expression and use it for my layout!! Bummer!! I better relax tomorrow and not exert too much energy so I can scrap when the kids go to bed!

Hope you all had a great weekend!!