I swear my heart stopped beating

Or at least if sure felt that way. Then I woke up. I'm still thanking God it was just a bad dream. One that let me know exactly how my Mother In Law felt the day the police came to the door and told her that Chris had died.
It feels like a hole in your heart. I get ahead of myself though.
It was a dream nothing but a bad dream. Of a place I didn't recognize, but seemed familiar. It was home in the dream. For some reason there was a fire a few blocks away. No worry right? In this dream Bryce stayed home with the dog in the back yard. The backyard had 2 sheds in it. Don't ask me about that detail but it sticks in my mind. I remember being with a friend. Then going home. Except the firemen wouldn't let me get back to the house. I told them my son was there. The next thing I recall, after all dreams kinda jump from place to place and all that, is being back at a neighbors house and watching the fire flash and jump over several houses right into the backyard. Then the next thing is someone saying the fire department was monitoring and at that time the dog stopped making noise and all signs of life including Bryce stopped. They were sorry but Bryce was GONE! There is no describing the feeling. The world went blank just all white, and my heart felt an empty hole tear through it. Then I woke up. I just couldn't shake the feeling of being so afraid that I was going to lose Bryce. Phil had to drag Bryce into our bed before going to work. I'm still trying to shake that feeling of dread. If you've read this far thanks for listening/reading. I know crazy thing to write about but I just can't seem to shake this dream. I feel so exhausted like I never got any sleep. Yet I'm afraid to sleep because of the dream. I guess I'll try to get some layouts done now.

Mele Kalikimaka!

That's Hawaiian for Merry Christmas. I want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas. Not just here in the U.S.A. but all my friends that I have gotten to know around the globe. To all my cousins that I have had the chance to communicate with this last year, and those I so miss and have not. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Day.

OH GREAT!

I need to take Francis to the doctors to confirm it but I think he has the chicken pox! Sure looks like it anyway. At first I was trying to figure out what he's been eating that could be causing his eczema to flair up. After all he was vaccinated a 2yo. Then he got out of the shower tonight going "MOM this itches SOOOO BAD!" I took one look and thought "oh great!" He may be vaccinated but he has chicken pox. I looked up some visuals online and it looks the same. Poor kid. Now I have the itches just thinking about it. At least Phil and I have already had the chicken pox. Bryce well it might not be so bad if he gets them but he's been vaccinated too. Blah!

Just one week left

and I am still not into the Christmas thing. Can you tell I have to make my cards today print them up and get them ready to mail. That way when we are out tomorrow for Contenders for the Faith I can mail them out. Matter of fact!!! We won't go shopping till next weekend. Heck maybe I should stop playing around and get that card designed a printed what do you think?

Yes Josiah

We have never met your mother in person. Still we feel like we know her like a sister. In the bible, it says

“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19 NIV

You, your siblings, and your mom needed help. God called on our hearts to do his biding. I hope that this is a lesson of how God answers prayers in the most surprising ways. God is great yes, but God it also good to us all the time. Remember that.

I got a few layouts done.

At First Evangelical Church Vancouver we always had a Christmas Eve show, or play. For 2005 our last Christmas there it was a play that gave a first hand account of the birth of Christ, as witnessed by the Inn Keeper. -December 24, 2005-
Kit used is Mid Winter's Eve by Christy Sturm at Butternug Squash and NDISB.

For the Christmas show at Francis’ preschool, Portland Christian, Francis got the part of the Inn Keeper. December 2001
Kit used is Mid Winter's Eve by Christy Sturm at Butternug Squash and NDISB. Circle stitches by Gina Miller. Font in title is FrancineHmkBold, journaling is Pea Girly Girls Print.

This is what you get with the lights off, the tree lit, a flash, and 2 active boys. A really cool ghost effect. Francis and Bryce had a great time goofing off just for the pictures. December 2006.
Kit is Rustic Christmas by Shandy Vogt at Elemental Scraps.

Winter is Here!

Yep snow is on the ground and it's COOOOOOOLD! That and I haven't taken any of my pain medication or muscle relaxers for a week now. So I'm sore but I can think straight at least. Can you tell? I redecorated! I love it when I can think straight enough to look at code and understand it, kinda sorta. LOL!

Check out my Challenge!

Butternug Squash Forums I've got an impromptu (did I spell that right?)challenge going on at BSD. Stop by take the challenge and I'll give you my homemade calendar file for this month and next just so you can do the challenge. Just post in the comments or email me and I send you the file.

Happy Dance!

I NEVER win. This time though I did win something! haha! I just won a Gift Certificate for Amazon.com!!! using Blingo for my searches. yeahhahahaaa! I'm doing the happy dance!

So Not Fair!

I tell you she only gives you a part each week. I though the story was supposed to be for her Anniversary, and that's long gone. She'll probably take another year and it will be her next year anniversary that she'll finish this! ARRRGGGGGGHHHHH!
Confessions of a Pioneer Woman » Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: A Love Story. Part XXII

Happy Turkey Day!

Hope everyone in the US had a great Thanksgiving, and your now sitting in that haze of tryptophan serotonin releasing coma. Me I thankful for all that leftover turkey! Surprisingly there seemed to be not as much as I anticipated. Dern boys just keep eating more and more. Oh well, that's life with two growing boys. I got a bee in my bonnet to work on decorating the blog for Christmas. We'll see how it goes tonight. If not I'll be home tomorrow GLUED to this chair refusing to go out on black Friday. Trust me I worked retail tooooooo many years to not know better.

I Was Thinking...

that maybe I'll do a recipe page. What do you think? I love taking recipes and morphing them into my own unique dish. I just hope I can keep it up. I have been such a bad blogger lately.

39 Days

Yep only 39 days left till Christmas. Just a mere measly 8 days till Black Friday. I plan on staying home then. Matter of fact ebay and Amazon.com sound very appealing right now.
Matter of fact it will be less than 24 hours and I will be another year older. I'm not sure if I'll be wiser.
Well I guess that's about it. My brain is foggy with the muscle relaxers so I can't think. Word of advice don't stop taking your muscle relaxers after a fall down the stairs. Unless the doctor says so anyway. I stopped taking them because I don't like the way they make me feel. Like now I can't seem to think straight or type straight. Well by Saturday I was in sooooo much pain. I was crying, and could barely move. Now I'm taking them and I can't think, but I don't hurt any way. I'm going to go take my foggy brain off to bed now while I can walk straight that is.

Veterans Day!

Layout is done with a mixture from the Military Kits at Butternug Squash Designs

Coming from a family with cousins in the military I can't forget today. Uncles, my Dad all served in our military. My brother who maybe a civilian, still does his duty serving as an engineer for our Navy. I want to make sure that everyone remembers that we have the freedom to say what we think because of ALL VETERANS! Don't use that freedom to insult the work that they do everyday for us. Make sure you use that freedom to thank them for what we have. I thank God for them everyday. Do you?

A Sprained Right Side

Yep I guess when I fell down the stairs I grabbed the hand rail so hard I wrenched all the muscles. There by spraining my right side. I also bashed both knees which are messed up already. So now I'm on muscle relaxers and the Dr. said sleep lots of sleep so the tissues can heal. I'm still surprised that there weren't any nail gouges in the handrail. I'll live though.

Got another great blog for you

So how did this not get posted?! I guess the fall just has me all jumbled up. Well here it is just a little late.

The Country Doctor's Wife I got this link from the "Pioneer Woman". Another great blog I have to share with you.
Now I'm going to go run off the the Urgent Care. Because blacking out on the stairs didn't kill me just skred me really bad and now I my right arm and side hurt real bad. Matter of fact I think I'm miss spelling almost every word and it's just getting more sore. That and I'm sure when I stand up my knees are going to protest. BUT! I did save the COFFEE! LOL! How lame was that? Or should I say how lame was I? Well I'm off!

Allrecipes

I just love this site. I had 3 gianormous leftover baked potatoes so before they went bad I figured I needed to make something with them. I already did twice baked potatoes last week. Then I got this great idea! Baked Potato Soup!!! I asked the boys what they thought and they were like YEAH! so I poked around on line for a good recipe. For one it was going to have to use bacon in the recipe. I had 3 strips of thick cut bacon leftover and it would be perfect. I also used my homemade soy milk and vegetable broth (had to save my chicken broth for other meals). Then I took my hand blender and gave the potatoes a few jolts. Just enough to break them up a little. I still wanted some nice chunks in it. OH MY! It was sooooo yummy! You just have to give this recipe a try.
Oh, and I do still have one potato left. Maybe I'll just eat it cold. mmmmmm
Baked Potato Soup

This is sooooo not fair!!!

OK I have to complain. Not a bad complain, a good complain, MAYBE! My friend Kathy started me on this blog "Confessions of a Pioneer Woman", which in some ways this will be better for you than it has been for me. It started off as a story about how she met her husband "Marlboro Man" (as she calls him). Just leading us on with one episode after another, just a tease here and a little more there. BLAH! Well this has been going on for WEEKS now. I swear I'm going to go crazy if she keeps this up. It is better than any soap opera I have ever watched. Way better than "Who Shot JR" or Flamingo Road or Knotts Landing. Start at part one and hope and pray she finishes the story before you get to the last episode, or you'll go crazy too! The suspense is just way too much for me I just had to share this with you all so you can join in the hundreds of others screaming for more. OK done with the fit, sorry if I put you in the same situation. heehee! I just had to have someone else I know screaming for more too. haha! Let me know if your hooked too.
Confessions of a Pioneer Woman » Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: A Love Story

Kailua High School - Class of 1982

Class Report
This is for all my classmates. There is a new site that is FREE! All they ask is if you can afford it to donate and help keep the site going. So for everyone that is like dishing out the bucks like was at classmates.com or reunion.com go get registered. Theresa has volunteered to be admin for the site. So far Ian Benouis, Chris Connely, Colleen and Seth Connell, Ruby Lui, Bernie Solomon, The Reis Moniz Brothers, Kurt Hutchison, Jim Jackson, David Morse, Kehaulani Asing, and lots more have found the site. So come join us! Let everyone know about it too!

Busy Busy Busy!

Well I had a great time while my mom was here. I really hated to take her to Salt Lake Airport. Now it seems just a little oh I don't know empty. Yeah I would say there's a little empty spot in our lives here. I know the boys really miss her too.
On the homeschool front we have started the Mystery of History curriculum. I ssssoooooo lack in the history department. I'm finding this really pretty easy to do. Of course the hardest part so far has been finding the laminating sheets today. I ended up going out and buying more. By golly I'm going to do this time line right! LOL!
Then I have like hundreds of photos to go through and scrap too. I think it's easier when you get a kit or 2 each week to work with, but when you get behind have three totally awesome designers and like 923754 photos it gets to be just a bit much. I feel so overwhelmed looking at all of it and needing to get some layouts done.
I just would like to find some nice down time and be able to scrap, read, and sew. Just leave the school work out. even though we had 2 weeks off for my mom being here we still did school work. I just hope I can pull of my half of the job. The boys are really doing a great job. Bryce is really putting up the effort of trying to read on his own and Francis is trying to do more than he can handle. I actually found myself telling him tonight to slow it down and not burn himself out. I just hope this week is as great as last week. We will just have to see. I'll try to keep up more on my posting too. Really I'll try.

Christy's Blog

I could write that it's snowing again. I could write about mom leaving. I could write about her visit. I could even write about what we're doing in homeschool, but I'm going to link you to my friend Christy's Blog for a very important message.

September 29th

I was just reading my friend Angie's blog and was reminded that this was the day her daughter Caroline had her heart surgery. If you want to read up on it go here. Check out the layouts Angie did last year about the surgery. When you get to the last one you will see why Caroline has captured the hearts of everyone that sees her. Here's to you Caroline.

SNOW!

WOW! What a year first we have the hottest July ever recorded. Now we have Snow in September. I could see late October or in November but end of September? It isn't sticking so the roads are clear, but it's supposed to start again this evening. My brother is thinking of leaving for Salt Lake tonight so he won't have to drive in any possible ice or snow tomorrow morning. After all he's from Hawaii and not a state that has regular snow in the winter. Pictures of our snow.

MOM IS HERE!

Oh yeah and my grumbley brother. Grumbley is that a word? I'll have to go look that one up. So any way! They got here on Saturday afternoon so that was spent getting them settled in.
Sunday mom came to church with us. Casey as usual refused to go. You know all my childhood I went to church. No wait I was forced to go to church, while he got to sleep in on Sunday. He still refuses to go to church. Monday we were going to go to the Idaho Museum of Natural History, but they were closed. Figures right. Not only that but Phil had some appointments he had to keep so we stayed close to home.
Monday night we got the call that it was time to go potato gleaning so Tuesday they got a taste of our usual fall activity. We gleaned close to 6 bags of potatoes too. Talk about beat we were worn out.
Wednesday we went to Soda Springs to see the captured geyser. They also have a phosphorus plant out there and we got to watch them dump the slag creating a form of man made lava flow. That was really cool to see.
Today or yesterday now we went to Yellowstone Park to see Old Faithful. The geysers there are really pretty with these beautiful colors. I have like 400 photo's that I'm downloading now. I'll try to remember to get some posted here later on. Now I'm going to let the computer continue to download and go to sleep. Updates later gang!

SIGH***

I don't like to show my political opinions usually BUT!!! I have to say I really do no support Mitt Romney. Personally I think he is part of the LDS church trying to force themselves on the rest of the world. He will try to become President by any means even lying. Just watch this video and see what I mean. O! and I apologize to Bush Jr. There are other options worse than him as President! Mitt Romney!

Hey I got a new calendar

What do you know the month isn't over yet and I actually got around to making a new desktop for this month. I finally got so frustrated trying to find the right calendar that I made my own perpetual calender. Now I'm set! So hopefully I can get my October one done before my mom gets here Saturday.

I used the kit I Met a Boy by Michelle Godin for this desktop.

My poor neglected blog

I have so ignored my blog. So much has been happening and I just don't know where to start.
The church had their School Supply Giveaway. That was a success. Next year we plan on expanding it to all of Pocatello not just Chubbuck. I'll post some pictures later since those are all on my desktop. I did do a few layouts from that too.

To top it off we started school this last Tuesday. I'm returning to the Lapbooks, or Thematic approach again. Makes it easy to wing when you still have books in boxes. Tuesday we started with Science and the microscope. I tell you they wanted to do the whole 3 months in just 1 day. I had to stop them at 3:30. LOL! We flew through our reading assignments Wednesday so they could hit the microscope again. That was a big mistake. I knew it felt like a headache was starting, but I think the lights in my eye triggered a migraine. I was down for the count. I'm still dealing with it just on a lesser scale now. 4 days and counting.
Thursday it came down to the absolute have to fix the fish pond day. The pond was losing water to the point we had to fill it almost every 2 hours or the poor fishes had no water. So I had to go buy a fish net and some pond adhesive to fix the pond. We move the fishes to the top pond and let the bottom go till there was hardly any water left. OH WAIT! What's this? The pump that pumps the water to the top pond for the waterfall is set up just so... and the water siphons backwards and out of the pond! WTF! So all this time the pump has been literally pumping the water out of the pond! No wonder when we bought the house the guy said that they didn't run the pump because "it evaporated the water from the pond too fast." That made no sense to me, but NOW it did. You see he had just set the hose up between some rocks and let her go. Well it ran under the rocks into the pond and around the rocks out of the pond too. So we took the whole shabang apart and used the adhesive to seal the rocks together so not backwashing allowed there. (the adhesive was also for building waterfalls hooray! no extra expense needed there) Then we cut a longer hose so the water doesn't really hit the rocks, but goes into the pond. So it's dark about now and we have to clean out the bottom pond might as well since it's empty anyway. Fill it and run it over night. Yippee! No water loss! Fishy's are saved!
Friday was another busy day. We did the first co op classes for the PCHA. Very small not ready for anything like First Class but a forward step anyway. Then we went gleaning for fruit. I just wish I knew where all the fruit went to. Last year there was tons of fruit this year it was sad really sad.
Matter of fact now that I think about it last year there were tons of stickers and weeds around and this year there were none of those too.
Today is just work on the yard day and relax. We had thought to go to the fair but the fishy rescue took that money. So we have prepaid tickets for the Reel Theater and we're going to do the family movies tonight. Just which one first. "Evan Almighty" or "Pirates" hmmm.

WalMart and Disney are full of it!

My seven year old picked up one of those all access tickets from Wal Mart for the High School Musical thing at Disney.com. I have never been able to "connect to the server" to finish his registration so I could enter his ticket number. Now I have a very upset seven year old! My advice don't bother the next time they try to do a big promotion at Wal Mart. It was a totally bogus promotion. I doubt any of the "Kids" were able to register. I was never able to find an email to let them know I had a problem either. So beware the next time! I sure will!

The Reluctant Recluse

You have got to check out this blog. She has some awesome layouts posted there and to top it off with extra icing she is giving away a calendar template every month. That is so nice of her isn't it? So go check it out.

Check It Out!

We have a blog for the Amazing Digi Scrapping Race 2! I'm going to try to keep up my layout posts. So stop by and check out our latest layouts for the race.

Free, Free!

I meant to post this yesterday but took a nap instead. OPPS! The rental house is rented! The new renters moved in Saturday! Hooray!!!! So now all we have to do is wait for them to figure out how much we get back. Face it the only thing they had to do was clean the carpets cause they could get a better deal. I did the cleaning and the house is in waaaaay better shape than when we moved in last year. My only advice to the owner is to install a sprinkler system since that yard is so hard to water. Might be able to keep the grass alive that way. Off to church now. Have a Happy Sunday.

Out of the rental

Now we just need to get it rented. Yep since our lease isn't up yet we need to be the ones to find someone to replace us. So if you know anyone in Pocatello that is looking for a house to rent I know of one. The house is waaaayyyy cleaner than it was when we moved in, and the old rancid paint smell is now gone. It even has air conditioning. All for just $850 a month. Just email me and I can take you for a look see.

Little update on me here.

I am so pooped. This house had better rent quick with as much moving that we have done and the weather seems to like hitting 100F. Matter of fact the radio said today was over 100F! The guys are moving boxes and 2 other homeschool moms came to help with the cleaning. We finished sometime after midnight. I sooooo want this to be over. Tomorrow and this part of the nightmare will be over. Then I have to get my dishwasher and microwave installed in the new house. Yipee! Get the kitchen in order and I'm taking a break and scrapping for a week straight! That's my grief therapy. I have a ton of photos my MIL has emailed me that I'll be making a scrapbook for her and SIL. Any who I've got to be up early and at the rental house by 9am. ICK!

Little update on me here.

I am so pooped. This house had better rent quick with as much moving that we have done and the weather seems to like hitting 100F. Matter of fact the radio said today was over 100F! The guys are moving boxes and 2 other homeschool moms came to help with the cleaning. We finished sometime after midnight. I sooooo want this to be over. Tomorrow and this part of the nightmare will be over. Then I have to get my dishwasher and microwave installed in the new house. Yipee! Get the kitchen in order and I'm taking a break and scrapping for a week straight! That's my grief therapy. I have a ton of photos my MIL has emailed me that I'll be making a scrapbook for her and SIL. Any who I've got to be up early and at the rental house by 9am. ICK!

This has not been a fun day

It's been a day full of mixed emotions. I will write this up when I have a chance and post it for you. Right now the brains are kind of foggy for us.
I wrote down our Tuesday for those that are still wondering what happened.

This morning I was doing the hit the snooze button thing with my alarm clock when the phone rang. When I answered I heard this gasping sound. Turns out it was my mother in law. She just kept repeating my name, in this gasping way. The hazard lights turned on in my brain and I KNEW something was wrong. At first I thought it was Phil’s step dad Herb, but then she started repeating Chris, Chris. Chris is dead. What!? Dead!? No bad joke! Not funny as far as I was concerned. So I asked what happened. Did he have and accident?
“No” she said “he died in his sleep.”
Right then I told her I had to hang up and call Phil. “Your going to call Phil?” she asked me like she didn’t understand what I said.
“Yes, I’m calling Phil”
So we hung up and I called Phil’s cell phone. Left a message, then a pager number with 911 on it, and started the ring the phone hang up ring again till he answered. It was not the type of news anyone wants to give their spouse. Phil called his mom then his work sent him home. Talk about a loooooong day. Bryce still had a baseball game to play so we went and watched that. In the mean time Phil called the mortgage company and asked to have our escrow signing moved up. Good thing too. Turns out the funeral arraignments were made for Thursday morning. This meant that we had to leave for Portland ASAP. We took the van in for an oil change, went to the escrow signing, and purchased drinks and food for the drive to Portland. We got the dishes washed so no icky dishes when we get back, and washed clothes to pack. By the time everything was ready it was 3am, and off to Portland we went. More on that adventure later.

Friday will never get here!

After Friday we can breath easy about the house purchase. But until then I'm terrified I'll be stuck renting this stinky old place for another year. So everybody! Pray! Pray real hard that all goes well!

Yep still up

I'm still up and wondering how the day went for Francis and Phil. Talk about getting a bad nights sleep. I couldn't sleep last night because I was so worried the boys wouldn't wake up to meet the rest of the den to go up to the camp grounds. Never fear here comes Francis at 5am, a good 15 minutes before Phil's alarm went off. Never the less I still didn't go to sleep till after they left at 10 to 6. Then I had to get up at 7 am to get Bryce up fed, and ready for his baseball game. Never fear here comes Bryce right at 7am to make sure I got up. Where would we be with out these wonderful little guys. LOL! So if your wondering technically we don't keep a win loss score, but Bryce's team lost again. These little guys and gals are all new to Tiger Ball league so the scales have been just a little uneven for them. Their having a great time playing ball though which is all that matters.
Today Bryce and I cashed in my points at Subway for a foot long sandwich, and then I took him for a shaved ice.(yeah that's right here in Chubbuck we have REAL! Hawaiian Shaved Ice! Not that fake stuff) It was a cheap date with mom paying. Heehee: The rest of today was spent just lazing around Bryce played on his computer, and I have so far washed too many dishes and still have a ton more to go. Then we grilled up some hotdogs for Bryce and me for dinner. Along with that I grilled up some eggplant , and zucchini for me. While I had the items out I threw together a Caponata yummy. Then Bryce wanted cookies so I made some of my famous Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies for him. The little booger changed his mind then and wanted soft pretzels. Now I'm pooped out and have another busy day tomorrow. I will sleep in though this time.
Oh, and so long as nothing blows up on us this next week we will be closing on our house next Friday Yaaa! We are so broke right now with all our money into this and paying bills. At least after this the payments will be for our own house not someone elses. sheeesh! Well I'm going to go crash maybe if I can stop worrying about Francis and Phil.

Diamond Backs Proved Me Wrong!

Well last night I told Melly that Francis' team the Diamond Backs would lose their game since they won the night before. "It never fails. They always lose the second game when they play 2 in a row." So now I'm eating my words. They almost gave the game away at one point when they were behind by 6 points in the 4th inning at 4 to 10. Then they pulled themselves up by their well you know, and held the other team back and managed to pull of a win by 1 POINT Yep 11 to 10! So I didn't jinx them Melly. LOL!
In the morning Francis leaves super early for scout camp and lucky Phil gets to go. I get to stay home and take Bryce to his baseball game. Lets hope I crawl out of bed early enough on my own. ACK! I guess we will see. Night all long day tomorrow.

2007 ALS DoubleDay Bike Ride

The ALS Association:: "2007 ALS DoubleDay Bike Ride"

My cousin Shari will be riding in this years Double Day Bike Ride. So I'm giving her some free ad time here on my blog. Go by her site and read all about ALS and maybe even sponser her. Thanks!

Which do you like better?

Sometimes I just can't decide if I like something I did.
There's the first one.


And then there's the second one.


Which one do you prefer?

New Scrap Collection

As I said in the previous post I'm a guest CT for Michelle Godin this month. woohoo! Any waaaays. She has a new collection out called "Reel Inspiration" Totally awesome papers and alphas. I figured I give it a little push here before I head to bed. I can't wait to do some Pirate Party layouts with the Savvy Papers. I'll post those when I get them done.

Yard Sale Bonanza!

You'll be proud of me to know that I resisted very well. We did pick up some catcher stuff for Bryce. $4 instead of who knows how much. I also picked up a whole set of Childcraft books for just 2 bucks! Yep that was my goal look for books we can use for homeschool. We spent more on Shave Ice later. heehee. It was a nice day for us just enjoying the nice weather and being together. God has been good to us since we've moved here, and we are enjoying it.
No layouts tonight I may do one later on since Michelle Godin has a new one in the works, but I won't be able to post it till she says ok. Talk about designers things are getting slow since all my designers are taking off this week. That's fine with me I need to start working on cleaning and packing this place up for moving. I just don't know when the move is going to happen. Just have to leave that in Gods hands for now. And as I leave you I recommend stop by Christy's blog and read up on her vacation so far. That's the Motherhood Unscripted link.

Re-Decorated!

Well the rest of the day went by pretty good. It rained most of the day but stopped in enough time that Francis got to go to practice. I went to Wal-Mart and got some necessities and some splurges. Most of all I sure hope the lime away works on all the hard water marks around the sinks. If not it's off to Don Aslets. Now it's time to get the house cleaned up for moving. I have to remember to stop by the liquor store and ask for boxes. You know those are perfect for moving. Now the only question is will the sellers be ready to move out at the end of the month or will they be renting the house back from us for another month or two. It has to be either the end of the month since Phil has that week off or else they can stay till August. Phil won't have another week off till the last week in August so we would be moving until then anyway. Just pray that every thing goes smoothly.

Another failed chat

I must be the loser of the century. No one ever shows up for my chats. I don't even know why I bothered to wait to go to the store. I should have just gone. I just spent an hour alone in the chat room. I guess I should spend some time making custom actions so I can bribe people to the chat with a freebie. Though that doesn't even seem to work. I'm feeling like just giving this chat business up. I know next month it's not happening because it sounds like I'll be in the middle of a move and might not have internet connection. I doubt if anyone will miss it. So much for the pity party, I'm going to WalMart!
Well on the bright side things are going along pretty good for then house. I just hope this one gets rented out right away so we won't have to pay the rent on this and a house payment at the same time.

Two More Layouts

and I'm rather pleased with how they turned out.
The paper is from the set Nature Papers, Doodles from the kit Chansey all by Shandy Vogt at Elemental Scraps. Title done with Black Rubon Alphas by Christy Sturm at Butternug Squash.


Kit is Sweltering Summer by Michelle Godin at Scrapbook Graphics. Mask is Photo FX by Shandy Vogt at Elemental Scraps. Title is from Ten Very Random Titles by Jen Wilson

OK I know I'm tired

Bryce had his first baseball meeting and practice today then Francis had his game tonight. The last time we played this team the pulverized us but this time the boys held there own. Then they WON! WOOHOOO!
The boys did a great job tonight. Tomorrow or should I say today Bryce has his first game at 9am I know don't say it. Then Francis has another game tonight too. Busy busy busy! I just hope I have time to get a layout done. In the mean time I was organizing my layouts when I found one I had done for a scraplift. Call me dense, call me a dork but I forgot which site this challenge was at and who's gallery. Totally DUH! But I'll post it any way.
Kit is Paramount, with Swass Masks all by Shandy Vogt.

It's a Rendezvous!

Today we took the kids to the mountain man Rendezvous. It was hot and DUSTY! First we went up to Kathy and Denny's house where they gave the kids a review about Mountain Men and what a Rendezvous was all about. Then we headed out to the rendezvous. We got there just as they were starting the kids games. So the boys got to get candy from the Candy Cannon. Yep Candy Cannon, sort of like a pinata just they blow the candy out of a cannon. Then Francis and Bryce did the Three Legged Race. They won bead necklaces from that. Pin The Tail on the Buffalo was a blast too. Then they got rock candy and taffy, with a sugar high on the side. LOL! By then my knees were hurting and it was really hot, and dusty with cotton wood fluff floating around like snow.
We went back to Kathy and Denny's for lunch and spent some time looking at all the things they've been doing to the place. Kathy's garden is starting to really get growing, and Denny is putting in a huge workshop. I just love going up there and looking down over the valley below. And while we were there the humming birds kept showing up at the feeders. They are so cool to watch and their wings make this humming/buzzing sound. Then we headed back home to maybe meet with the realestate agent. We'll do that tomorrow after church. I'll keep you updated on the house sale in the mean time. That's it for tonight.

Elemental Scraps Newest Designer! Shandy Vogt!

Elemental Scraps has some new designers and Shandy it one of them. She has some new stuff just for the opening of her store. You won't find it at her other store so stop by and check it out.

finetune

finetune
I found a new video player. It works much better than and it fits without playing with the code! So much for VideoCure, I give up with that one. Finetune lets you have a max of 3 songs per ARTIST! Up to 45 Songs!!! I'm all for it! Oh and the cherry on top it shuffles the music everytime you start it up. Check it out!

Guest CT Gig This Month

Credits:Kit is Popsicle Punch, Quirky Word Tags from Quirktionary 1 Shakesperean by Michelle Godin at Scrapbook Graphics. Vintage frame is by Nancy Comelab. Quirky Month Tab by Poppy Andrews. String on tag from Grace Bennette. Dropshadow from Traci Murphy.

My first layout for my guest spot on Michelle Godin's Creative Team. I never thought that I would use those fairy wings on a layout. Then I saw this photo of Madeline goofing off on a swing. Tell me doesn't it look like she's flying? Her sweater and the wings match so perfect too. I did the whole layout with Michelle's new kit Popsicle Punch, and her Quirktionary 2 kit. So how'd I do with a girly layout.

AHHHHH! I Made It For A Second Time!

Natural Designs in Scrapbooking has one of my layouts on it's main homepage for this week. Each week they choose 5 layouts of the week and this is the second time I've had a layout make it. I see all these awesome layouts out there and just can't see any of mine being even close to them, and yet they actually thought this layout good enough to put on the main page. This is one of the pages I've made for Mike and Becca's wedding book. I'm so jazzed that now I know I'll get this book done. It's taken me awhile but it'll be done. I love you Mike and Becca!

Here is the layout!

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Strawberry Meth

Just a little warning, well maybe a big warning!
Urban Legends Reference Pages: Strawberry Meth

I haven't announced it yet but...

I'm on a second Creative Team!! That's right the lady with a full plate just made it fuller. LOL! I'm not only creating layouts for Christy at Butternug Squash Designs but now am creating layouts for Shandy Vogt! You can find her store at shandyvogtdesigns.com. Isn't that awesome?!?!?!

chills blog

I found the most amaaaaazing blog today. She has some really awesome layouts I'm just going to have to lift!
chills blog

You know Bryce is sick when

he doesn't run off to his computer to play games. Doesn't eat his favorite breakfast, lunch or dinner. He woke up Tuesday not feeling well and with a raging fever. Thursday he woke up and said his neck hurt and had no voice. Hooray for something. LOL! So off to the doctors we went. Turns out they say it's the virus that causes croup in infants. Since he's older he has a larger air passage and there for is just plain old miserable. Francis has been sick too and not getting better either. Same virus it seems. Hopefully by Monday it will have run it's course and they'll be back to normal and Francis will be off to baseball practice. I'll be able to go to the gym again, and life will be back to it's abnormal self.

What's your Hobbit name?

Mine is Orangeblossom Bramble of Willowbottom. Check it out and see what yours is.

What Vicky Mean

What Vicky Means

V is for Vivid I is for Intelligent C is for Charming K is for Kind Y is for Young

What Does Your Name Mean?

Adonai

I had a friend send me a link for a dance they did for Passover. She said I could post this on my blog and share. Enjoy the video.

Facing the Giants

Another really good movie. One that I highly recommend for the whole family. Yeah, yeah I know it's a football movie, but how the coach goes about creating an all star team is what it's about. How do you take a team that is down in the dumps to the heights of glory? Especially when your own life feels like it's down in the dumps too. By faith, total and complete blind faith. Starting with your own life, living it, breathing it, believing it, with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul. Then you take this and apply it to your team teach them by showing them in you life. Show them that by faith they can do anything, go any where, if that is what God wants for you. With this plan in place he watches his team grow in all way in their lives, coming to Christ each in his own time and way, at the same time growing in his faith too. The effects of this team plan is far reaching and you can see it in the school faculty and students. The Parents see the changes in their kids, and the effects on the family. The movie is more than a football sport movie. It's about how faith can make us all winners in our lives, whether we win or lose. So again if you haven't seen this movie you must see it. I've tried to give you enough, without giving you everything. Since I was so tired of hearing just you have to see this. But now....
YOU HAVE GOT TO SEE THIS MOVIE! LOL!

One Night With the King

Basically the book of Esther. A wonderful biblical story about a Jewish slave girl that becomes a queen. With her position as queen she is able to save the Jewish people. Well written and acted the pages of the bible come to life. The sets and costumes are rich, colorful. The actors are amazing in their parts, bringing the lives and people of the bible to life. This movie is a must see. If you haven't seen it yet make sure you get this I know this is on my list of movies to buy, because I want to see it again.

Casino Royale

I had heard mixed reviews on this movie. Don't be fooled! It was actuallyreally good. Basically how James Bond gets his "007" code. Lots of modernization with our times etc. but very good. Now I know where "Shaken not Stirred" came from. LOL! And the ending REALLY GOOD! Not the typical tryst in the end makes for a really good end. I recommend that if you get a chance to get this one.

Happy Easter

Yeah I know it was yesterday. I still want to say He is Risen!

Any way we were woken up by the boys at 6am! NOT! We sent them back to bed. LOL! Then when we did wake up they went on the traditional egg hunt and got all the eggs. No rotten eggs this year. Blah! We then had breakfast and headed to church. As usual it was a great day at church. Josh was back so it was really nice to see him. He looked great you wouldn't know that they removed 8inches(I believe it was) of his small intestine unless you were told. We then came home and stuck the ham in the oven for dinner. Phil got the barbecue going and made some buffalo burgers going. Those were sooooo good! We'll be having those again. Followed by a nice long nap. heehee.

Dinner was good, really good! After dinner we watched the movie everyone has been raving about "Facing the Giants". Totally awesome movie. I'll do some movie reviews here in a little bit. Right now I have to grab Bryce and do our daily reading lesson.

Mailbox Surprise!

Today Phil walked in the door rattling a box from the mailbox. What? I haven't ordered anything from Amazon really! Then I saw that it was from Lesley! Lesley is on the same Creative Team as me at Butternug Squash. It was toys for the boys and of all things!

Some green tea powder I have been looking all over for! My supply that I had bought in Portland before the move was gone and she went out and found it for me! I am so jazzed! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You are so totally awesome! In Japanese URESHI!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I've finally redecorated. How do you like it? it's Christy's newest kit Tropical Sorbet. I have some Hawaii pictures that need to be scanned and scrapped, and this kit will be perfect along with the Conservatory Series. Butternug Squash has a bunch of stuff getting ready to go. New challenges and a few tutorials. I tried out one and did this great layout of Bryce with it.
So how do you like it? I'm hooked now I can't wait to try a few more.
Now Melany can't say I'm neglecting my blog. I'll be sure to write more later.

For The Sake of Bread

Or at least something to do while I can't breath enough to get more than two hours sleep at a time. I found the NY Times website's video on the "No Knead Bread" It has a rise time of 12 hours or more, but other than that it is really simple. I guess if I want to try it I better go look for that cast iron dutch oven that is still packed in a box in the basement.

Stress Relief

Well with all the stress I did this layout as a little stress relief. Hope you all like it.

I've been told!

That I'm neglecting my blog. Yes Melany your right! Things as always have been busy. In the last 2 weeks we have been to so many doctor appointments we need a week to rest now. Phil has been having some lower abdominal pains so he finally! got to the doctors for some testing. Turns out he has Type 2 Diabetes. It was out of control, but had nothing to do with his pain. So it was another doctor, and another test, and more blood, and another test. So far it looks like there's no cancer which is a good thing. They did find something in his intestines and removed it. He's feeling better now so we're not sure if that was causing the pain or just having some time off work gave him a rest. I have to say though going back to work on Monday will be more of a rest for him than all the doctors and tests in the last 2 weeks. His blood sugar is in control now which is good, and all we have to do is wait on one more result on a blood test.
Saturday Bryce participated in the AWANA Games, Spark-O-Rama. His team got Second Place! I'm working on a layout right now for that. I'm sure out of 200 pictures I should find some good ones to do layouts with. Don't you think?

New Photography Challenge

I've posted a new challenge at the Butternug Squash site. Stop by check it out. Post a few pictures and get my Skintone action.

Well What are We Doing?

Let's see it's been awhile but a lot has happened too. Last Friday was the Boyscout Pack Pinewood Derby. We had a blast. Talk about a quiet group though. At first it was so quiet! Then it turns out that lane one had a problem so we had to start all over. That's when the parents started to warm up and yell and cheer! On top of it all can you believe it was a 4 way TIE! So we had to run another 4 heats. GUESS! Who won?! Francis! So we're going to District to race next! On top of that! Think the racing is over? NOT! Saturday we had the AWANA Grand Prix. Francis raced with a different car since he had to use AWANA axels and wheels. So he didn't win that one. But Bryce Got 1st place in the open division for Design. Way To Go Bryce. Do these boys rock or what?! After AWANAS we went and got our taxes done! Are we doing good or what? Sunday was just a oh hum day. I woke up with a sore throat and after church it got worse. Not good! So I stayed home and Phil took the boys to CARE Group. Since then it's been homeschool as usual. Maybe it's me but sometimes I just want to give in and send them to public school. Of course I think they might last a day maybe two before begging to be homeschooled again. I dunno...Maybe I just expect too much from them. I want to homeschool but I keep finding myself slipping into the school at home mode and that just stresses me out waaaay too much. I need to step back and get a grip sometimes. I do miss the First Class Co-0p for sure! Heidi, Kelsy, Lori, Carrie! I miss you guys! Ok pity party is over now. I got some stuff to post but I'm going to do it later. Gots to go look up an ear diagram for class. Till later.

I did a test layout

for Grace Bennett at Digitals. It was for some paper tear templates. I really like them. Here's the layout I did.

The papers are from Atomic Cupcake's kit "It's a Guy Thing"
The paper tear is from Grace Bennett at Digitals.
The font used is Mayfield.

More Layouts

I promised more layouts from The Amazing Digiscrapping Race. Blogger was giving me a small problem with posting them but I guess it's feeling more friendly now.
Did you notice? I changed my blog. I used the kit Snowy by My all time favorite designer Christy Sturm at Butternug Squash Designs.
For the first layout here we had to use consecutive photos and tell what was happening. So I did a little instructional layout. Oh and a twist in the whole thing no 2 items could be from the same designer. Talk about a headache.

Bird Seed Pinecones

This is for the second challenge in week one of the Amazing Digiscraping Race.
Background paper is dana zarling northwoods brownpinebg from Jerri Ingalls Northwoods kit.
Matte papers are from:
Thankful kit by Heather Ann Designs (DST Member kit Nov.)
Fall Velvet by Holly McCaig (DST Member kit Oct.)
Whip Stitching by Lara Payton at Gotta Pixel/Digital Freebies
Metal Acorns by Christy Sturm at Butternug Squash DesignsThe next layout is called Sign of the Times. I think it's pretty self explanatory.

Sign of the Times

This is Challenge 1 in week 2 of The Amazing Digiscrapping Race.
Journaling reads:
A definite sign of the time. There you
are talking on your cell phone and
playing on your computer at the same
time. In my day there was no such thing
as a cell phone much less my own phone.
Computers were massive beasts not
the little laptop that you have today.
Yes it is a definite sign of the times.
Kit used is Wild Child Paisley by Melany Violet at Simply Clean Digiscraps.
Template is template 24 from the kit Simple Sketches 6 by Christy Sturm at Butternug Squash Designs. The note paper is from the kit Where's my List also by Christy Sturm at Butternug Squash Designs.
Fonts used are Letter Gothic Std, and Mayfield.

And then the last one for this week is the ATC showing something about myself. Heehee there I go climbing on my soap box about homeschooling.

Homeschool ATC

Digital ATC done for the second challenge week 2 of the Amazing Digiscrapping Race. I used the kit Elementary by Christy Sturm at Butternug Squash Designs, the heart came from her homeschool quote set. The quote on the chalk board is my own words. Font used is Mistral.

Well I hope you like what I've done so far. I'll post more later.

Amazing Digiscrap Race

Well Melany and I have partnered for the NDIS Amazing Digiscrapping Race. We're Scrappers Without Borders. Being that she is in Canada and I am in the United States. Here's my week one first challenge for the race.

It's a 2 pager and a goal I have for 2007. What do you think? Did it turn out OK? I'll post the next one for week 1 when I get it done. Hopefully I'll get that done by Saturday.

Happy New Year!!!

Last night we spent the evening at our friends the Turners. We had a great time playing games. I've seen advertisements for them but never played them before. So we got home around 1am there abouts any way. I hope everyone out there had a great New Years Eve and a Great Day Today!