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!

Checkout My Friends Freebie!

My friend Melany aka Mellykat made this absolutely yummy freebie. For her first kit it sure could fool you. It looks like she's been making kits for ages. You can grab it at Butternug Squash Designs.

Guess What I got?

Yep my mom finally sent some of the old pictures I wanted from her. Not a lot but a start. Anyone in my family recognize this picture? I know there are some that are no longer with us, but it does bring back memories.

I found another one. How about a piece of history? I think this next one was taken around 1979.

Like all the smog? Yep if I recall it seemed cloudy the whole time we were there. Turns out it was smog!

It's Snowing!

It snowed sometime last night! It was only supposed to be about 4 inches but I think it was more like 6 inches and it's STILL! Snowing! Looks like it will be a White Christmas.


Grandma Dotty sorry your box hasn't made it yet. Maybe tomorrow. If not I'm sure it will be Tuesday.

More Templates!

I made a couple more templates for the Dollar Store cups. Hope you like them. Just click here for the link.

NEVER AGAIN!

That's right I will never use Winkflash again! Everyone sorry the Christmas cards were late getting out but it took them forever! To print my order then ship them out. On top of that they shipped the wrong size card it's not what I ordered! Then the chopped off a good portion of the card. Word of advise if it's cheap expect cheap service. Of course it wasn't so cheap for me they ACCIDENTALLY double charged me. I finally a week after faxing them all the documentation they wanted they send me an email saying that they will credit me back in another 5 to 10 DAYS! If I'm correct that makes it like NEXT YEAR! A bit late for doing some Christmas shopping. And really late to pick up stocking stuffers! This leaves me feeling so burned. I'll try another online company next time. Meanwhile I'll be praying for a Costco to open here.

HA! I Think I Got IT!

I found the place to deactivate that password protect thing. I have no idea what the password was, but it's gone now.

Let's Try AGAIN!

The Link to the tumbler shouldn't be password guarded. But I fiddled with it again see if it works this time. Tumbler Template

I did it again

Sorry I fell off the map again. For those that I promised the template for the Dollar Store Tumblers you can get it here.
If you like them leave me a note, and let me know how they work.

Just as Promised

I had the stomach flu early this week and have been doing the catch up game all week. But I haven't forgotten the Scrapapalooza layouts. It is a mixture of paper scraps and digiscraps. So let me know what you think.








And for the bonus challenges:

Christmas Parade!

Yep! Christmas has officially begun. We skipped the Black Friday mess and just waited till late afternoon to go downtown for the Christmas Parade. Qwest was the parade sponser so we got to sit up front with the Grand Marshall. It was freezing! Well maybe a few degrees lower than that. I'll be using the photos from that for our Christmas cards this year. (I guess I better get going on that tomorrow huh?) So when we got home it was hot showers. ( I got a cold one, ran out of hot water) and hot mulled cider. I figured I would do this real quick before I just didn't do it. If you know what I mean. I still have to get all my Scrapapalooza layouts posted so I'll do that next.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankful for pie kit from Atomic Cupcake. font is John Handy. ATC template is from Tandika at digiscrap designer.

I know it's the end of the day but Thanksgiving seems to be a 4 day weekend thing now days. Today I made us a turkeyand stuffing, some itty bitty new potatos, a sourcream apple pie, and pumpkin pie. I am so thankful that God sent Christ to us for our salvation. He brought us here to Idaho with so many ready new friends. I am thankful for these new friends and the old ones I left in Washington and Oregon, and all my online friends that I have made. I am thankful for family so far away from us now. I am so thankful for my husband and boys. God has been good to us, and has many great things in store for us.

Monday again

It was long enough between blogs that I actually had to go look at my last post. Is that sad or what?
So that bread was a flop. I forgot to add the vital wheat gluten. Not enough gluten means no rise. Which equals something resembling bricks. So Friday I tried again and this time I remembered the gluten. Much better! I had 4 very nice loaves of whole wheat bread. It made for a very educatonal day. The boys got to see the bread happen from grain, to flour, to dough. They got to watch it rise and then formed it into loaves. Of course it was the best bread they ever had. They helped to make it. When that was all done I also made banana bread to take with me on Saturday to the womens craft time. Got the recipe out of the Cake Mix Doctor by Ann Byrn. Good recipe the kids just love it and just as good as my scratch recipe.
Saturday of course I went had a good time knitting and talking. Then I took off to go to a little class on preparing herbal remedies. Haven't done that in years. I'm going to have to get back into doing that. Then when I got home we took off to go look for a buffet for the dining room. I tell you there's alot out there that cost a fortune and is made of junk and looks like junk and the workmanship is crap!!! Can you believe the best deal was a KMart and it not only was just the right size but it was made better than the ones we saw that cost $700 and up! So today I have to finish making the chicken enchiladas for home care group tonight and move some of the dishes in these really high up cabinets. After I wash dishes! Guess I better go do that now. Oh before I leave I have been doing some layouts that I need to post I'll try to do that tonight. Bye

To long...

It has just been too long between blog posts. I don't even remember half of the last week. I really need to keep up on this posting regularly. Well Francis has a messed up back. Glad we caught it now and not later. Took him to his Bithday party. Guess he had a blast. Bryce and I went to Fred Meyers real quick. They had those scrapbook thermal cups on sale and I figured what it would cost to by them online plus shipping would be about the same. I got every cup they had in the store. heehee
Saturday Phil had to work so we pretty much stayed home all day. I did order my grain mill though.
Sunday was church and then the rest of the day I just don't remember. Is that bad or what? The boys say I have a short term memory problem.
Monday we walked over to the chiropractors office since it is like only a block away. The day was cloudy but really nice. Not too warm and not too cold.
Let's nothing special Tuesday. Wednesday though my mill showed up. It is an awesome mill. We ran some popcorn through it and VIOLA! Cornmeal. I cleaned up my kitchen and started some whole wheat bread. I'm going to play with the settings a little more and see what I get. That's all for now. Oh wait! Don't condem me for not voting, but our move was not so good for that. We will be registered for the next elections though. Just bad timing this time around. I'll try to post a little more later on. With some new layouts.

Ever have one of those days?

Yesterday sure felt like it. I must be doing good up here in Idaho. I've been waking up around 7am everyday almost. Even when I can sleep in! In Vancouver I always felt like I had been hit by a truck and didn't want to get out of bed. Now I'm pretty sure it's the allergies that was making me feel that way. So Phil slept in and I checked my email and downloaded a bunch of actions I had bought. Then I got the applebutter started. This is the recipe I put together for it.

Apple Butter

12 cups apple pulp
3 cups sugar (3 to 4)
3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp allspice
1/4 cup vinegar

Combine and cook slowly until thick, several hours. Can; process
15-20 minutes in boiling water bath.

Makes 10 half-pints.

I also shared this on the recipe thread at the Butternug Squash Forums you should check it out.
After Phil FINALLY! Got up we went to IHOP for some breakfast. A late breakfast at that! Then we went to the Citizens Community Bank to open an account. That way we have a bank here in town not all the way in Portland Oregon. Then we needed to get money for the van we were looking at. Phil called the bank in Oregon and it was a sort of duh?! Situation. Back to the bank we went and got our money. Then we headed over to where the guy works that has the van. Figures he was at home eating lunch. So we ran over to where Desseret Industries has their thrift store. We wanted to check out about the dry canning facility there. Really cool! We will have to do some homeschool thing there. Definatly hot chocolate, potato pearls(we have potatos it would be emergancy preparedness), refried beans, and dry milk.
That was fun to see. AnyyyWayyy...It was back to where the van was, and the guy was back at work. We did our transaction, Bye,bye money. So much for savings.Then it was off to the County Courthouse. Yep we're official now. We got both cars registered. Then since the Drivers Licensing was right there we went ahead and did that too. Wow! I passed without studying! So now I have an official Idaho Drivers License! Your not seeing it either. You can tell the kids were driving me nuts. No matter how much I tried I had a wild hair that kept sticking up. But I guess that's par for the course with license pictures.
When we were done there we were late for the Chiropractors and had to run down there for our appointments. Francis had a full exam. Poor kid has had back pain really bad since the move. You know what? His back is a mess. My poor baby. Bye the time that was done it was pretty late. We came home and Francis made bean burritos. While Phil changed the car plates over. I worked on my Mexican meat mix. That took 2 trips to the store. DUH!
* Exported from MasterCook Mac *

Homemade Mexican Meat Mix

Recipe By : _Make-A-Mix_ by Eliason, Harward & Westover
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Homemade Convenience Mixes Meat

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
5 pounds beef roast -- OR
5 pounds combination of beef and pork roasts
3 onions -- chopped
1 can chopped green chilies -- 4 ounces
2 cans green salsa -- 7 ounces each
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
4 tablespoons unbleached flour
4 teaspoons salt -- or to taste
1 teaspoon ground cumin

Preheat oven to 275=B0. Place the meat in a large roasting pan or Dutch ov
en. Do NOT add salt or water. Cover with a tight lid and roast for 8-10 h
ours, or until well done. (Alternate method: Cook with 1 cup of water for
35-40 minutes in a pressure cooker.)
Drain meat, reserving juices. Cool meat; remove any bones. Shred meat and
set aside.

Spray a large skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Saute onions and green
chilies for 1 minute. Add salsa, garlic powder, flour, salt and cumin. Re
duce heat and cook for 1 minute. Stir in reserved meat and meat juices. C
ook for 5 minutes until thickened. Cool completely.

Put about 3 cups of meat mixture into each of three 1-quart freezer contain
ers, leaving 1/2" space at the top. Seal and label container with date and
contents. Freeze. Use within 6 months.


Makes about 9 cups of Homemade Mexican Meat Mix.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


and of course my applebutter. I used the extra meat mixture to make some taquitos. That was soooo good! When that was all done I also got around to doing the credits blinkie for my blog decorations. By the time I was done with this I was just pooped. Now I have to head back to the Chiroprators to find out all of Francis' diagnosis. Then it's B-Day present shopping and a few other things. I'll tell you about it later. Gotta run now.

Catching up

Well now I guess I should post about last night. Let's see... Yesterday I got up with all kinds of plans. I spent probably half the day cleaning up and finding my dining room table. It was getting pretty deep lets just say. That and the phone sure was busy too. Then after some turkey avocado sandwiches for lunch we set the table up to carve pumpkins. Figures my kids would choose complicated designs. Here are the pictures unedited straight from the camera so sorry if they are a little dark but I like manual settings since the auto just wants to use a flash, and I wanted to show you what it looks like in the dark.
Here is Francis' Jack O' Lantern.


and here is Bryce's which took me fooooeevva!



Then there's mine. A little sloppy since I did it last and I was just a bit tired after 3 hours of carving pumpkins.



So then the boys were just to excited to eat dinner and I was too pooped. Turns out that everyone was too busy with Halloween to bother calling on their phone bills so Phil got to come home early. I guess in this neighborhood the Mormons take advantage of the park being so close and do a big shindig at the park. Then practically everyone around just parks backed up to Cotant Park and hands candy out from the cars. It was all very interesting. So maybe I bought too much candy. I really didn't know what to expect so I rather have too much than not enough. I tell you it was somewhere around 19 degrees Fahrenheit out there to so it was cold! Here is a picture of how one lady did up her car it was really cool.



Then we came home and the boys warmed up a little bit. Once they were warm they wanted to go out again! So Phil took them out.







That was my Tuesday, Halloween day!

Today was an interesting day. I forgot to mention that Tuesday Shawn stopped by and dropped off 4 big bags of sorted apples that she had picked from that tree next door. So today I had to do something with it. I first cleaned the kitchen really good got the counters picked up as much as I could. Considering how tiny this kitchen is. Then I busted out the Kitchen Aid Juicer and cleaned and chopped up apples for juice. It was going good for a bit there then the thing started to make funny noises. Something doesn't look right now. I fiddled with it for a bit then decided to just go ahead and make applesauce from the rest of the chopped up apples. Of course that was probably a good thing since Kathy called about the newsletter and if we wanted to collect for Operation Christmas Child. I made several calls and found out no collection here in Pocatello but there was one in Idaho Falls. So we will collect a few and then her husband will drop them off when he goes to work. By now the apples had cooled enough to sauce them. Phil called and said he got off work early again so I figured I had just a little time to finish the applesauce. The boys and I ran the cooked apples through the hand mill in no time flat. Phil came home so we ran to look at a van that we will most likely buy tomorrow. Then we grabbed the boys and took off for dinner. I tell you Mama Inez's is awesome! After dinner we came home and did another batch of applesauce. Bryce is like all applesauced out. He says it's the best applesauce ever. I think it's becuase he put his own hard work into it. heehee... Now I have some apple butter working in the oven and some Mexican Meat Mix cooking in the crockpot. These will cook all night and most of tomorrow. Oh and some beefjerky marinating in the fridge. When the applesauce is done I will put the jerky in the oven. The boys are just drooling over that thought. Now I need to change the blog decorations before bed. Maybe I'll have a chance to start on a layout or two. Talk about layouts don't for get to stop by Butternug Squash and post some of your Halloween pictures for the Photography challenge. That will be ending on November 10th so there is lots of time to get them posted.
Also this weeks kit at the store will be the Woody and Scrappy paper sets. They are 50% off! That's right half price! Which makes them only $1.38 each set. They are great papers for your basics. So make sure you pick them up. Well I'm going to redecorate the blog and head to bed. Tomorrow will be another busy day. Way too busy for me. For once I would like to sleep all day just for the sake of sleeping all day. Not because I'm sick or to drugged up on allergy medicine. YOU Know? Toodles for now.

Happy Halloween!

Yep Halloween has come and gone. It was a strange one for me, but the boys say the best one ever for them. Let see now weekend recap.
Saturday was crafts with some of the ladies from church. God had put me in such a wonderful church here. I love it! Again, I know I keep saying it , but it feels like I've know these people forever. First though we got up early and went up to the Gasper's. They were giving us a twin bed and roll top desk for Francis. A Queen frame and box spring for our bed and a dresser! Horraayyy! So we all drove up there and Kathy and I left for craft time and the guys worked on loading up the furniture and moving it to our house. We ladies had a great time chatting and doing our different craft projects. Phil and the boys came up in the afternoon when the craft time was over and the ladies had left the Turners. We had lunch there. Phil spent time talking with Wayne and I chatted with Tracy. Then we left and went to Lowe's for some boards to put in the frame of Francis' bed. It is an gorgeous antique sleigh bed. Then we went home and finished assembling the bed. Kathy called and her son wanted Francis to spend the night so I let him run off with them. Less fighting amongst the boys that way. Phil got ambitious and changed a few of the light plugs out. Big mistake! He switched a line somewhere and my bedroom lost power. One hour later he got it figured out. Then we went off to Mama Inez's for dinner. That place is yummy! Then it was back to the house and assemble my bed. By now Bryce was so excited about the bed he had Francis' bed made and was planning to spend the night in it. LOL! That was our Saturday!
Sunday we got up early it was nice to gain an hour during the night. We went to church and that is where we got Francis back. (shoot!) LOL! Then we went to Winco and did some shopping. Lots of Halloween Candy. Too much now that the night is over, that is another posting since my arms are getting tired. Then we went to Harbor Freight and got some pump that Phil needed to work on the car. Along the way back we stopped at a mattress place that was closing up. Bryce said if he had a bed like Francis he would sleep in it and not on the floor anymore. So we gave it a try. With mattress, frame, and head board it cost us almost 400 dollars. The boy and better use that bed! Then we loaded it up on the van and brought it home. We of course had!To assemble it ASAP! Francis managed to smash a few fingers in the process. Not good for dad's heart let me tell you. Any way Bryce is pretty tickled with his new bed. We're just wondering how long it will last, and how long before he trashes it. Dinner was some rib eye steak that Smiths had on sale for 4.99 a pound can't beat that with a stick. For some reason I keep thinking it was a rather early night for us Sunday.
Monday was a oh hum day. Just homeschooling and Home Care Group in the evening. Francis had Boy Scouts that evening too. Kathy picked him up and took him. Bryce and I hitched a ride to group with Melinda. In group we are studying the book of Nehemiah. Talk about a man of faith and leadership. Very interesting study. Kathy dropped Francis off at the Turners when they were done with Scouts so Francis joined the other kids in the dinning room. That was pretty much it for Monday.
Tuesday well I'm pooped so I'm going to do it a little later. I promise I won't forget. OK!

Gee is it Saturday already?

What happened to Friday? I tell you take a few days rest and what happens everything blows up. This morning I was up by 7. Phil had an appointment at the Chiropractors for a massage. So I waited at home with the boys. I woke them up before Phil got back and got breakfast going. Then we dropped Phil off at work, by 9:30. It was a quick jaunt across town to drop off the rent check. Then I stopped by Treasure Valley Coffee for some more coffee beans. Good stuff there. I chatted with the lady there for a bit. Then it was home to get the boys some stuff for when I went in for my massage. I had an hour massage. Talk about wonderful! I had tense muscles I didn't even know about. Then when we got home there was a message from Phil that he had lunch at 1:30. So we, I rested a bit after that wonderful massage, and off again it was. We had a check we had to deposit so that's what we did. There's a place here called Hogi Yogi's that we've been eyeing up so we decided to give it a try for lunch. It was soooo gooood. Dropped Phil off and then I went to a womens ministry meeting. That was fun I can't wait till the womens craft time tomorrow-WAIT-this morning. Then on the way home we checked out the new Dollar Tree that opened TODAY. Right by our house! That cost 30 bucks. By then it was almost time for us to pick up Phil from work. From there it was Wingers for dinner and a stop at Walgreens for some stuff. I had to run by WalMart for yarn and didn't get out of there for under 70 bucks!I just got done making a Sock it to me cake for tomorrow morning. Now I'm going to bed! I have bunches more to write later. OK? Night all.

Scattered Clouds...NOT!

The weather said scattered clouds today. I was so looking forward to a walk around the park today too. Then what happens SNOW! Hunny this is not Vancouver Washinton! We got sprinkles for all of about 5 minutes today now. THIS!

I figured it would warm up and stop but is still hasn't. So much for that walk around the park today.

Well that was a BUST!

Our ride forgot about us. Poor thing is trying to do too many things and we kinda got lost in the mess. Phil rushed home after work and the boys had about 30 minutes at the Harvest Party tonight. No real pictures sorry folks. We did help clean up and then went out to eat. We decided to try a place by us called Johnny B'Good. Not bad it was a fiftys themed diner. We made total pigs of ourselves and had burgers and fries. With the must have Malt shakes. Those shakes were sooo good. You could really taste the malt in them. Now I'm home just taking it easy tonight. Maybe I'll start on a layout I'll have to see what pictures I have. I guess that's it for now night everyone.

Ready for the Harvest?

Well another weekend gone. Yesterday we did just what I said we would do. We stopped at Parrishes and got Francis his Darth Vader Mask. Special effect sounds and all. While we were there we browesed around and found of all things one of those wine bottle cork pullers that look like a rabbit. Awesome deal only 9 bucks! Then we went off to JoAnne Fabrics for red thread. While we were there we also got some nice fleece with flames on it for the boys head gear that I have to sew still. I have the pattern all drafted out and everything too. Then we came home and I started to work on my paper layout. Then I tried a slice mind you very small slice of apple. BIG MISTAKE! My throat started to swell and all that great allergic reaction stuff. I took one just one Benadryl and talk about getting zonked! I slept for hours! So Phil took Francis to his Boy Scout meeting, and I slept. I finally got up and went downstair and, got my paper scrap layout done for a challenge I'll show them all when the 8 weeks are up. Then is was back to sleep. Man Benadryl puts me all off wack.
This morning we got up late. (Blame the Benadryl) So we went to second service then came home by way of Blockbuster, and got Over the Hedge. It was leftover chili for lunch and then we watched part of Over the Hedge. Then it was time to go back up to Booths Barn.(temporary home of Gate City Christian) To set up for tomorrows Harvest Party. We got that done then came home. I made a Halloween sign for the front door as my bonus point item for the challenge I'm doing. I'm really surprised I've made it this far. With my rubber stamps still missing somewhere in all the boxes downstairs. Thus far all I've done is gel out in front of the tv and knit. That's been about it for today. I think I maybe sleeping on the sofa though. Bryce has commendered my side of the bed with his feet on the pillow. Not sure if it's safe in there. Last thing I need is to be kicked in the head. I'll let you know how the Harvest Party goes tomorrow.

Gee What happened to yesterday?

I mean it. We dropped Phil off at work again and came home for a few hours. I finally got around to sewing the patches on to Francis' Boy Scout uniform. I still need to get red thread and finish but it's mostly done.
Then we got ready to go to the pumpkin patch. I got a little lost getting there. Turns out I didn't go far enough down Yellowstone. So I went all the way home to double check the directions. Then we went back and found the place. We went through the corn maze. They have a bunch of questions that you need to answer correctly to find your way out. It was fun! I took some pictures. Then when you come out of the maze there were things to make a suet ball pine cone for the birds at home. When we were done with that we went back into the maze to get out. Then the boys picked out some pumpkins for themselves. These were really nice pumpkins too, they had a hard time choosing. Then the owner went to get the $1 pumpkins so Francis and one of the other boys went to help her(she's 2 months pregnant) While they were gone it started to rain a little. It was really weird it was like it started to dump on us then just stopped. The boys got back and everyone helped unload the pumpkins. Francis wanted to take another quick run through the maze so I let him. Then there was this really strong gust of wind, almost Hollywood like. I though uh oh here comes the rain again. WRONG! As I was putting the camera in the car a snowflake went floating past me! It was snow and hail! What kind of combination is that?! And Francis had gone into the maze with not jacket! That will teach him to not listen to mom. Probably not though. So in the snow we ran to Wal-Mart for Chicken Enchilada makings. The snow had stopped by the time I was done shopping. Get this I had $16.50 in my pocket and my total was $16.32! Talk about cutting it close! They didn't have Lawrys enchilada mix either I ended up with can stuff. Any way we went home and I worked on my computer trying to figure out this personal website thing. When that happens I'll move my blog there. Hopefully...
Then Bryce didn't want to take a nap and wanted me to lay with him. So I layed down and next thing I knew Francis is running in going "MOM! We have to go pickup dad!" Where did the afternoon go? So we went and picked Phil up from work. No getting out of making enchiladas the boys insisted I make it. It was OK with the can sauce, but the boys would rather I had made the sauce myself from scratch. Guess I better do that Penzeys order.
Today will be another full day of course half of it is gone now since we slept in and I made a big breakfast. Now I better get finished dressing and get the guys in gear. I got some layouts to do today too so I'll be posting them later.

Rollerskates and Books

I know odd combination but that's basically what today boiled down to. It was Homeschool Skate Day at the Deleta Skate. I got there and this week was a very active week. There was a charity bake sale going on and one of the moms sells educational puzzles, which she had a bunch of. Another mom brought all her used curriculum in to sell. This was great since I have been looking for a pre-algebra book for Francis. She had one and I bought it for only 3 dollars. Now that's a deal. And then my friend had a bunch of text books that had been donated to her for our homeschool group. She was giving them away for free! So I grabbed an algebra 1 book for when I get the line "I'm bored". I'll just move him up to the next book. heehee. Of course I ended up bringing home a bunch more books to ebay that was left over after the day was over. For some reason I just lost my afternoon. We ran up to the Boyscout office to get one more patch that Francis was missing for his uniform. Then it was home for lunch. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out why this laptop is running so slooooooooow lately when ever I try to do a layout. It's taking me like 2 days to do a layout since each process seems to be taking foreeevvva! It's a little better but still slow.
I made chili for dinner tonight. Then we ran to pick Phil up from work, ran home dropped the boys off, and ran to the Chiropractors for an orientation session. Now it's like midnight and I'm pooped. I think I'm going to bed and just going to have to figure out the laptop thing later. We have to drop Phil off again tomorrow since it is Pumpkin Patch day for the Homeschoolers. I would leave you a layout but it isn't finished especially since to save it took like 20 minutes. I'll finish and post it tomorrow night, along with a few pumpkin patch pictures.