been busy.

I just got my first kit in the mail from One Page At A Time, and i'm in love. :) This kit is so awesome. It's stuffed full of goodies!! take a peek...

January 2007 Product List:
3 Sheets SEI Penelope's Potpourri
3 Sheets KI Memories Pet Shop
2 Sheets Scenic Route Eastern Ave. Collection
6 Sheets Bazzill Cardstock (includes 1 scalloped)
1 Sheet Chatterbox Jumbo Alpha Stickers
1 Sheet KI Memories Collection V Tattoos Decorative Rub-Ons (Aqua or Brown)
1 Package Lil'Davis Tinseltown Glitter 2 Hole Book Plates (Rose or Mint)
3 Prima Flowers- Essentials Collection (colors & flowers may vary)
1 My Minds Eye- Barefoot Collection "You & Me" Flower Transparency
3 Deluxe Designs Chipboard Shapes (will vary per kit)
4 Tickets- 2 Blue, 2 Pink
5 Yards Ribbon (may vary to match)
2 Silver Binder Clips
10 Really BIG Bazzill Brads
1 Wood/Metal Clipboard 8x11

1 Scenic Route Alpha Chipboard- Redmond Mint
1 Maya Road Square Coaster Book
1 Lil'Davis Rickrack- Licorice
1 Lil'Davis Glitter Garden Chipboard Shapes
1 Chatterbox Woodcut Border Rub-ons Tangerine
20 Buttons (colors to match)


And because i was one of the featured designers this month, i also got the add-on kit and i made a fun little mini album.


here's a few other things i've made with the kit.


in other news...rich is finally feeling a little bit better. finally off the meds for the dry sockets. he actually went back to work today, so we'll see how he feels tonight when he gets home. the weather has been gorgeous here. cool, but sunny. love that weather. rich took the kids up to the property yesterday and they went for a hike. had the best time and in fact he brought me pictures back home. maybe this pictures explains why Drew 's pants were all ripped up in the back :P

a big thank you.

this was the scene this morning after we opened the two giant boxes of goodies from Grandpa and Patty! Everyone was enjoying Wicked Whoopie Pies from Maine. Let me tell you...these things are huge and are they ever yummy!!!! Not to mention all the other goodness...the devil dogs, yodels, funny bones, and fluff. can't get this stuff out here in california, that is for sure. :) we will be in sugar heaven for a long time.

behind.

ok....so i'm behind on my christmas journal. i know. i need to work on it. rich had his wisdom teeth taken out on tuesday. all four of them. and he was in a lot of pain today....so...needless to say i've been busy. gonna try and work on it now...now that survivor is over :) go ozzy!! check back tmr...i promise to post something from my journal then. in the meantime here are a few layouts i did recently. night.

little packages.

hi all. i've loved working on my journal so far. this entry is about christmas cards. Love sending and getting them. little packages of christmas spirit. :) the second entry is a 5 x7 envelope i sponge painted and decorated. I'm going to use this to save all the christmas cards i get this year. thanks for peeking. xx

snow

here is day 2. just missing the snow.
the picture was the view from our little apartment in hudson, ma.
that was a long time ago.
i could just stare at that picture forever.
don't get snow like that here in fresno.
really miss it :)

i added a page of vellem on top with snowflakes sewn on top.
used some amy butler fabric, and IRL the word snow glistens.
thanks for peeking!
xx

reflect.

well here it is...day 1 of my christmas journal. had such a fun time making it. and so excited to continue. went scrapbooking tonight with a dear friend. had a wonderful time. it's amazing what a few hours of ME time does for the soul. I'm rested, recharged and ready to play with the kids all day tmr. Rich is working, so the kids and i are off to finish the xmas shopping and hit the park.

this past weekend i tried to take pictures of the kids to be included with the xmas cards this year. let me tell you... it is so hard to get a good picture 3 crazy kids. always laughing and giggling and doing the CHEESE smile. :) i finally knew it was the end of the session when i got that last one with the boys looking so jolly. LOL.
you'll have to wait til you get your xmas card to see the one i chose.

yesterday was an exciting day for me! i made the design team at One Page At a Time. Yay!! i am so thrilled to have made this team. Capella and Toni put together the most fun and funky kits. love them! I also got an email asking for two layouts for Memory Makers Magazine. So stoked!!!!

I've also been gathering up all my goodies to use in my christmas journal. getting so excited, and i really can't believe its almost December. :)

Manifesto: Noun. A declaration of one's intentions.

Starting December first, I will keep a Christmas journal. In it, I will write something every
day to reflect on the holidays of my past, enjoy the holidays of the present and dream
about the holidays of my future. To some, this will be a stack of papers and trivial
scribbles, but not to me. I am taking back my Christmas, I am letting it be something I
relish and, most importantly, I am giving at least fifteen minutes every day to myself no
matter how crazy this season becomes. I hope you will share, encourage and understand
as I make something with my own hands, my own words and my own memories.

I may post some or all of my entries here. Other artists are doing this with me, and you
can see their work here. http://www.writtendown.com/
Above all: enjoy the season. I will.

ohh..and happy anniversary to us :)

christmas is coming.

Just finished decorating this album for "journal your christmas". it's this awesome online class i signed up for. can't wait for it to start. each day we will get a prompt to create a page around. can't wait to have this album filled with goodness. this is such a wonderful time of year, and i can't wait to capture it in my journal. all of my thoughts and feelings will have a special little home.

feudalism, knights, and surfers.

these are scenes from my scrap-table. been busy making xmas cards and working on stuff for classes. i've been bitten by the quilting bug, and finally decided to pull out a quilt i started for shannon about 2 years ago. Maybe i will finish it this year and give it to her for xmas. Maybe. But i have been really inspired by all the fabric and patterns. Been stitching and adding a ton of embroidery to layouts i have been making. just makes me happy.

the kids have become monopoly maniacs. they really are getting good. drew really doesn't care to play...doesn't hold his attention, but then again he is only 3. but ryne and shannon love playing for hours, and ryne is a master negotiator. always trying to get something for nothing from shannon. makes me chuckle. this week we have been studying about feudalism, knights and serfs. Shannon keeps calling them "surfers". too funny. :) the kids made castles out of cardboard and have really been having a good time learning. off to the library. have a great day.

It's been like a zoo here lately. I'm always hearing animals roaring, monkeys screetching, and a hum of people talking. Ryne bought the game zoo tycoon a couple weeks ago and that is what they want to play all the time now. The game is great, you have to construct your own zoo. First you designing the cages, then pick the animals, and you can choose dinosaurs too. Really cool! Don't forget to add scientists to take care of the animals. The ultimate goal of the game is to try to make money and become a zoo tycoon. The first few days were spent building these elaborate zoos, with restaurants, and ferris wheels and lots of animals. Fast forward to yesterday....i'm in the kitchen making dinner and i hear the computer, but the animals are really roaring and people are screaming. I walk in the playroom to find Ryne and Drew on the computer laughing hysterically. They built a zoo that had a T-Rex and a yetti (abominable snowmonster) and they were feeding the guests to them. They were picking up the people and putting them inside the cage to be eaten by the animals. I didn't know whether to laugh or not. Rich walks in the door from work and he sees what is going on, and i quietly say to him, "do u see what they are doing?' he replies, "yeah, i showed them that!"

have a great day :)

so...this weekend i got to meet one of my "pea" friends in real life. lisa and i "met" last year when she put together our circle journal group. she is such a super sweet person, and I couldn't wait to meet her. She was in town just for a few hours, so we took the kids to the pumpkin patch and had a picnic lunch at the park. such a great afternoon. the kids had a blast playing together and shannon even got a little sad when frankie (lisa's daughter) was leaving. it was really sweet.

we were halloween'd out this year. Shannon had a harvest parade at school, where all the kids dressed up and they paraded around for the parents. it was really cute. sat night we were invited to an insanely awesome halloween party. and then last night was trick-or-treating. :) we had friends come for dinner and then go with us. so it was even more fun. ryne decided to be the hunchback, drew was darth vader, and shannon was the princess :) they had so much fun RUNNING from house to house. in the dark, this does not work so well. drew and ryne totally ran smack into one another. drew now has a black eye to remember halloween. :P

been scrappin lots and getting some picked up :) also been working on class samples. yeah. can't wait for january.
leave me a comment and let me know you stopped by.
have a great day!

here he is...skateboarding on a half-pipe. :) we visted our friends, the R's this weekend. they invited us for some fun and food. the kids had a blast on the half-pipe, along with dad. the tree swing was also a big hit. lots of laughs and catching up. seems like life is just moving so fast, we need to just take a minute and soak it all up.

friday night i took shan to her girl scout halloween party. such a fun idea. each of the troops had to come up with a game for the girls to play. so all the girls walked around the gymnasium playing games and collecting candy in their goodie bags. shan had a huge smile on her face the whole time. too bad i forgot to bring my camera :( but i did talk to a mom of one of the girls in shannon's troop. she was just telling me how sad she was because she can't come to all of her daughters outings, because she works. i could tell she was really upset and hurt. and then she asked me what i did, and i softly replied, "i stay at home with the kids." i felt so bad. seems like i just added salt to her wound, but it really was a reminder to me to appreciate the blessings that i have. i am very, very grateful that i am able to stay home with the kids, and get to attend all their outings and just spend as much time as i can with them.

a style all her own

she really does. this was the outfit she picked out to wear to school yesterday :) "but it matches mom! the blue in the tights goes with the blue stripe in the skirt, and the white in the shirt goes with the white in the skirt. " love the reasoning. LOL. and yes she did go to school like this. i couldn't tell her no after such a good reason.

tonight we are off to our first girl scout gathering, a halloween party. should be lots of fun. shannon really likes the whole brownie thing, and her mom is having flashbacks from her childhood :)

in scrappy news, just been working on some more heritage pages. finished this one the other night. it's a pix of granpa and dad, circa 1947. absolutely love this picture. so sweet.

have a great day !

lucky

things that are making me happy today.


finishing up this layout and a mini album for our local scrapbook store design team try-outs.

finally came up with an idea for a class i will be teaching. more on that later :)

pumpkin spice creamer in my coffee this morning.

shannon finally feeling better today and wanting to go to school.

rich not working the weekend.

sitting reading my country home magazine.

spent yesterday morning investigating oobleck with ryne for his science lab :)

getting love notes from the kids.

listening to the little ones having a conversation about santa, the elves, and his workshop.

this, this & this.

hope you have a great day!!

good stuff

sorry for the blogging hiatus but i've been super busy. lots of good stuff going on with the normal busy-ness. i've been playing with the new lines that My Mind's Eye will be debuting at Memory Trends, Bohemia Christmas and Magnolia. Lots of fantastic papers, transparencies, and diecuts. so yummy. love the colors.

so excited that i have been asked to teach at our local scrapbook store. trying to think of ideas for classes. i'm super excited about this opportunity. i've never taught a class before, so if anyone has any advice, let me have it :)

and drew has informed us that he would like to play football and be a "tackler". LOL
lots of football in our house today, can u tell?
GO PATRIOTS!!

random stuff

* the weather was so nice here this weekend. the kids jumped into the pool for just a minute. was a chilly 70 degrees. a little too cold for them. :) but it was the perfect temp for a little street hockey with dad.

*mom brought over some old pictures she found. really great photos. she had a picture of great-great grandma. i need to start working on my geneology stuff again.

*getting back into the school routine has been tough. lots of resistance, but we are finally coming around.

*big changes around our house lately. needed to do something different regarding reward/disciple system. what we were doing was not working. actually wrote down our family rules and went over them with the kids. the rules are now hanging in the kitchen so they can see them. i think that is the key. yesterday was the first day and we saw huge improvements. we'll see what today brings. :)

* been reading about all the benefits of fish oil and omega 3's again, but this time in relation to ADHD. been wanting to give it to the kids for a while, but they won't take pills. so i have been on the search for something to give the kids that they will ACTUALLY eat. finally found Coromega, and they love it.

friends.

been thinking about a certain friend a lot lately. really missing her. the boys and i saw her kids the other day, and it was like time stood still. the kids ran up to each other and hugged. they really missed each other. really miss the days when we had nothing to do but enjoy the kids and hang out all day, every day. the heart never forgets. :)

a tag

got tagged by Rett the other day and have been having problems with blogger, so
here are my answers, finally!

The rules are : List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets. Tag 5 friends and list them. Then, those people need to write on their blogs about 5 weird things, and state the rules, and tag 5 more people. Dont forget to let the people you tag know by posting a comment on their blog!

First I will Tag: rachel, *e*, katrina, wilna, michelle

5 Weird things about me:

1. i always wear my socks inside out. the seams bother me.

2. i am neurotic about time. i always have to be early to everything. and if i'm going to be late, i would rather not go than walk in late. my motto, " if you're on-time you're late!"

3. i hate to clean. i am a slob :)

4. i love rocks. was a geology major in college and just love collecting them, still have a big box from when i was a kid.

5.i hardly ever wear jewelery, other than my wedding ring. i have worn the same pair of diamond stud earrings since i got them. ( about 8 years)

how come nobody told me...

you can't throw toilet paper in a urinal.

this was the conversation with my two boys
yesterday while in the bathroom at school.
drew had to go potty yesterday while we
were picking shannon up. i would
usually just take him into the womens with me.
but since everything is kid height and made
for them...i figure...why not??
so ryne and i go in there with drew, and he shimmies
on up to the urinal, i'm just looking around...
since i've never been in a little boys room, and then
i here..."ohhh, i dripped on my leg...i need toilet paper."
i say..."no problem ..here's some."
so hand him the paper and he throws it in the urinal.
and then he flushes.
it's not going down.
try to flush again.
ask ryne....can u put paper in a urinal?
NO... don't you know that mom!
well...matter of fact i don't.
i've never been in a mens room :)

so there i am fishing toilet paper
outof the urinal with paper towels.
can u say EWWWWWWW!!!

that was my afternoon yesterday!
thanks for stopping by :)

pizza making 101

yesterday was full of fun.
we made homemade pizza
for dinner. well...i made
the dough in the bread-
maker. (yeah i cheated! LOL)
but the kids loved it anyway!
gave everyone their piece
of dough and they got to toss
it around. too funny seeing ryne's
piece go flying through the air.
shannon just kept flattening
out her dough and then rolling
it back in a ball, because it kept
getting holes in it :) she was
loving every minute of it.
she is going to be the next
food network star i tell ya!
drews favorite part was
putting on all the cheese.
i think i need to enlist their
help in the kitchen more
often.
tried to get pictures of the
kids with their pizzas
when they were finished
cooking. i kept saying,
drew look at mommy, every-
time...looked in a different
direction... and ended up dropping
the pizza on the floor a
total of three times.
"still tastes good mommy!"
"you bet it does, monkey!"

scenes from yesterday

just a nice relaxing day at our house. started working on my curtains today. actually, i'm making roman shades for the kitchen. got this awesome new amy butler fabric. and i'm in love with these colors. so bright and fun. rich was inspecting the underneath of our truck. friday, as i was running errands, i started up the truck and the starter kept on going. i rushed home with it smoking. turned off the car, jumped out and the starter was still running. LOL. finally stopped a few minutes later. totally burned up. so rich was checking out how big a job it would be. looks like it will be a big one. so the tow truck will be called today.
finally got to finish a scrapbook page i have been working on. love the bright colors.
and today we start homeschool, so yesterday i made this posterboard. it is our daily schedule. our house just runs more smoothly with a schedule. this way ryne knows what to expect at any point during the day, and if there are changes i tell him in the morning. and shannon has been asking what time it is lately, and trying to figure out the whole telling time thing, so this will help alot.

this is a great pix of drew. pretending to be jimmy page. daddy hooked up the new tv and stereo and was blasting led zeppelin. so of course the kids grab the guitars and jam. so funny. :)

i have really been trying to get better about meal planning and grocery shopping. we have gone an entire week without eating out. that is monumental for us. so we celebrated with a big mac and fries yesterday. HA! i've been dying for some fries and a mcdonald's coke. :)

if anyone has a good recipe, let me have it. i need to expand our menu.

hope you have a great day!