New Year's Eve.

It's New Year's Eve and guess what!?! Rob and I are going out for the first time since New Year's Eve 1999!! Holy hat - almost 10 years! But now that my mom lives here, we have a babysitter, so she said for us to go out and she'd take the kids. Think we're doing dinner and a movie which we haven't done since I was pregnant in 2002! Should be a nice evening out - alone.

And now on to my cards....you knew it was coming....:)

I made a set of these for my boss' assistant's birthday on Monday. Gotta stay on her good side, you know ;) Not sure about the flowers and the pearls....look like a cheerleader pom poms or just some hooters or something - anyway, I'm mostly happy with this one.

ETA: I've decided that some of these came out a tad crooked...the Treasure part in the middle. So I'm keeping them and did some thank-yous this morning. Will have to make her something else tomorrow!

And then this one I made just to add to my birthday card stash. The only thing I don't like about this one is the font on the sentiment is too something for this card. But I have tons of supplies and whacks of papers, but am limited on stamps - so, I made do. Again, if someone is going to critique a handmade birthday card that I give them, they can just kiss my big fat ass.

Hope you have a nice new year's - see you next year!

(I totally get a kick out of saying that every year - heh.)

20% off is not a deal.

What the heck?? - I went to JoAnn's today because they are moving and having a "huge" sale. Soooo huge, most of the stuff was only 20% off. 20%?? Are you kidding me? Even when things go on normal sale they are 40-60% off and you want to get me to open my wallet for 20-cents off the dollar? Get real. The funny thing for me - not for them - was that I loaded my cart up with tons-o-stuff and put most of it back because they weren't gettin' me with that 20% nonsense. It was kinda funny how the girl kept asking me "you don't want this either...?" - LOL I did however get some Halloween goody bags for 80% off...and some Christmas glitter paper for 80% off too - but all the candy and buttons and other cool stuff simply were not meant for me I guess.

Went back to work today - and all day I was thinking about making a card - ha. Gonna be hard to make cards M-F with a full-time job...but I think I have a system - prep in the morning before work, then put it together when I get home and voila - cards!

For Julee's MOJO67 challenge.

And just a fun birthday card I whipped up.

Thanks for stopping by - I really appreciate you commenting!

In the meadow we can build a...Pez snowman?

The kids' first snowman - we didn't have any coal....or carrots, so D said he would find something in the pantry; nice use for old Pez, eh?

...and now on to some cards!

I challenged myself to make a card without any ribbon. I could forego the ribbon but no way am I giving up BLING - especially on a card that says LIVE BIG! Gotta love that saying.









I made a set of monogrammed cards for my friend Vicki here in Boise. She'll get these for her birthday in April. She's in to the whole sailor/anchor/Navy thing - but I added some bling to make it more feminine.






And I just love the way my Valentine's cards turned out. Thing that sucks is the light in my crafting room (LOL - it's just a corner of my bedroom) doesn't have good lighting so pictures do not do my cards justice. This card is made with Raspberry Fizz from Papertrey and it's the most rich color of fuschia I have ever seen - looks darker and more red here than it really is. Trust me - it's beautiful!

It's gonna SUCK going back to work today after being off for 12 whole days!
At least it's a short week though. Rob has the week off - he doesn't know it yet, but I made him a HUGE honey-do list.

Happy Monday!

Whacks of cards.

I was a card-making fool yesterday. Rob was outside shoveling the snow, my mother was here helping the kids clean their rooms, and I was in my own little paper heaven. I even did 2 challenge cards! I see a problem coming though - I've been putting all my cards in to this pretty white hatbox that Heather gave me for Christmas....uh....and it's full now? Guess that warrants a trip to Michael's or Target to see about a storage system for my cards.





This card was made for Julee's Mojo Monday challenge. I like it - and I think it's only because of the pretty sparkly paper that I like it...I feel like it needs something still.... But hey, if someone is going to criticize a birthday card that I made for them, back to Hallmark 99-cent cards they go!






This card was made for Sketch Challenge 208 at SCS. It's a no-stamping card!; but I fancy it just the same. It'll be good for a spring birthday. You can tell that it's a birthday card even though it doesn't say happy birthday on it, right??









My friend Jennifer in Canada gave me some pretty paper and embellishments for Christmas and this is what I put together with it. Thanks, Jennifer!




And this card I just love how it came together! Maybe it's because purple is my favorite color!! But I feel like it has the right amount of everything everywhere and it's my favorite of the bunch. The pewter brads in the bottom corner came from my dear friend Dawn in Canada - she's a Stampin' Up demo and those are from Stampin' Up. Thanks, Dawn!

Busy day today - it's 6:10 am now and I am going to work on some cards - ha....then go to church....then head over to the Wal*Mart - I HATE WAL*MART and don't shop them for political reasons. HOWEVER - all Martha stuff on clearance...for-cheap and then clearance of for-cheap? Ohhhh yeah. Then K wants to go to the mall and spend her $20 Build-A-Bear money she got; why do I think that even though she has her own money, I am still going to be paying for something?

Have a great Sunday, Girls; and thanks for stopping by!

Biting off more Chocolate than I can chew.

It's still snowing - the kids love it, and I do too...perfect day to stay inside and craft!

You ever sign on for something and forget to read the fine print? That's what I did. I signed up for a Chocolate Swap at SCS wherein I had to make 20 packages of chocolate something. The part I neglected to read was that you have to send each package to each individual! What the heck!! Other swaps, you send all your stuff to the person hosting the swap and they dole it all out - so you are just mailing one big box. But no, this one, I have to send out 20 packages - and some to Canada! Ugh. So in addition to the chocolate and the supplies, I've got to get a little padded mailing envelope for each....and pay the postage. I have to admit, I did enjoy making these this morning and I do like the way they turned out; aren't they cute?

Hope you're keeping warm and enjoying your weekend, Girls!

Thanks for stopping by.

Afternoon Cardmaking.

Made a few cards this afternoon - trying to beat the winter blahs.




Some quick and simple gift enclosure cards - they look better in person, though they aren't all that great; they'll be for a kid since they don't care about cards with presents anyway.

And this card I do like -
the colors look waaaaay better in person; it's very matchy-matchy and I love how it turned out.

Movin' on from Christmas.

After all the Christmas fuss, I was jonesin' to create. So I made Valentine cards for D's class - 28 of 'em! It was pretty easy - and didn't take me all that long. And the best part - it was SO FUN. Fun that is until he asked me if this was for his school class or his church class; guess that means I'll be making 30 more for his church class!

I've been out in the 14 degree weather snatching up the deals at Target and Craft Warehouse. Not a lot of people out which is good because I hate crowds. My busted-up knee has had it, so I'll hit Michael's later tonight. Oh - and funny, annoying funny - I turned on the windshield wipers and they stayed on. It's bitter cold, a foot of snow on the ground, nothing coming down, and here I am driving around town with my windshield wipers on - they would not re-set after turning the car off at the stores either. Retarded.

All supplies are from Papertrey Ink; with the exception of the rhinestone which is from Kaiser.

Merry Christmas, Girls!

You know how I pride myself on shopping year-round and being wrapped and ready to go well before Christmas? Well, I am ashamed to admit that this year was the exception. Taking a vacation the week before Christmas was a BAD IDEA. I was out at the freakin' Walgreen's at 10:30 last night in a blizzard! I had to get batteries and evaporated milk. And of course the Walgreen's right here at the corner closed at 10, so I had to trek up the busiest nastiest road in Boise to go to the other Walgreen's - did I mention BLIZZARD already?

Anyhoo - church last night was cute with D being a little angel (for the first time in his life!). I got yelled at by 2 ushers and 2 bats because I was saving seats for Rob, my mom and K as I had to be there early because D was in the program. I felt really bad having to go Oakland on those people at Christmas mass - LOL

Santa was surprisingly good to me. I liked 99% of what I got this year - a record! And no one reading this blog is having their gifts re-gifted - haaaaaaaaaa. I am only re-gifting (2) peoples' gifts and that is my MIL's (surprise surprise) and someone else who I won't mention because I may have sent them the e-mail about coming to this blog and even though they don't post, it would suck if they showed up someday and found me trash-talkin' and wondering what the hell they were thinking when they decided to give THAT to ME! Haaaaaaaaa....

I'm so hungry I could eat my hand. We had our traditional sweet rolls and rice pudding for breakfast and the prime rib won't be ready until 5pm - fat people were not made to go long periods of time without eating! And the prime rib smells sooooo good!

Merry Christmas, my friends - I hope Santa was good to you all and that you are having a beautiful day with your loved ones.
Thanks for all the great presents too!!

Home from the Happiest Place on Earth!

Woooo - what a trip!

The drive down to Disneyland SUCKED. The roads all through Utah were snowy and icy so we had to go super slowwwww.... We ended up in Las Vegas about 4 hours later than expected. However, we did still make it to my favorite buffet in the world - the MGM Grand - ooooooooh that buffet is the best; I had about 17 desserts - no lie - mind you they are bite-size, but still. After that we went to m&m World and did some shopping there. While we were there, it snowed BUCKETS - yes, we were in Las Vegas for their first big snowstorm in like 172 years or something.

The roads out of Las Vegas and to Disneyland were closed due to snow, so we ended up at the Disneyland Hotel about 7 hours later than planned. We did make it in to the park that first night though - the the Christmas fireworks show was amazing! We had a blast at Disneyland - well, the kids did anyway and that's all that matters. My knee :( was killing me. So I did the park with them until afternoon and then we'd do dinner and then they all would go back to the park at night while I rested my poor knee - wah.

We got to see Heather as she came to Goofy's Kitchen to have dinner with us, and then we left a day early because it was pouring on that last day so we took a different route home which had us surprising my brother at his work, and then spending the night at Rob's parents. Additional family visits we were not expecting but were nice since we live in Idaho and they are in California and we don't see them that often - it'd been over a year since I saw my brother.

Made it home about 9pm last night....there was like a foot of snow on the driveway.....had Chinese food delivered....the house temperature was 42 - brrrr!

Lots to do today - need to food shop for tomorrow night's dinner....pick up packages at UPS and the Post Office....Daniel is an angel in the church program this evening....and then dinner at my mom's.

Happy Christmas Eve, girls!

See you the 24th!

We're headed off to Disneyland at 0 dark 30 Wednesday morning. I haven't packed and have 101 things to do today.

I do this all the time - can't decide if I'm going to give the people at work anything for Christmas and then am scrambling at the last minute to get things together for them. I have decided that all my peers -with the exception of one guy- will get something. Who says I HAVE to give to everyone? So what if he finds out that I gave something to everyone and not him? Christmas gifting is not company mandated, so he can kiss it. That'll learn him for never saying hello to me when it's just he and I walking down a long hallway together! Rude....

I haven't done the gifts for K's pre-school teachers...need to do those this morning.....need to get D to do a card for his teacher to go in the little gift pocket I made her......need to run to Cost Plus in the middle of the day to buy some beer for one of my friends....oh yeah, and I need to pack for the trip. I think Rob and the kids are packed - just not me; I am a last-minute packer anyway.

OK girls....I'll catch up with you on the 24th. I'll be on e-mail though.

Christmas Party Pictures.

(that last one is there because Rob looks pretty funny getting beat with the pinata stick)

I saw Dawn do that Christmas video last year, and then I totally pirated this off of Laura's blog this year.

Busy day - the kids are having a Christmas party here at the house this afternoon - we've got 3 kids coming. I have some crafts to do with them, then we'll have a goody table to enjoy snacks, and then the pinata out in the snow! and then we'll be grateful when it's time for them all to go home - heh. Later this evening we'll take the kids over to my mom's so that Rob and I can go to my boss' house for his Christmas party - prime rib....yum-o!

Christmas Follies.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

When it rains, it pours.

So some of you already heard - I have a busted-up knee. It'd been hurting and just got worse and worse so finally I went to the orthopedic doctor yesterday who took an x-ray which showed that my knee cap is here.....when it should be over here; nice. So, 4-6 weeks of physical therapy and if that doesn't work, surgery. Disneyland is going to SUCK. As if the limping and the pain of this knee wasn't bad enough, last night I'm wrapping Rob's presents. I got him 4 Mickey Mouse stepping stones - you know, those big, heavy concrete things that you put down on your grass and make a path to walk on with. Well my knee was hurting and I wanted to take the easy way out. So I put those 4 heavy stepping stones into a big bag - brilliant idea. I couldn't lift the thing, so I was handing it to him to move to where the presents were, the bag busted and all four stepping stones crashed down on to my three middle toes on my foot on the other leg! SONOFABISCUIT! Blood everywhere, me crying.....ohhhh God, you know how it hurts when you stub a toe....I had 3 toes - CRUSHED. AND - one of Mickey's ears broke off of one of them - thinking that's the one that cut my toes. So this morning....I am limping like you have never seen a fat chick limp - busted up knee on one leg...and shattered toes on the other.

We're having our department holiday lunch today at a Chinese buffet - the visual on my fatness limping back and forth to go get more food is priceless.

Christmas.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper - with pretty ribbon!

2. Real tree or artificial? Real, of course.

3. When do you put up the tree? About 3 weeks before Christmas.

4. When do you take the tree down? About New Year's Day (have you ever heard the story of when I was growing up and we kept the damn tree up until the day before Easter?).

5. Do you like eggnog? Ick - no.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? A Care Bear from strangers when I was in high school.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Rob's dad.

8. Easiest person to buy for? The kids.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Many.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? E-mailing Christmas greetings is straight tacky.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A burgundy corduroy blazer when I was in the 8th grade.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Polar Express.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I never stop.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? All the time!

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Fudge.

16. Lights on the tree? People have trees with no lights?

17. Favorite Christmas song? Feliz Navidad!

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We've done both, but now that we have kids I prefer to be home for Christmas.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Donner, Blitzen, Comet, Cupid, Dancer, Prancer, Dasher, Rudolph - am I missing one?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel or something else, stars are old school.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Raised opening them Christmas Eve - married into opening them Christmas Day.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? People that spend beyond their means and then whine about being poor.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I like the pink Victorian theme.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Prime Rib.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Crafting stuff and lots of it!

Visit with Santa.

Santa was at my office today doing sittings with the kids. K was scared at first, but Santa was very persuasive and soon she was on his lap telling him she wanted a new doll for Christmas. D said he wanted some new Hot Wheels cars. Very simple where the things they asked for - guess they'll grow out of that eventually but for now I am fortunate that they are happy with small things.

Another busy day - D and I went to Toys R Us because he found the gift card that Dawn gave him for his birthday! LOL He bought the new Narnia movie and some Hot Wheels cars....and an apple juice - ha. Then we went to JoAnn's for some crafting twine...and to Target! I am making the kids bags with activities and snacks for the ride to and from Disneyland so I got some goodies there for them - and some glitter paper for me. Dinner at my mom's - she totally loved the wreath - the kids are spending the night and we are working on going through the gifts for the kids.

Before we went to my mom's, I whipped up this gaudy little notebook for ME. It's for me to write down notes - ideas I have, who I need to make something for, where I saw something, what I need, etc. It's SUPPOSED to be kind of...um...eccentric - so you can save your smartiepants remarks because I LOVE IT!

Whew - my butt is whooped! So check this - I went out to NAMPA...which is about a half hour drive from here...out in the sticks....because I had a gift card to this really neat market out there - Market Limone. Another one of those deals from our online auction - I bought a $100 gift card for $50 - gotta love it. So the website says they open at 8am on FR. I get out there and there is a sign on the door: New Fall Hours - 10am FR. WHAT!!! I am out in NAMPA at 8am with nothing to do. So I kill time at their ghetto mall - God that mall sucks - Karcher Mall, don't ever go there; it smells like old people and feels like a cold, stale vacant bathroom at a gas station. I started itching so I went to Michael's. Good ol' reliable Michael's. And then back to Market Limone. Came back to Boise and then picked up my mother and met Rob for lunch. Then I went to Craft Warehouse while she was at Wal*Mart....then I went to my Michael's here in Boise...then to JC Penney. Then home where I made my mom this wreath that I'll give to her tomorrow when we go over for dinner - she's making posole (Mexican soup with pork and hominy - mmmmm).
edited to add: Dawn asked if I made this bow with a bow-tying thing and I say what-ever! I make my bows with ribbon and my hands - that's it. That's part of why it takes me so long to wrap because the gifts for my household and friends locally get these kinds of bows. I don't do these for the gifts that get mailed because they'll just get smooshed anyway. But it's allll ME, sister!

Y'all can kiss it - talkin' about too sick to go to work but not to sick to craft. When I am hacking and peeing myself, I can do that while sitting in my craft chair - NO, I can't do that at my office; so kiss it. I called in sick again today - but I am finally feeling better now. I slept tons today. But get this - my boss' assistant called this afternoon to check on me. I'm like WHAT? They never call to check. So I call her back. Apparently she didn't get my voice mail this morning. So according to them, it's like I didn't call in and they were worried. I checked my phone and the call was not on there. Did I dream that I called in? I'm still freaked out about that because I distinctly remember what I said on her voice mail. My mother made me drink canela (Mexican cinnamon tea) with honey and brandy last night so maybe that voodoo remedy made me hallucinate.

ANYWAY - I crafted today, yes I did. D is panicking because he doesn't have an autograph book for Disneyland. Was gonna go buy something but remembered I have these chafa (that means cheap-o) composition books that won't be able to be for anything *good* so I whipped these up this evening for the kids and I think they'll love them.I'm off again tomorrow - LOL; scheduled vacation day for my Christmas party on Saturday...which I have now cancelled because I've been sick and just can't get it all together before then. But there are only a few weeks left in the year and vacation time is use-or-lose, so I'm takin' it - heh.

...another stay-home day.

Stayed home sick today - guess 1 antibiotic pill doesn't cure you. Slept a lot, but still on a crafting mission so I made something simple - Christmas tags for Rob, the kids and my mom. Will put these on their Christmas packages when I wrap them...soon.

All wrapped up!

Got K's church class teachers' little composition books all packaged up with a Christmas pen and some cocoa, and then got D's church class teachers some religious New Year's resolution books, Christmas pen and cocoa. Decided since I'm so crafty now to make the tags too - heh. Oh and hey - I FINALLY got on an antibiotic - yippee!

...not one of my finer creations.

I had the best intentions with this. I bought BSU paper and BSU stickers and was going to make Rob and the kids each a BSU composition book. Shhhh - I am putting together a little Geocaching gift for each of them with Geocaching.com hats, pencils, even some Charmin-on-the-go - ha. So I thought I'd put one of these in there too so that they can journal what they see or where they go. But I made a HUGE mistake - I tried this with those flimsy composition books, you know the ones that are barely a step above the blue books that we used in college? The glue tore up the cover, my glue runner tore up some of the paper, so I tossed the stupid thing in the garbage. Then I thought I would just make it for myself and use it to write down project notes or something. So I fixed it up and made a go of it and decided this will be good enough for K. She's only 4 - surely she won't notice the cover that I see now is starting to curve up and all the other mishaps I had with this. She'll focus on the colors and the flowers and call it good.

Oh yeah - I went home from work - SICK! I have a Doctor appointment at 4:15 though, so hopefully he'll give me some good stuff to get better - heh.

I am so stinkin' proud of myself!

OK - so I have no woman domestic stuff in me whatsoever. I can make babies, but that's about it. I can put laundry in, but I don't put it away. Having said that, I saw the cutest little gift card pocket on Lisa Johnson's blog and I thought - I can do that! (or something similar). So I went out today and bought a needle and thread, bummed felt off a friend, and put this cute little gift card pocket together for D's teacher for Christmas! Inside I have (2) $25 Hallmark gift cards - and before you think I am a high-roller giving the teacher $50, let me tell you, I bought them at an online auction we had on our website...so they only cost me $12.50 each = $25 I spent to give her $50; heh. Thanks for lookin' - ouch - I think I just threw my shoulder out from patting myself on the back. But look - I sewed all the edges by myself.....and sewed buttons on by myself and cut all the felt and sewed the handle on and did all the stamping. I know this is remedial for you, Dawn but for me - this is hot stuff! Funny thing is - this looks like something you could buy at the dollar store for a buck and the teacher might not even know I made it. Oh well, I do and I love it!

I used to love winter, but seeing as it looks like I'm going to be sick all freakin' winter this year, I HATE IT. I think freezing my butt off at the game on Friday did me in. I was feeling crappy yesterday and then today when I was at Kohl's with my mom and the kids, I about fell over. Think that's when your equilibrium is off or whatever. Got the stuffy head, runny nose and sneezing fits - nice.


The kids slept over at my mom's last night - fun for them and nice for us to enjoy some peace. I have all the Christmas presents wrapped except for Rob and the kids and my mother. The Canadian packages will be mailed out this week - we are on the ball!


Got my little crafting area set up in my room - although the table is right in front of the bathroom which can soil the mood - pun intended - heh. I was jonesin' to make something, so I decided to make 3 little books for K's church class teachers. They aren't perfect, they were kinda rushed, and I felt like shit - but, they are the homely kinda folk and I think they will love them.

Day after Thanksgiving.

BSU won - 61-10 - another perfect season; yippeeee!!

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My mother's stuffing - which I make and is always fantastic - was HORRIBLE. She has like no kitchen skills...or patience. Things were not finely diced...and didn't cook long enough - it was just....not good. Rob forgot the marshmallows for the yams - which was a bummer for those that ate those nasty things. A *sweet* potato has always been odd to me. Ohhhh - and the pumpkin pie - courtesy of Sara Lee - and nobody doesn't like Sara Lee....well, I hate to tell you - but we didn't like Sara Lee. Heavy on the nutmeg - just not fantastic at all. But overall the evening was good - the kids had fun, the turkey and mashed potatoes and green bean casserole were all great and I ate bunches.

Then we came home for our tradition of watching The Polar Express for the first time of the year on Thanksgiving night - and it typically stays on through New Year's Day.

I saw a few deals that interested me for this morning, but not anything super. Rob went to work for a few hours so I'm having him stop on his way home for a couple things. I'm thinking the way the economy is this year, you can go out later and there will still be good deals left.

Getting my hair done at 10:30 and then off to the BSU game this afternoon. We're 12-0 and today is the last game - going for a 13-0 undeafeated season. We'll be on ESPN2 at 4 o'clock my time. We're usually on TV because of our seats - last time D was on and the time before that, I was on; national television superstars we are!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving at Grandma Mary's

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy Thanksgiving, girls - even if you are a Canadian - LOL

Hope you all have a wonderful day with your families....and some good food!

We got up early - got pumpkin pies in the oven and got caught up on Top Chef and Survivor. Then I did a couple of gift baskets - I did a gourmet one for this lady at work who is on dialysis but she brought me some clothes which was much needed and very nice. And then I did one that we'll take over to my mom's tonight - used the Mario Batali kitchen utensils that I was going to give to someone who is no longer on my Christmas list - heh. We're doing the pumpkin pies, green bean casserole and cranberry relish - I make a really good relish - and my mom is doing everything else. Kind of makes for a nice day of just lazing around, picking up, little bit of laundry and cooking and then we'll head over to my mom's mid-afternoon.

Thankful for the friendship I have with each of you....

Michelle

K is sick again! So now the good part of my mother being here kicks in - I can leave her there today so that neither Rob or I have to miss work. But I'm calling her Doc this morning - this is crazy...she's been off-and-on sick for like 3 weeks with fever and looking sad and lifeless...and then puking for a couple days every 4 days. Not sure what is going on with her but I'm starting to get worried.

My mom took us out to dinner last night...and then we took her shopping - she's running up his/her charge card before he gets served with divorce papers today - LOL She bought me 3 new Martha Stewart punches and some Martha embellishments! If I can't craft right now, I can sure shop for stuff to outfit me for when I get started again - heh.

My mom also offered to have Thanksgiving at her house - making the bird and everything! So we're going to do that so we don't have to commando-clean this house by Thursday; and I think it makes her feel good to be able to do that for us and the kids.

Working today then off the rest of the week - yipppeeeee!

What a long weekend! Long, sore AND exhausting. Rob and my mother got in after 9 o'clock Saturday - the kids were so excited to see her. She spent the night here Saturday and then us and some friends of ours got her moved in to her apartment yesterday. We got home early afternoon and I did more Christmas wrapping! Then D and I took a quick trip to Target to get a few last minute goodies to go with some packages.

Been paring down my Christmas list and knocking people and things off the list right and left. So I could get done sooner than expected and get back to crafting! We made a trip to Craft Warehouse on Saturday and I bought some BSU paper! Think I'm going to make Rob and the kids some books for their little Geocaching adventures.

Back to work today - working today and tomorrow and then off until Monday - yipppppeeeeeeeee!! In all the fuss, I haven't even thought about Thanksgiving. So, I guess we'll be making a plan for that. I'd imagine we need a turkey or somethin'....

Busy day.

Edited to add:

Check out the packaging that my stuff from Emma's Paperie came in!

How nice is this?

And here's what was inside - well, not her - LOL; she's eating a green "titsee roll".

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Got up this morning and made breakfast for the kids - I NEVER MAKE BREAKFAST - got laundry going, and now I'm making the shopping lists. The kids and I are going shopping to get my mother's new apartment stocked with food and essentials like toilet paper and all that stuff. Her soon-to-be ex-husband has left her penniless; he locked her out of the checking account, returned her car, and, she went to Gottschalk's to buy some panties and jammies and the card had been reported stolen! She didn't ask, but knowing she has essentially nothing, how can we not help her out? So I told the kids that Grandma needed stuff - and they said "like the poor people?" - LOL - and I said "yes, Grandma is now a poor people" - ha. So we'll go to Target and Albertsons....and maybe Wal*Mart if I can stomach it. I don't shop Wal*Mart, but, to save a buck or two, I may have to this once.

BSU is at Reno today - goooo Broncos!

Another sick day.

Home with K again today. She actually seems the most normal today than she has in at least a week. But she has to stay home today because she got sent home from daycare yesterday. I'm keeping her on the bananas, rice, applesauce, toast and Gatorade diet still today and probably tomorrow just to make sure her little belly OK. Here's a picture I took of her on the couch yesterday - she crashed right when we got home. Hey, Jennifer - that's a Giants blanket - LOL
Rob brought in a few things for me to wrap, and I have some real mail to work on. So, I have a few things to do today. Might even sneak in a little something to craft - no major projects though. Of course my mother has been calling and e-mailing all morning so I may not get nuthin' done. Man, I seriously need a cake right now.

So it's official - after 13 years of living here in Boise and not having any family here, my mother is moving up here. No, not coming up for a visit - MOVING UP HERE. She married a seemingly decent minister guy less than 2 years ago and he ended up being a real jerk. Well since this is her what, 4th marriage or something, she's totally embarrassed and doesn't want to face her family or friends back in California, so, she's moving up here. My husband is the greatest guy in the world - no one asked him to, he just said he would fly down there and go drive her and her moving truck up here. So he's flying down to Oakland on Friday afternoon and they will drive up here on Saturday. We haven't told the kids yet because if something happens at the last minute - a change of heart, or drama, I don't want them to be disappointed. They love my mom to bits and are going to be so happy having her to see whenever they want.

I, on the other hand am STRESSED. My mother is the reason I left California. Well, sure, Rob invited me to come up, but having the opportunity to leave that crazy woman was something I had waited for my entire life. So, I'm not sure how I feel. I think I'm worried and stressed - but I have to admit, excited at the same time. I'm sure that excitement will wear off by Thanksgiving - ha.

I usually stress eat - but we have no goodies in the house right now - which is a good thing. So I stress shopped online last night. I spent $60 at Office Depot buying stuff to craft with, and I spent $181 at Papertrey buying some of their new stuff. I told Rob that I has stress-shopped and he didn't even ask how much - told you - good guy.

Anywho - I am still hacking up gross things, and K is still puking. Gotta love the winter time.

Made some stuff.

Hey Girls - welcome, Lisa :)

First off - let me just say that I appreciate you all commenting. I love this blogging stuff - but if no one comes by or says they are reading it, I'll get bored and start looking up old crushes from grade school and that just won't be good at all - LOL

OK - I made some mini composition books. These are SO fun to make and I plan on making WHACKS of these in the new year - ha. I made bunches with the Chocolate Remix paper from Papertrey, and then I made one for my Aunt Connie for her birthday with some scraps left from when I made K's book.

And then I made some goody bags for D's 1st grade class. We aren't going to be here for the party but the room mother said I could still make them? Um - but my kid won't be there? I did it anyway because I LOVE being the goody bag mom and I didn't want to have someone else take over - LOL Got the little frosted tin tie bags from Papertrey and then some random paper and Papertrey's Rustic Snowflakes stamps.

Thanks for stopping by!

Re-gifting.

As I was sitting here wrapping a gift for a dear friend this morning, I stopped and thought "she didn't give me this, did she??"

I'm a re-gifter, I'll admit it. Can anyone really say that they have NEVER re-gifted? Never? Really?? I think I can safely blame my re-gifting characteristic on my mother. She was a single parent, trying to make ends meet, so when gifts would come in to our home, if we didn't really NEED them or couldn't use them, she would wrap them from us and give them to others. Kinda sucked because I remember things that I LIKED going away, but, I think the shame of not being able to give to someone else was far more important.

Anyway - so I re-gift. Is that wrong? Mind you, I buy A LOT. I re-gift a lot less these days because the friends that I have give me good stuff. And, I think now that I am getting older, I appreciate things a lot more than I did before. But there are some people that I get gifts from - mostly family and distant friends who maybe don't know my taste or my style or my size, so, they give me things that try as I might - I just cannot use. Big thing for me is necklaces and bracelets - I don't think skinny people know that fat people have bigger necks and bigger wrists than you skinnybutts. So those cute little boxed sets that come out at Christmas time with a necklace and earrings - not so much...the necklace won't fit on my big, fat ankle much less my neck and the earrings, well, they should stay with the matching necklace! So those always go in to "the pile". I'm also very picky when it comes to scents - let me just say I hate the smell of vanilla scented anything. And here's why: everybody and their mother has a vanilla scented can of poop spray, potpourri or a candle in their bathroom. So you give me vanilla lotion - I think BATHROOM/POOP - and I just can't like it....no way, no how. Oh, and remember last year when I was losing all that weight? - I had a friend who gave me a Betty Crocker chocolate calendar. The thing had a chocolate baked good staring you in the face every single day - that was just wrong on so many levels.

I have also been known to re-gift gifts that my kids have gotten. Yes, I have. But it's ONLY when things are too small for them, or too young for them. Come on - my son is in 1st grade and people are giving him the little puffy vinyl baby books - WHAT??

I also re-gift because I think while I do not like/want/need the gift, this person probably would. So I don't re-gift just to dump more junk in to your lap, I did it because I thought you would take more joy out of it than I did. I guess what I'm saying dear friend, is that if you happen to open a present from me this year and it's something YOU gave me (ROTFL), I'm sorry - but I think you would like it more than me.

...on my new couch!!!

So K got everything out yesterday morning, didn't have a fever, insisted she wanted to go to daycare - so I let her. - stop the e-mails calling me a bad parent for sending her to daycare after she puked in the morning - I know that sometimes when I throw up it's just something I ate and then I feel better - and she did. So I let her go...knowing that I was home if anything should happen and I could be there in 3 minutes. She was fine at daycare, came home, had dinner and fell asleep on the couch. I'm sitting back here on the computer and I hear commotion out in the living room - K had thrown up ON D AND ON MY NEW COUCH!!! OMG - vomit on my new carpet in the bedroom that morning and now on my new couch!! So I throw D in the shower and K in the tub while Rob works on the couch. Ugh - fortunately we got it ScotchGuarded but he's out this morning getting some Febreeze for the stench. Going to pull out the ScentStories too - this entire house smells like PUKE. God....
I woke up feeling like crap - again - hacking up chunks of brown/green gunk...nice, eh? I have done nothing but laundry from puke incidents for the last 24-hours and I am ass-up in to the Christmas wrapping.
Hope you have a fresh-smelling day!

- a *sweet* idea -

This past summer I went with one of my sales reps to a little hole-in-the-wall Russian cafe. The way the economy is going right now, I don't think they are going to make it - that's if they haven't already gone under. Now that I think of it, we actually had to pick up some money to put on their account while we were there. Anyway, the owners were your classic Russians....and the wife was short and stocky and really cute. She asked if we wanted to try anything and I noticed something and asked about it and she had me try it - DIVINE.

Do you like sweetened condensed milk?

If you do, this is for you. Take the can of sweetened condensed milk - the entire can - and boil the can for 2 hours. What you will open to after that time is a thick, dark, pasty sweetness like you have never had! Try it! I just had it on cottage cheese pancakes and the contrast of the sour from the cottage cheese with the sweetness from the sweetened condensed milk was DE-FREAKIN-VINE!

TGIF

I hate it when days off aren't really "days off". I have been sick as all heck Wednesday and Thursday. And yesterday I had a dentist appointment that added to the feeling miserable. I have managed to get a whole 5 presents wrapped in 2 days. Hoping to do more today, but as I was sitting here reading news online this morning, K decided to throw up THREE TIMES on my brand new carpet. Gotta love it. She doesn't have a fever and feels otherwise fine, but I may be keeping her home today which means I won't get anything done.
Nice - now she's throwing up on my bed....

ETA (means edited to add): K is at daycare and I've started wrapping. NOTE TO SELF - do not buy personalized gifts for people you have not been friends with for an extended period of time because you could lose touch, lose interest or otherwise not be friends and then you're stuck with personalized gifts that you can't re-gift! Ugh....

Woohoo - 3 days off!

Yes, I am off for the week!

Took the rest of the week off to bust it doing Christmas stuff.

The timing worked out great because I don't feel that great still - not miserable, just not great - , and the couches and chairs are coming today too!

My plan for today is to work on the invitations to our annual Holiday open house, get a plan together for a kid Christmas party (like the Halloween one that we had) and make some chocolate stout (beer) cupcakes. I might do some laundry too as it would drive me nuts to be here having piles of laundry to be done and not touch it - so I may do one load to put my conscience at ease - heh. Oh - and I'll be working on my Christmas list too for my mom and R - they always say I'm hard to buy for but this year there are bunches of things that I want for my new hobby and if I don't spend the money on it, I won't feel guilty if I walk away from it - haaaaaaaaa.

People are weird.

K took her apple cider goodies to church class this morning and she had about 4 leftovers. We stayed for breakfast after - pancakes, sausage, potatoes, eggs, sweet rolls, OJ and AJ - who could turn that down?? Anyway - so we're sitting with this mother and her 2 daughters who were about 3 and 7 and K took the basket over to the girls and offered them some of the little treat bags and the mom said to say "no thank you". Isn't that odd? She didn't even know what it was. So I said "we're not selling them, and they're just apple cider..." Weird.

A little somethin' before church.

I woke up feeling horrible.....but already feel better. So I guess that means I have to go to church!

Today is K's last class for the month, so she's going to hand out her little apple cider packages.

I found these tins at Target - not sure what is going to go in to them, but I just topped them this morning. And then I found this little box of fall paper clips on clearance for 48-cents and figured I could do something with that too - so I added a lil' to it so that D could give it to his teacher tomorrow.

Off to church...and then watching the race - goooooooo CASEY!