i want to WIN!

THIS is worth blogging about. 

this is the only tool i've drooled over. why haven't i bought it? silly reader, the price tag is what is holding this crafter back. 

the good news?  kelsey, the crafty lady over at VanillaJoy (a blog i like to frequent) is GIVING ONE AWAY! can you believe it? 

so i thought i'd share the wealth and let you know that if you want a Silhouette of your very own, but can't afford it, you can always throw your hat into the ring to win one! wish me luck!

scraplifting

do you scrapbook? have you visited Scraphappy? oh you should go, you should also listen to Lain's podcast (i use itunes) it really does make you smile. one of the fun things over at Lain's blog are her challenges; every thursday is '30 minute thursday' and the current theme is scraplifting. 

for those of you not familiar with the word, it means to look at someone else's layout and either copy it or use it as a frame of reference for your own layout. just an fyi, it's ok to copy someone's work if it's going in your personal album, but it's not so good to copy and try to pass it off as your own...always site your sources people! but i digress. so, if we choose to participate this week, we are to scraplift. i had the perfect project in mind. 

in march i purchased the 'celebration' kit from Lisa Bearnson's kit of the month site. this particular kit came with maybe 20 pre-arranged layouts, and each had it's own little bag of stuff needed to make the page(s). does that make sense? the theory is, all you need to do is open the bag, copy the picture included, add your photos and ta-da page done. i bought it because i thought it would be a good way to bang out some pages and whittle down some of my picture backlog. good in theory. the problem: i'm kinda a non-conformist - so, i'm using all the stuff to make the layouts my own. it's taking a little longer than originally anticipated, but i'm getting it done! i did this one today. viva VBS!

so this is the pic of the l/o that came with the kit:

(don't mind the mark, it's just to remind myself that i did that one already....you know how it is)

and here is my interpretation:

left

right

this is actually a special l/o. we journeyed to s. dakota to help grandma move into an assisted living complex and clean out her apartment. you can imagine how difficult it was for everyone. it was the last time we got to visit with grandma (my mil) and i'm grateful for it. the twins were 2 1/2 and their older sister just barely 5 - but they were old enough to love and appreciate the woman we saw only 2x a year. it's a good memory for everyone and i felt bad that it was languishing on the computer. now it's done, thanks Lain!

Hey Cupcake

I NEED this but i'm cheap and want to win one instead of purchasing it. This is my 4th try at winning one from The FullMommy. Oh well, either way I do enjoy the blog.

oh. my. god.

a) would you ever do this and 

b) would you do it while video taping?

sheesh, i'm a total clutz walking and taping at the same time!

best watched in full screen.

seriously. trust me.

have you heard?

5 Minutes for Mom is celebrating summer for the next week! 

Today, they're giving you a chance to win Rachel Ray's newest book Yum-O: The Family Cookbook

Hie ye over to there blog for your chance to win.

Happy Tuesday

a good read.

One of the blogs I read on a semi-regular basis is 'Nature Mom's Blog'. Tiffany talks about natural family living, and I've come across some interesting information on her site. Right now she's running a fun little contest, you should check it out!

have you heard the news?

oh my, i'm feeling a little faint. something i have wanted for a looooooooong time has finally come to pass. yes it's true. american crafts has finally given us glitter thickers. please bow your heads for a moment of silence. if you need me, i'll be stalking my local scrapbook store waiting for their shipment to arrive.

Wanna win a new car?

here's your chance. Head on over and enter the Total Beauty Totally Green Sweepstakes!

it's our day!

time to rise up and.....oh wait, that's a different blog. Anyway, happy mother's day to all the moms out there, I hope you have the day you want. For me, it would have been quiet, but with 2 four-year-olds and a six-year-old, the possibility of that is practically nil. That's okay, I know I'll miss the noise and chaos when it's gone. I did get a chance to do a little crafting today. Lain Ehman over at Scraphappy hosts a 30-minute Thursday challenge every week, and while I always intend on participating, life seems to get in the way and I never get around to it. Until, that is, today! I spent 30 (ish) of my Mother's Day Morning minutes creating a scrapbook page. I say '30ish' because with 3 kidlets, someone is always interrupting for some reason or other. Even though I said 'page' it's actually 2 sorta 'pagettes'. I had a concept in my mind and it might work, but I need to modify a couple of page protectors. The l/o would work just fine as a single 12x12, but I do think they hold their own sigularly. Weird I know, I just really like the idea of odd size pages. What do you think?

page 1, or, the left side

page 2, or the right side

the 2 of them together, kinda

the challenge this week is to use a vacation photo (check), paperclip (check) and hidden journaling (check). Why not head over to Lain's blog and join the fun?

*edited to add: yes, I realized there is an 'a' missing in aquarium. Not sure how it happened since i even wrote it down because I was spelling it backwards; anyway, it's fixed, I'm just too lazy to take new pictures!

it's broken

my bottom that is.
yup, i have broken my tailbone.
quite a feat, and yes, it hurts.
a lot.
the scene: me, miss m, and a roller rink. quit laughing.
i used to be quite the accomplished roller skater - i did grow up in the 80's you know - and even though it's been a good quarter century or so, let me just say: muscle memory is a wonderous thing. alas, a 6 year old on skates is more gangly than a newborn giraffe and has no muscle memory to fall back on (no pun intended)

the wipe out was spectacular and i had only a split second to decide between my first born and my bottom. why oh why did those mothering instincts choose then to kick in? i am proud to say however, that by the 3rd hour she was able to go around without holding anybody's hand and without falling. which was a good thing since by then, my butt. was. broken. the good news? in this particular situation, my doc believes in better living through pain management. bless you dr. b.

so if you need me, i'll be over here in the corner sitting on my donut pillow.

happy may day

i spent the morning near the bathroom yet again, and the afternoon having oral surgery - gum & bone reduction. i was paranoid we'd be in the middle of the surgery and i'd have to rush to the bathroom! thankfully when these 'issues' arise, they're usually done by noon. odd. highlight: the gas. bummer: the mask didn't fit right so i wasn't constantly in blissful repose. though it wouldn't be hard, here's hoping your day was better.

blech.

i woke up with a headache this morning. and then i started having gastrointestinal difficulties. fun. especially when you're trying to get 3 kids up, ready and out the door. i get this tummy trouble on occasion and eventually it passes so really, i've got no choice but to soldier on. got everyone to school and made it to target where i dropped a pretty penny. for some reason, i had the shopping bug today. maybe it came with the intestinal bug. it was good though, i got stuff i'd been putting off but still needed; like stuff for the silent auction basket - our classes theme this year is 'beach blanket party', and target has some really cute cynthia rowley stuff including some fun flamingo stuff which i got for miss v who adores all things flamingo. 

sigh. i should be cleaning. miss m has a playdate this afternoon but i still have a headache and the migraine meds i finally took are starting to kick in and i really don't care about cleaning. how's that for a run on sentence. it's been nice all morning, but some very ominous clouds are rolling in. it looks like rain. so, i leave you with this

my miss v

i read 5 Minutes for Mom just about every day. they are currently hosting a mothers day photo contest with the photo representing what motherhood means to you. i thought, hey, why not. i'm a mom. i have photos. i've got just as good a chance as anyone else. so i'm sucking it up and entering! 

motherhood is scary. there are stumbling points, pitfalls and dangers everywhere. it's easy to hurt such small, fragile creatures who depend on us for everything. but we must not get so caught up in fear and worry that we don't forget to just stop, relax, and revel in the sun.

engineers + cats

they mix better than you would think. Check it out.

The chickens are coming home

and they are roosting. Probably my senior year of high school, I started realizing that life was a lot easier once I stopped caring what other people thought. The drama and trauma started to subside and I was on my way to becoming the pretty much together person I am today. My kids are fed, clean, and well behaved - well at least in public. I'm pretty happy with who I am and my life. I'm not riddled with uncertainty or the need to conform. I felt bad for those who lived life according to the dictates of others.

And then came softball.

Miss M is in her 2nd year of organized sports. Last year was t-ball (co-ed through the boys/girls club) this year she's on an all girl softball team through a different organization. It was mostly good (story for a different time) until our 1st game. Snack time to be specific. The snack consisted of: juice and fruit snack and granola bar and crackers and string cheese. Excessive much? That's not all, it was entirely from Whole Foods - aka Whole Paycheck. Now don't get me wrong, I'm pretty green and do buy local and organic quite a bit, but come on. I cringe to think of what that bill came to. For a snack. For a bevy of 6 & 7 year old girls. Who barely run.

So now, game 2 (today) and I'm the snack mom. See where this is going? I'm bringing flavored water (in pouches, geared towards kids) and Sun Chips. Nothing organic or super nutritious in my offering, but not total trash either. I worry though, am I going to end up being that mom? The one the other moms kind of shy away from, the one they whisper about and whom pity my kids because they think our snack is sub-par? Am I stunting my kids social growth with this? Why am I worrying so much and why do I care?! What. Is. Happening. To. Me.

If I feel this way about a snack, and Miss M is only in the 1st grade, I have a very bad feeling this may be just the beginning my friends. Just the beginning.