Randomness

Today is the last day of school, *so ready* as is Lindsey. I am ready to just enjoy the summer. We have a couple of vacations planned as usual and really looking forward to those. This week has been busy with end of school year happenings, today is Lindsey's award ceremony, then she is finished. I am ready to relax just a bit from the whole routine.

OK, so anyhoo here are a few random pics of the girls and my niece from our trip to my Dad's farm a couple of weekends ago...

Lindsey is a farm girl at heart, she loves being there.

Our little *stinker*

My niece, Ashlee another little *stinker*.

These are ready for the shop

I think I might jazz up the handle a bit on a couple of these before listing.

Day *3* of Un-Employment

So Friday was my last day at work. It was a little sad leaving, I was a bit *misty* all day, but as soon as I got in my car a drove away to pick up my girls from school I felt such relief and contentment. It is on the top 5 list of best feelings I have had. So today is my third day home. I had some appointments lined up for Monday, things that I have been putting off for lack of time, doctor etc. Yesterday I worked around the house got a lot done around here. Today is Lindsey's end of year party at school, they are going bowling. I will attend that, should be fun for the children. I am just taking one day at a time here and enjoying every minute of it. School will be out for Summer on Friday and the girls will pretty much be stuck with me at that point. I think they are excited, of course Mallory has no clue what is going on but Lindsey is really excited.

I have been working on some new things for the shop and hope to have them listed soon. I also have monogramming orders and some custom tag orders that I have been working on. Things are good!

I have also started doing The Grocery Game. My friend Marci has a ton of info on her blog about this and other money saving tips. You should really check it out. I started The Grocery Game about three weeks ago and I will agree with Marci, it is addicting. The amount of money I have saved is mind boggling. I will post a link list soon of the places I am getting coupons and some good deals as well. My friend Jessica also started The Grocery Game about the time I did, we are having fun sharing bargains etc.

OK, off to get everyone ready for work and school.

Quick post...

Just a few pics for the family!


Fun Dip teeth....nice.


Damn they're *cute*!

The News...

OK, remember me talking about this and this. Well after much planning and praying and just deciding to do it, I have decided to quit my job and stay at home with the girls. The decision really was not a hard one to make, it was just a matter of adjusting some things to make it work and of course getting David comfortable with the idea of giving up the extra income. It seemed as though every corner I turned God was there giving me signs that I needed to do this. I have pretty much worked my entire adult life, started working in high school and worked while attending college. I have been with the same company for the last 13 years, I met David during that time. I have met a lot of great people along the way and some not so great (I think they are long gone, but anyway). It seems after I had Mallory something struck in me and I realized my place was at home, I kind of ignored it for a bit thinking it was hormones etc. but the feeling never left. I went back to work and continued with the tasks assigned, although my heart truly was not in it anymore. I think when I really knew it was time was back in March, during Lindsey's spring break I took the week off to spend with her and Mallory, she made the comment to me towards the end of the week when I was getting dinner ready that I didn't seem so stressed out to get everything done and that I seemed much happier being at home. I nearly broke into tears, that is not how I want my girls to remember me, *the stressed out crazy woman trying to get everything done*. Gosh I just *love her so much*, she always has a way of pointing out the obvious, I love that about her. So my last day is May 16. WOW, I am nervous and excited all at the same time. Kind of bitter sweet.

I do plan to work from home, I have my etsy shop up and running {still needs some tweaking when time permits...in a few weeks :) }, I have monogramming orders coming in and other fun stuff in the works. Things are looking great. I am excited to start this new chapter in our lives. Wish me luck!

Some exciting news

I have some exciting (exciting for me anyway) news to share... stay tuned.

Try this!

I really am not a beauty product freak, I can live without make-up as long as my face is cleansed and moisturized. When I do wear make-up, to work mainly, it is very minimal, weekends are eyeliner and mascara only, maybe a little concealer. I have been using mineral make-up for the last few years and love it. All that to say that this is my new favorite cleansing tool. The Neutrogena Wave.

I usually don't fall victim to the * latest & greatest* cleansing/anti-aging/beauty products that promise to do miracles for your skin, but this little thing is *FABULOUS*. My skin feels so unbelievably fantastic, I could tell a difference after the first time I used it two weeks ago. A friend at work told me about it and the $3 coupon I had found in a magazine and the fact that it was on sale at Target prompted me to give it a try. I am glad I did. Neutrogena's website has a $2 off coupon listed right now and when you buy the Wave, a $3 off coupon is enclosed for the replacement cleansing pads.

Free Rice

A friend told me about this *awesome* website. It's called Free Rice. You are basically testing and improving your vocabulary and for every word you get correct they donate 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program. It's so addictive, check it out.

Sick & Busy

I won't even go into all the busy crap. So much going on right now. The weather got the better of me last week, and I am still feeling a little worn down. As if that was not enough Mallory was up all night last night with high fever, took her to the doctor today and found out she has double ear infections. Poor sweet girl. So I am home from work with her today.

I loaded some new goodies in the shop, so take a look.

I burned a million calories this weekend

Well probably not, but it sure felt like it. The rain finally left us and the weekend was absolutely beautiful. I got up early Saturday and got my inside chores finished because I knew I wanted to be outside the rest of the weekend. Lindsey had a school friend over and they were outside nearly the entire time only coming in long enough to eat lunch. David worked in the yard and kept an eye on them and Mally and I headed out to do some errands before the Tigers game.

OK, here is where the burning of the million calories happened, yesterday afternoon I decided to take a break from HFM work and spend it helping David in the yard. We are working on our back yard/patio area. We had to have the deck taken out last spring, it was very old and I was getting afraid to walk on it. Well the plan was to have something put back before Mallory arrived, well with rain last year and her arriving early, it was all down hill after that. Weekends were spent resting from no sleep during the week, several weekend trips to visit family etc. Then it was time for back to school and work for me. Well, when we had our new driveway put in back in January we had a new patio poured. The area where the deck was is pretty large, so half is the patio and the other half we are creating a *cottagie* type hang out with additional seating areas lots of container planting etc. Hopefully we can make some progress over the next couple of weekends so we can really enjoy the space this summer. Both girls *love* to be outside as do David and I. I spotted a couple of junk stores or undiscovered treasures as I like to call them, while visiting my Dad that had some cool stuff out front that would be perfect in the patio area. I don't really want all new stuff, I want to go the *trash to treasure* route. I love finding things and making them new again. Sure it would be easy to go out and buy *new* stuff, but I like the character some of the older stuff has. That is more my style. I also dug out monkey grass from around one of my flower beds, man that stuff is tough. The previous owner planted the stuff everywhere. Dang man. I don't so much like the stuff any more. I am a bit sore this morning, well a lot sore.

We have also been trying to have a yard sale, lots of stuff to purge. Hopefully the rain will hold off and we can actually have the sale this weekend.

I did finish my March photo-a-day challenge. Very proud that I completed that. I will post the final photos and a picture of the completed album later.

Oh, one other thing:
Saturday Mallory and I made a quick trip to Lowes to get some type of fencing/edging/something/anything to protect my peonies this year. Remember this? Well, I'll be damned if Molly tramples them again this year. They are already popping up and really thick and pretty. Any way, all that to say that when we pulled into the parking lot, there were folks loading like 20-30 Boston Ferns in their cars/trucks. My initial thought was, wedding decorations. So we wander in and I see that the ferns are marked $8.47 wow what a deal, they were $14.99 at Kroger, so I grab a couple for the patio, then this guy walks up and says they just marked the ferns down to $5.00 each. Well, holy crap I think I will take 4 more thank you very much.

Got new stuff in the works for HFM including some mini-album kits, buckets (Kim B. these are for you :)) , and original art. Stay tuned.

I need to get ready for work now.

Please...

New Stuff

I just listed some new goodies in the shop.

*Groovy Circles" Tags

"Spring Anticipation" Tags

I also had the idea for this *days of the month* set in the middle of March, but did not list them. I was thinking it would be a cute mini-album/daily journal, but it was too late to list it for March. Maybe I will get some other months listed, could be cool for summer vacation, *oh my goodness* that is upon us isn't it? Any ideas on other ways this could be used, leave me a comment.

Day 27

*Day 27* Miss Independent

Day 26

*Day 26* Silly Girl!

Day 25

*Day 25* Hello, My name is Mallory and I don't sleep.

I snapped this about 30 minutes after we had put her to bed. Her room was pitch black so I just held the camera over her bed to get the shot. (oh how I love my new camera).

Day 24...Artichokes for dessert?

*Day 24*

OK, Lindsey wanted me to *steam her an artichoke for dessert* last night.?. Here I am cutting myself a piece of David's leftover *yummy* birthday cake with some ice-cream and she wants an artichoke. I think I could learn from her example, esp. if I want to shed the rest of this baby weight. I so *love* her.

Days 15-23

Catch up post for my *March Photo-a-day!

*Day 23* (I didn't actually take this picture, well I wasn't even born when this was taken, this is David, Happy Birthday, so *CUTE*)

*Day 22*

*Day 21*

*Day 20* (I think I forgot to mention awhile back that Mally is crawling, and I mean everywhere.) *Day 19* (our pretty white Iris', from my friend's grandmother's yard, a little something to remember Granny, *hugs* Jess!!!)

*Day 18*

*Day 17*

*Day 16*
*Day 15* OK, I think I am caught up on posting the pictures.

Happy Easter...Happy Birthday!

We have two celebrations today, Easter and David's Birthday!

I have a weeks worth of *photo a day* to post later on this afternoon. Stay tuned...

Day 14

*Day 14*

We went for a walk today and I took my camera along. I snapped a shot of our street sign then came back home and played around in PS. I really like how it turned out.

Some new *Goodies*

I put a few new *goodies* in my etsy shop today.

*Month Tags*: (these are cool, you can color the font in with your favorite marker/paint or just leave them plain)


*Preppy Stripe* Monogrammed gift tags:

*Things That GO! tags:

and more stuff is coming, and not all paper goodies either.

Day 13

*Day 13*

I made this little outfit for Mally this week. Lots of craftiness going on here. I LOVE IT!

Day 12

*Day 12* What is *vacation*?

Definition:

va·ca·tion -noun: a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity, usually used for rest, recreation, or travel; recess or holiday.

Dude, tell them to leave you alone:

Day 11

*Day 11*

Scrappy time

Lindsey and I have had some serious crafty/scrappy time today and yesterday. I have done many scrap layouts over the past few years, but have been real weird about posting them for just anyone to see, I guess I am not real confident in my *scrapping* abilities. I so *love* paper and all the *yummy* stuff that goes along with it, I have loved paper, stickers, art supplies ever since I was a kid, just ask my Mom. My brother always made fun of me because while he was scoping out the toys at whatever store we were at, I was scoping out the school/office/art supply aisle.

OK so this is one of the first posts with one of my layouts, about one of the best subjects *ever*, my girls.

The photos were taken last August when my Mom was in town for visit. We took the girls around town looking for cool spots to take pictures. Lots of fun!

This is one of Lindsey's layouts, she has discovered Hambly. *ohmygoodness*. (I took her to our local scrap store last week, YIKES! She has been cranking out some really cool stuff. She has quiet the knack for scrapping. This is one of her more simpler layouts:

Photo was taken by my friend Marci Lambert, the best photographer EVER!!

Try this!

I made this on Sunday, so very YUMMY! A fresh twist on salsa.

Grape-Mint Salsa

Prep: 15 min., Chill: 1 hr.

2 cups green seedless grapes, coarsely chopped

2 cups red seedless grapes, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 whole jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped (for less of a *bite* only use 1/2)

Sugared Pita Chips (I served with regular tortilla chips for that sweet/salt combo)

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl; cover and chill at least 1 hour. Serve with Sugared Pita Chips or regular tortilla chips.

This is how mine turned out.

The recipe is from the March 2008 issue of Southern Living, if you have the magazine it is on page 123.

Days 9 -10

*Day 9* Molly our rotten Corgi, OK I'll admit it she is cute, and she adores Lindsey!

*Day 10* Some reading in the afternoon.

Days 6-7-8

OK, the pictures were taken just not posted. It's been a busy week *peeps* (Mom, that is slang for *people*, Lindsey taught me that).

*Day 6* (at church/Mally's daycare Spaghetti dinner/Art show)

*Day 7* after it started snowing:

*Day 8* same tree/fern as yesterday, but a little more snow.

I am on vacation next week, Lindsey is out for Spring Break. WOOHOO!

Day 5 of 31

The ever so *cute* Miss Mallory!

I have been playing with some PS Actions, this one has a vintage feel to it.

This is the original photo:

Day 4 of 31

This is Lindsey doing some creative Spelling homework. They get to choose from a variety of assignments to complete their four points for Spelling each week. One of the choices is called *Sound Words*, where you record yourself spelling out your words. This is a good starter for studying your words, speaking aloud always helped me when studying as a child (well it still helps when I am writing storyboards at work to hear how they sound after I write them, yes I look like I am talking to myself, but so far I have not gotten any strange looks from my co-workers). The Sound Words are worth three points, so we still have one point to go before Thursday. Lindsey uses a sound recording tool on her computer to record the words since we no longer have a tape recorder, not that she knows what that is anyway, she was born the the age of *CDs* now it is all about her iPod. (no the cel phone you see in the picture is not activated, it is my old phone she uses to play games , come on, she is 8 people)

Day 3 of 31

*Little Miss Mallory*, girly I hope your eyes stay that beautiful blue!

Day 2 of 31

This is what happens on the ride home after a weekend with PaPa Rick and Grandma Karen. I had barely made it out of town and I look back and see this. She slept for the 45 min ride home, I snapped the shot after I pulled into our driveway (slept through that too).

March 2008: Photo-A-Day

Today begins my March Photo-A-Day challenge. First a picture of my album:

Yes Mom, that is some *bling* on the front. (added just for you)

Now, my photo for the day:

The first sign in our yard that *Spring* is around the corner.

We have a few things going on today:

• typical Saturday chores
• monogramming orders to fill
• working on more paper designs for my etsy shop
• JA bowl-a-thon this afternoon
• Dinner out tonight (David, Mally and I....Lindsey is at my Dad's for the weekend)