It's a Sun Shiney Day!

The sun is shining.

The snow is melting.

Sean is OUT of bed and EATING and back to his wild self!

Things are lookin' good today!!

A little later we will head to town to get his Piñata, stuff to fill it with, a TMNT DQ cake (YUM), and some other party stuff. I love party stuff!!

I have heard about some of the presents he is getting. Sounds like this weekend will need to be a "go through the toys and pack up some bags for the kids that don't have any toys" weekend ;)

Snow Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????

We have about a FOOT of snow on the ground and it's still going strong! WTH!!!???? Isn't this supposed to be SPRING!! Jessi is home today because her school got canceled... a SNOW DAY.... on April 5th!! It's a good thing she is home though because Sean is sick with a yucky cold, cough, fever and she is taking great care of him. I am totally done with the "Mommy Crap"... they are old enough to be taking care of themselves and each other. Got ya, didn't I? I couldn't do it on April 1st... that would have been too obvious! There really is a snow day today though... and Sean really is sick. Poor Baby. He is miserable. I hope he is feeling better by tomorrow evening for his birthday party. He has been looking forward to it for months! He would be devastated if we had to reschedule it.

Better get back to the Mommy Crap...

Last day of scrappy class

Today is the girls last class. I spent the morning getting some shopping done as I had to pick up their albums and also get my Easter shopping done since today was my only kid-free time between now and then. I love Easter shopping. You don't (well I don't) have to break the bank and you get to buy lots of fun, cute and sweet schtuff ;)

I also took a little side trip with Nicole to Judy's Scrappin' and Stampin.' She was going to buy a cropadile and I had to stop her because I got her one for her birthday...which is today!! I also recently discovered Stickles and I am in LOVE.... so I wanted to pick up a couple more bottles of those (another cheap fun purchase!) While we were there Nicole twisted my arm ;) and we signed up for an 'altered cookie sheet class' at the end of the month that looks really neat. (kinda sorta like this...but not christmasy)

I gotta say I am glad the girls had fun and learned some stuff... but I am even MORE glad that it is over! Teaching that class really sucked out my scrap mojo ;) And 4 squealy preteen girls and their ipod nanos hooked up to my computer speakers.... well... let's just say it's a good thing I buy my advil in the BIG bottle ;)

Alanis Morissette... My Humps????

Ummm.... ok.... lol

Mother Nature thinks she is funny.

I don't.

What a piece of crap day!

I woke up WAY early because I had to be at the Town Office at 8am to get Nicky's dog license that I had put off until today and had to do it today since I got the nice letter from the town in the mail that says I better do it my April 1st or they *may* put out a warrant (on me or the dog..... that wasn't clear...lol). So I had to run and do that and take Jessi to school in time to be back here for the plumber who was arriving between 8 and 830. I didn't mind any of it though because I was on a total "I'm finally getting my bathroom done" high. A high that came CRASHING down when the plumber got here and got started only to discover that the plumbing has never been run down to the basement and tied all in as we thought it was. So my $100-150 job turned into a 'maybe $500-1000 depending on materials' job. I told him that just wasn't happening right now, gave him $50 for his trouble and sent him on his way. :(

So... I decided a nap would be a better idea than eating everything in the house. Sean and I are napping and Jessi walks into the bedroom! I jump up and look at the clock wondering why she is here and how she got here! She tells me that she puked at school and I didn't answer any phones so Grampa picked her up and brought her home. Great. Supermom triumphs again.

So it's 4 o'clock. Jessi and Sean are BOTH STILL napping despite several attempts to get them up. It's going to be a LONG night.

Beautiful Productive Sunday

Today was a beautiful day! The weather was perfect! Don't be fooled by that bit of snow you see... we were in the woods in a spot that doesn't see much full sun. There really isn't much snow left anywhere and the temp made it all the way to 53 degrees today!

We started the day with a trip to The Home Depot and Rick and I didn't even get in a fight there!!! THAT is SOMETHING! as that place (like Disneyworld ;) ) really seems to bring out the worst in us...lol! We were there to buy walls for our master bathroom's bathtub./shower!!! IT IS REALLY HAPPENING!!!! Rick and his dad are upstairs right now installing them and something within the next week or so the retired plumber guy I hired is coming to hook it all up! I CAN'T WAIT!! I am so glad I got that estimate! It's not even going to be very
expensive...which totally makes me kick myself for waiting for Rick's brother so long!

After the Home Depot trip, Jessi and I went on Poop Patrol! YUCK :-P Since the snow melted the yard is like a poop minefield.... ewww! We got most of it done... I still have a bit more to do, but we were ready to PLAY!! The kids have a 'special secret club' in the woods that consists of one large spread out climbing tree and not much else.....lol.... whatever floats their boat, I guess ;)

Ooooh.... they are done! Off to check it out!

Eggcellent!!!

Today I had planned on decorating eggs with the kids after being inspired by Rosie's Egg making on the view yesterday ;) I had never tried blowing eggs out before because I thought it was complicated.... it's not....lol! Around 930 the phone rang and it was Nicole... she was calling to see if she and Sophie could come over and decorate eggs!!! It was too funny because neither of us had even talked about it to each other before! I thought it was a GREAT idea and the kids did too!

Sophie was QUITE the fancy little egg maker... she was right into it and made some REALLY cute eggs.



Jessi took the egg decoratin' bizznass VERY seriously and also made some beauties.



Sean... not-so-much...lol! He did paint a couple, but I think given the choice of egg decorating or running around in the mud outside... the mud would win any day ;)

I made some super cute decoupage eggs and Nicole made a really neat egg using crayon on a hard boiled egg while it was still hot so that the crayon got all melty! COOL!!

















I think everyone had a blast and egg decorating with a whole bunch of people is WAY more fun than it would have been if it was just me and the kids! And decorating eggs with paint and glitter and Prima Flowers and ribbon and crayons and rhinestones is WAY more fun than just dipping them in some dye!! AND way messier...lol...my scraproom looks like a bomb went off... but that mess is going to have to wait for tomorrow cuz Jerry and Julie are coming over to hang out in a little while!

Frustration

When I switched over from the "Creative Memories" style of scrapping, I was quite impressed with my new style and more excited about scrapping than I ever was before! Then I found Scrapbook.com, 2peas and the rest of the world of scrapping. While it fueled my excitement even more... It also frustrated the HELL out of me. I would look through those galleries and see gorgeous layout upon gorgeous layout... And then I would look as mine and feel WAY inferior. (Which was a HUGE blow to me, because I always thought I was a pretty good scrapper!) I felt that way for awhile and then at some point (not sure exactly when), that feeling went away and now when I look at galleries I am still blown away by some people's work... But I don't feel bad about my own at all. I am happy with my style. (Even if none of my layouts ever sell on Ebay for $760...lol)

So now in my excitement over my new camera I decide I want to start taking some cool pictures like I see constantly on 2peas. (link to 2peas photography gallery) There are some SERIOUSLY talented photographers over there!! I even went out and bought a sheet to use as a backdrop and some other stuff to do a photo shoot with the kids. Yesterday I decided to give it a shot when the girls were here for the scrapbooking class since I thought it would be neat to give them a couple pics to add to their books. It was damn near a disaster. I had NO CLUE what I was doing! The girls were wild... The light was wrong... The sheet was wrinkly (since it was such a spur of the moment thing I had no time to even throw it in the dryer)...the hooks kept ripping out of the ceiling making the sheet fall down... UGH!!! Then I tried to fool around with Photoshop a little later in the afternoon and remembered hardly anything from the 3 chapters I had just studied the day before. So here I am again. Feeling inferior and frustrated. Why do I do this to myself?? I have always been delighted with my photos! I have even had one win an award and be published! Yet I still I seek out those great photos "for ideas and inspiration" and then sit here having a pity party for myself. What the heck is that about?

...counting the days til I have that moment when I realize that I am perfectly happy with my photos and couldn't care less about the photos OTHER PEOPLE are taking!!

A Lesson in Patience...

UGH...What a day!!

It must be since I have blogged so much.... but this one wasnt waitin' til tomorrow!

Jessi came home from school ALL FREAKED OUT because one of her friends got an anonymous e-mail stating the following.....

Torn from your body, removed while you scream
Dissect to collect, my blade now reams
Pieces of flesh lie side by side
Worn on my body or put on display
I will kill you

Of course the girl forwarded it to Jessi's whole circle and they are all upset and the phone was just ringing all afternoon. I quickly doused that fire by googling those words and informed Jessi that it was lyrics to a song. The phone lines heated right up again with the new info... ahhh tweens... gotta love em ;) I still don't like the whole thing and told Jessi if someone tells her they got a 'bad email' and they will send to her to show her that she needs to say "No thanks....all set."

THEN.....

I am listening to the radio while I am cooking dinner and the news comes on. Apparently there is a bomb threat for tomorrow at the high school across the street from her school. (Jessi knew all this ...but in all the other drama had forgotten) The HS closed for tomorrow, but Jessi's school is remaining open. Phone lines heat up again... this time with me calling Julie to see if she is sending Zack to school...my mom to see what she thought we should do... Julie said she called her police officer brother-in-law and he said they were not too concerned and thought it was bogus, but were being cautious all the same and that she was going to talk to Jerry about it when he got home. Rick comes home and we talk and he says, "No way she is going to school. Sure nothing is probably going to happen, but do you even want to take a 1% chance that something did happen and you had chosen to send her to school?" Um... No... I don't. I could never live with myself if I knew I had the warning and sent her anyway. Julie called a few minutes later and Jerry said pretty much the same thing. So... no school for our kids tomorrow and they are delighted.

Weekly Photo Challenge

Green Challenge, originally uploaded by lapeen74.

Over at my other favorite scrappy site, Scrap-tastic.com, they have started a weekly photo challenge. This weeks challenge was to take a photo, or series of photos with a 'green theme.' I'm sure most will have some great spring shots.... but unfortunately we are still stuck in winter mode here :( I looked around outside today and noticed there are not even buds on the trees yet.

So instead of a happy spring photo... I took another photo of something ELSE that makes me happy! My SCRAPSTUFF!! :D

P.S. If you would like to join in... all are welcome!! The more the merrier :)

My latest victim...

...does not appear to be pleased ;)


Looks like today will not be the day to go outside and take some pics. I can't wait to get outside. Because of our wrap around porch my house is always pretty dark downstairs. (Front of the house gets the AM sun... porch blocks it.... back of the house gets PM sun... goes right into my scraproom, laundryroom, bathrooms and tiny over the sink kitchen window) Great for keeping the house cool in the summertime... not great for taking photos without a flash. That's the biggest difference I have notice with this camera's photos so far. In low light, the pics are very grainy... whereas with my old camera they weren't grainy... but they were so dark that you couldn't really see anything, and they were often blurry or had a weird yellowish cast to them. So I guess a little grainy is better than all that...lol!


Just checked the weather.com.... tomorrow is the day!!!

So of COURSE the UPS man doesn't pull in til 630PM....

...but I am LOVING it so far!! These were taken about 5 seconds after I got it out of the box. The kitchen was pretty dark since the sun was already almost set. I hate flash indoors. So these are no flash... active kids... dim room...me still not knowing what any of the buttons mean...lol I think I like this!! It is much bigger than my old camera, but it feels REALLY good in your hand, like it was meant to be there. I was also very pleasantly suprised about the manual zoom!! I was a little bit worried about that, but it is SO much quicker and smoother than the electonic zoom that my old camera had! I think it is supposed to rain tomorrow which is a total bummer... I wanted to go outside and play!!!

Great weekend!

We had such a nice weekend! Rick was off yesterday and it was just a nice day! Tim and Kristie stopped over to bring me the BESTEST birthday present (and play a little Wii...lol)! They got me an under counter CD clock radio for my kitchen!! LOVES IT!!! The kids and I spent all evening in the kitchen cleaning and stuff just so to could listen to tunes...lol! (Which is super silly since it's not like that is the only stereo in the house ;) ) I can't WAIT to listen to Dr Laura while I cook dinner!! I couldn't really before because the station doesn't come in very good on any of our other radios.... but this thing has radio super powers or something and all the stations are crystal clear!!

We also went for a couple little drives and Rick took Sean to the movies while Jessi went to the garden show with her aunt and grandmother...leaving me FREE :) :)

To top it all off there was a 'House' marathon on last night so my DVR is LOADED with episodes that I haven't seen yet. I love that I was late to the whole 'House' game because there are YEARS of epdisodes I have never seen and I never have to wait and wait for the new ones!!

My camera is supposed to be here today and I can't wait!!!!! Come on over, creepy UPS guy.... I'm waitin' for ya!!!!!!!

Jessi has no school today (yet ANOTHER in-service day) so the in-laws took the kids to the beach to collect seashells and play (yes... it's 37 degrees out... and yes... they are all crazy..lol)... so I think it's time for me to watch a little "House." :)

Boxed in no more!

I keep all my pictures sorted in a box. I noticed on Ali Edward's Blog (actually it may have been her "Life Artist Newsletter")a couple months ago that she used to do that too, but then switched over to pocket albums so that her family could still look at them ...and because it was easier to flip through the album than dig through a box to find the pictures that she wanted to scrap. That has been on my mind ever since I read it! If the whole 'point' of all this scrapping stuff is so that my family can enjoy my pictures... then WHY am I hiding them in a box!?

So.... the other day I picked up an album at Walmart and put all my 2007 pics in it that are waiting to be scrapped. The kids IMMEDIATELY grabbed the album and sat together on the couch looking at the pictures and talking about all their memories (the album is mostly Disney pics). They got JUST AS MUCH enjoyment from that album as they do from my albums with pages that took me an hour or 2 or 3 to create! It was kind of a moment of 'disillusionment' a moment of 'WHY am I wasting my time and money (LOTS of money) scrapbooking when all people really care about is the pictures and journaling?? Nobody other than another scrapbooker looks at a page and realizes how long it took to faux stitch all around that photo, or to cover, paint, sand and ink that chipboard heart. Of course most people think it's great and I always get lots of 'ooohs and aahhhs' for my stuff, but I pretty much got those same reactions when I scrapped Creative Memories style and just had matted pics and stickers on a white page.

So where am I going with all this? I have no idea. I do know that I haven't felt like scrapping as much (although I have still been buying scrap stuff like I scrap all day ...every day ;) ) and that putting all my 2007 pics in that album gave me a great feeling of being 'caught up.' Like even if I don't ever scrap those pics, they are in an album for everyone to look at. Of course I still love scrapbooking and don't see myself ever stopping. But now that my pics are in an album for people to enjoy... I can just scrapbook whatever I feel like scrapbooking and it can be more about having fun with creativity, not... "I HAVE to get those Easter pics scrapped"....or "UGH...I still haven't scrapped those Disney Pics and there are so many of them!! I dont' feel like I can scrap anything else til I get those done!!"

Spring is in the air!!!

It is 51 degrees and I LOVE IT!!! I am SO eager for my camera to arrive and get outside to take some pics!!!! I wish it was coming today but UPS tracking tells me that it won't be here til Monday. I am hoping EARLY Monday because Jessi has the day off from school and I want to do a photo shoot with the kids! I even bought a sheet for a backdrop and some white foam core board for a reflector. I think my bedroom in the afternoon will be the best time/place for a photo shoot. I have a huge window in there and it gets GREAT light in the afternoon! So my fingers are crossed for #1. the camera to arrive before noon AND #2 The kids to cooperate!! Jessi has a very hard time with getting her photo taken because she knows that she has a fake looking smile and stresses out about it and it often gets a bit nasty. I will have to work extra hard to keep the mood "breezy" ;)

I tried to learn a bit about shooting in RAW today but had to quit because my head is spinning!!! I think I will wait awhile before trying that out. The benefits seem pretty obvious, but I have always been pretty happy with my photos, so I don't see the 'need' for it yet. Besides.... I should be studying Photoshop before trying to learn yet another thing!! I got 2 Photoshop books at the library that I haven't even taken out of the bag yet!!

Rut Schmut!!!

So yeah... I was in a rut this morning but NOT anymore!!! Something about a house full of screamy, happy girls has that effect on ya. But even MORE de-rutting is the fact that I just ordered my new camera!!!! I am SO FREAKIN' EXCITED!! The camera is SOOOOOOO awesome!! It has GREAT reviews and I LOVE the 'face detection' feature that Fuji has created!!

HUGE THANK YOU to my Mom for finding this camera after I had already settled on it's younger, less-bells-and-whistles-but-not-really-that-much-cheaper brother ;) AND for my paypal birthday present which made me be able to order it THAT MUCH SOONER ;) ;) Love ya Mom!!

BLAAAaaahhhh...........................

REALLY having trouble gettin' my ass in gear today!! Sean is at the in-laws... Jessi is at school.... I should be doing SOMETHING productive, right? I should at LEAST be cleaning my scraproom so that it's ready for my 'kids class' this afternoon. I think I am getting sick or something. I am so tired! I am freezing!! I have a faint stomache-ache and I am all stuffed up. BLAH BLAH BLAH ....I know.

We watched 'Borat' the other night. It was.... umm.... well..... it was something....lol! It was one of those movies that Rick and I didn't even DISCUSS when it was over... just kind of looked at each other quizzically and he headed upstairs to shower before bed...lol. There are definitely MANY 'laugh-out-loud' moments... but there are just as many "OMG what the hell is WRONG with the people who created this movie!!??" moments!

I am thinking about canceling the Blockbuster Online service. We just don't watch enough movies. I have had Babel here for at least 2 weeks. I think we would save money by just renting a movie at the video store when we want to. We used to watch tons of movies and it was totally worth it!!

Well I think I have bored you all enough... I told you I was feeling "BLAH" today!

Just stuff

Taking the kids to the dentist is like taking my car in for service. I DREAD the moment when the girl comes out to tell me the outcome of the check-up. Today was a VERY refreshing suprise when she came out and said that both kids teeth look GREAT and that they are obvisouly doing a great job with their brushing and flossing! HOORAY!!! I called Rick right after the appointment and he answered the phone saying, "It's NEVER good when you call me from the dentist...what's up?" LOL He was also delighted with the news! We celebrated by taking the kids out for candy and cookies... LOL.... Just kidding ;) We actually celebrated with 'Wii Play" to get that bonus controller. We REALLY wanted 'Cooking Mama' for the Wii as that game is both kids FAVORITE DS game EVER.... but it was just released today and we are in Maine... so we had no luck finding it.

Sean also had his swimming lesson this morning and he is doing SO well!! He is the best one in the class (ok... that's not really saying much as the other 3 boys freak out at even putting their faces in the water...lol)! I have my fingers crossed that by the end of this session he will be swimming at least the doggie paddle on his own. It would be great if he could swim by summer as we have LOTS of fun fun stuff planned!!!! Including a 2 week journey to Nashville, TN to visit Nana and Uncle Chris!! The kids don't know about that one yet! I may keep that one for a surprise til the day we leave ;)