Mother's Day Pledge

I have decided to do one thing (at least) a day that is healthy for me, to set an example for my daughters. This week I've been walking and eating salads, carrots, tomatoes, avacados...you know vegetables? Last night when I went walking Little d asked me why I was going walking. I explained to her that it was for exercise so I could be healthy. We had a little discussion about being healthy and it hit me...again...that she is watching everything I do. So I better make it good, this life.

So if you want to join me this Mother's Day to make a pledge to do one thing healthy a day, here's what you have to do. Pledge to do one thing a day that's good for you. Something that would make someone in the health care field smile. Take a walk, floss, substitute a soda for a glass of water, get a colonoscopy, schedule a pap. Whatever it is. Oh and it doesn't count if it's something you've already been doing forever. Do something new. Do it until it becomes a habit. Do it so you will set an example for your children, or someone who looks up to you as if they were your child, OR just do it for yourself!

We owe it to ourselves, our kids and our mothers. (Oh and our husbands, wink)

Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #5

This challenge came right in time for my rush to make Mother's Day cards. My Memaw loves pink so I knew she would be the recipient for this one. And then D asked me to make a card for his great aunt who is like a grandmother to him. So to save time I made them identical.

Here is Dawn's color challenge...

And here's my card. I thought it would be fun to add the rhinestones to cards for 80+ year old ladies!

I also finished my mom's card, but I'm not posting it until she sees it. I'll try to post that later today with my May CTMH workshop stuff...TRY being the operative word!

Paper: Blush, Grey Wool, and Hollyhock cardstock (CTMH)

Stamps: Spot On Backgrounds, Say It In Style (CTMH)

Embellishments: Hobby Lobby

Jewelry Color Inspiration Challenge #35

I'll admit I didn't think this card was going to come together there for a while. I don't have the Dutch Blue or Taffy in paper, so I had to improvise. Oh and fair warning: remember how attached I was to that My Farm (rooster) stamp set for a while? Well Extreme Happiness (hibiscus) is now the new My Farm! So you'll probably be seeing a lot of it! I know I don't usually toot the CTMH horn, but here's a stamp you may want to look into...

Enough about that. Stacey has issued a new Jewelry Challenge and some blog candy on her BLOG. Check it out!! Here's the colors. I chose CTMH's Dutch Blue, Taffy, Sweet Leaf and Colonial White. (That lighter blue in my card is second generation Dutch Blue.)

Here's the card:

I think this card will be going to my Dad's mom. I usually try to incorporate blue on her card as it's her favorite color. (good thing since she did have NINE sons.) She also had FIVE daughters if you're keeping track.

Did I mention I love my new camera? Let me count the ways...

closeups. And I haven't even played with any of my other lenses yet.

natural flash. Indoor pictures without the horrid bright white flash. LOVE IT.

Are you all able click on my photos and make them larger? I can't do it from my computer, but I have been adding the link on most of them that I think makes it possible. Just curious...

Oh and in reference to my Play-Doh post--thanks for the warning, I will steer clear of 'moon sand'!!

Play-Doh...me no likey!

I may well be the only person on the planet who never liked Play-Doh as a kid. I hate the smell of it. Hi, what? Like that surprises you about me?


Still don't like it today. Obviously it still smells the same. And you can only play with it for an hour and then it's pretty worthless and stiff. Yes I know the directions say you can rehydrate it with some water, but that is so ewww you will only do it once I promise. Oh and {breathe} forget if I {deep breath} find a {breathe through your nose} a {swallow} hair enbedded in Play-Doh. {change the subject, change the subject}


I've taken some art classes in HS and college and guess what? I don't like working with clay. I hate the way it makes my hands feel. Ewww.


Back to Play-Doh. Why is it so hard to open the containers? They are childproof that's for certain. They are practically adult-proof as far as I'm concerned. And then this morning Little m wanted to play with some so I opened a container and look what I saw...




Play-Doh as a petri dish. I know the second pic is not focused, but it looks like it's erupting, so I had to post it. What the hell is that? I give up. What is the redeeming quality to this amorphous solid? (I paid attention in HS biology-go ahead, look surprised.)


Okay. Fine. It does have a redeeming quality. It keeps a four and half year old and an eighteen month old playing together and quiet for a long time. Long enough for me to type this ranting post. Which is the only reason I keep it in my house. That and the fact that my BFF gives it to the kids for EVERY holiday. Grrr.

BTW. Check out the close up of that second picture. If I had focused in on the right place it would have been awesome. New camera rules!! I mean how cool does the edge of that Play-Doh container look??

Canon T1I

Gasp! My new camera is here and it's a beauty! But not as beautiful as my girls...






I have one seriously good-looking family. And then there's me. My Aunt has advised me to be in some of the pictures, so he's what D got...



No I am not pissed, I'm just in the middle of asking him a question. Yes that is a smudge of BBQ Fritos on my shoulder. I could have cropped it out, but I'm trying to keep it real. There is a better close up of me, I'm actually smiling. But in that picture you can tell I need to wax my eyebrows, and I'm not going to keeping it that real! Maybe soon I can get a picture of me and D together...after I wax my brows!!

ETA: Here's a link to the camera....CANON T1I.

A clarification and an update...

First the update.



Aunt Betty is back and home and doing well. {Even if she's all hopped up on pain meds.} My mom and I spoke to her on the phone this morning and I am thrilled to say that she still has the same spunk as always and I am most confident that she's going to be up and running soon. (Ok- maybe not running, really what's the point of running on purpose unless you're being chased?)



Second the clarification.



Yesterday I mentioned that the only person who can fool me is my husband. You probably read my little story and thought "huh, even I saw that coming...she must not be very observant." I've known D for nine years and he fools me about half the time he tries. But this backfires because there was one particular incident that I refused to believe when I really should have trusted him.



A few years ago {I won't bore you with the who what why} he was travelling an hour away after midnight. He was supposed to stay up all night in preparation for working the next night, but he was tired, so he drank a Dr.Pepper to help keep him up. Before he left I told him to call me when he arrived at his destination. I then promptly fell asleep.



At about 12:30 am he calls me. I fumble for the phone. "Hey, did you make it there?"

"No I ran off the road."

"Yeah right, are you at the house?"

"No, seriously, I am stuck in the ditch."

"Babe, stop, did you make it there?"

"I'm not kidding, I'm stuck."

"I don't believe you..." I am sure I sung this to him like nah-na-na-na-nah-na.

"I am really stuck in the ditch, do you think I should call T to get me out."



I think we argued for a full five minutes before I believed him. To his credit, he never got mad that I refused to believe him. Running into the ditch because he dosed off may have mellowed him. (D is pretty mellow anyway.) Of course this incident apparently didn't phase him as he is still always trying to play jokes on me...

Gullible=Me?

I am likely the least gullible person you will ever meet. I am skeptical times 1000. So why is it that my husband is the only person who can fool me. AND on a regular basis. He did it again yesterday. Like this:

D calls to me from the hall, "Someone has vacation on June 5th and 6th." The weekend of the Glenn Beck thing. (fyi-our tickets are in the mail)

I think he must be pulling a fast one, "Is it you?" I don't even look away from the computer.

"No."
"Are you kidding?"
"No."

Pause. Okay now I look away from the computer and he sits on the couch next to me. "Does this mean you can't take it off?"

"Yep."
"Are you kidding?"
"Nope."

Now me with the rapid fire questions {this is Glenn Beck people--my crush, remember?}
"Who is it why did they take off can you ask them to trade can you tell them you already bought the tickets?????"

D gives me that look of intense patience that means he's the only man for me. "Dennis took vacation--I'm not sure why."

Oh. Dennis is friends with D this could work. "oooh, Can you explain it to him?"

"He's called in sick through Sunday." Great, I think--probably swine flu.

"This sucks!" I look at him one more time. "Are you kidding?"

"Yes." And then that grin. Pisshead. If he wasn't so good in bed I'd kick him to the curb.

"You know you are the only person on the planet who can fool me?"

He just laughs. It's a good thing I love him. A lot.

Garage Sales

I've never been one for garage sales. You know I'm a total germaphobe so digging through other people's dirty junk, not really my thing. I mean pretty much the only thing I will buy at a garage sale is something that can be bleached. My BFF can find the neatest stuff at them though. She's always stumbling across great deals on cute benches for the garden or brand new in-the-package pool floaties, etc.

So through her I have braved the garage sale world and found some cute things. Mostly I look for craft/scrapbooking stuff. She has also introduced me to the world of Estate Sales. If you've never been to one of those they are pretty neat. Usually it's a fancy house in a fancy neighborhood where the little old lady has 'moved on'. And every one of these little old ladies had a sewing room. And in this sewing room she had buttons. Tons and tons of buttons. And you know where buttons go, right? On a layout or a card of course! In fact, on the card from Thursday I used a silver button from an estate sale I visited a couple of weeks ago. I also scored some brand new DMC floss. And a large bag of antique-y ivory buttons. Because I need more embellishments in my stash...

This morning my BFF went to a garage sale which I bowed out of due to the fact that I would rather sleep than shop most days. BTW, thaaat's another drawback to garage sales. If you don't get there at 7am, you might as well forget it.

Things I've bought at a garage or estate sale...

• MegaBlocks, which I soaked in a sink full of bleach for an hour.
• buttons
• scrapbook paper still in the package
• sheets for the plants in winter, which I have yet to use
• buttons
• a basket
• buttons

Things I've sold at garage sales (and I honestly can't believe people buy some of this stuff)...

• clothes
• panties, including but not limited to thongs
• a partially used roll of aluminum foil
• a couch that belonged to D that his mom bought at Goodwill
• used makeup, no I am not kidding
• broken electronics--with full disclaimer
• did I mention a used roll of foil?

It amazes me that people buy some of this crap. The used makeup and foil were a joke and I told my BFF no one would buy that. But they did! And what's funny about the clothes is that sometimes it sells like hotcakes and sometimes it doesn't sell at all.

Well I've prattled on long enough. In fact, I think I will start a new label for posts...meaningless prattle. Mostly it's to keep my mind off the whole swine flu thing....

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #4

If you want great inspiration you should check out Dawn McVey's blog. Her work is amazing. She recently started doing color challenges and I can't help but play along when I have the time. Here's the challenge...


And here's my card.




I know technically I used colonial white instead of white, but CTMH's Perfect Day paper was...wait for it...Perfect! Okay I'm done. Later hopefully I can get that post about our adventures buying a camera done for your veiwing pleasure. Oh the things I will do to humiliate myself to keep you people entertained...

Jewelry Color Challenge #34

I got my scraproom organized y'all. Stop. The. Presses. So I rewarded myself by goofing off and playing with a challenge at Stacey's Stamping Stage. The colors were plum, light green, grey or silver and white.


I'm trying an experiment since I don't have my new camera yet. The first picture is without flash to show texture and the second picture is with flash to show the colors better. Which looks better?

And here's some cute pics of the kids...first Little d proving she can fit in the bassinet.

And Little m making her 'mean face'. Or pouting like a supermodel...

As you can tell they were a great help yesterday while we cleaned and moved furniture in the scraproom

Gadget...yeah or nay?

Have you seen THIS? I just today learned about it. Probably if I watched more TV than Fox News and Disney I would have heard about it earlier. It is the second edition already so I guess it's been around a while. But pair my lack of TV watching and my lack of tech-y knowledge and it's really no surprise that I just now spotted it. On a crafty blog no less.


It seems to have a lot of pros, but I am wondering how satisfying it is to read a book on a mini computer screen? I mean take away the tactile act of turning pages and how would it feel to read a book? I'm not sure I would like it. But on the blog I read about it on, she has tons of positive feedback-you can check it out HERE.

And I do read A LOT of blogs, so what would be the difference? Well, I won't be getting one anytime soon, because it's far down on my list of gadgets-to-buy and at $350 a pop, it probably won't be moving up the list to quickly. Oh and guess what? We just bought a camera. This time not from a scam website! I'll post more on that later...

I {Heart} Glenn Beck

I totally have a crush on him, but it's okay because my husband knows about it. In fact, he started it.

I watch The O'Reilly Factor as often as I can. D told me that I would love this guy Glenn Beck that was on CNN. I was like "CNN, doubt it."

"No really," he assured me, "and besides he's coming to Fox News." But then he said, "I think he's taking over O'Reilly's spot."

"NOOOOOOOOoooooooo!" Me raising my fist to the sky.

"Just kidding." D said with that evil grin.

So eventually I got around to watching him. Sigh. He's so dreamy. Hee hee. But he totally cracks me up. I laugh out loud so often when I watch him. And then the nights when he's a guest on O'Reilly? fuggeddaboudit!

So when they were doing the tea party in San Antonio my wonderful husband offered to take me because Glenn Beck was going to be there. Even though he rolls his eyes every time I say I love Glenn Beck. Anyway, I chose not to go because we were at my parents' house and I didn't know what to wear for one thing. Ha. But I told D "the next time he comes to Texas you are taking me!" Guess what!?! He's coming to Houston! AHHHH!

And I am seriously thinking about going even thought the last row tickets are $152 a piece. Come on, what else am I using the money for? The Dream Home?

PS My husband read the title of this post and got pissed off. And I can't stop laughing about that. Does that make me evil? Oh well, I told you I had to pay him back for hitting me with the salt water at the beach two weeks ago...

PPS My husband was only joking about being pissed off...

PPPS We got the tickets Monday morning for only $60 a piece. AND they are in the 12th row. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Did I mention I Heart Glenn Beck?

Aunt Betty..part 2

Made it through surgery fine! She has a blog (which she is neglecting) that I have linked in the sidebar. It's A day in the life of a Mawmaw. Maybe when she gets back on her feet she'll get back to posting. I can always harass, er, I mean hope!

And that's the last of three posts for one day...

Oh my gosh y'all check out this candy...

Several of the blogs I keep up with posted this awesome blog candy, so of course I had to throw my name in the hat. Can you imagine winning all that?? Well head on over to Passion For Crafts and check out her blog to see how you can try to win it also!

The Bedroom Device That Saved My Marriage

Get your mind out of the gutter people! I'm talking about a CPAP machine. You know, for snoring.



So this post is my own personal PSA. (public service announcement). After hearing my lovely sleep and snore, I wondered how I would ever get a good night's sleep. You see, I am a light sleeper. He sleeps like the dead. And during his dead sleep, he snores. No wait that's putting it mildly. Hmmm. He makes noises like he is trying to inhale the neighbors' drapes. Through our walls. He snores like he has wild animals shoved up his nostrils. He snores like...like...LIKE POPPY DOES! Oh my gosh can those men snore.



You get the picture. Perhaps you even know one of these men. Anyways. After getting married and sharing a bed, it was clear that I would have to wake him up several times a night to roll over. It went a little something like this...



Nudge. Nothing.

Poke. Nada.

Shhhhhhove. "Hmpt"

"You're snoring."

Nothing.

"Babe? Roll over."

"mmmm-kay."

Nothing.

"Roll over."

Nothing.

Shove with my foot.

Nothing.

"BABE! Roll over you are snoring!" While shaking.

A pissed off look. "What!?!"

Sigh loudly. "Can you roll over you are snoring really loudly?"

Finally he rolls over. I have 17.3 seconds to fall asleep before he starts again.



Enter the birth of our firstborn. Lack of sleep made us both...'cranky'. It was either he stop snoring and start getting a better rest/less grumpy, or I divorce his cranky ass. One sleep study and CPAP machine later and we are all happy(er) campers.



But in all seriousness. Sleep apnea can lead to all sorts of problems and have dire consequences so if you know someone who has the symptoms, you should suggest they speak to their doc about it. And you will both sleep much better...trust me!