Happy New Year

I just read one of my top three favorite blogs and enjoyed the new year's resolutions so much that I thought I'd drop one or two of my own. As a rule, I don't make resolutions because they always seem doomed. I make a cheer and a prayer for things to go terrifically for us in the new year, however.

We love our new home in the midwest, but this has not been the best year in terms of success and advancing our income/financial lives, and I pray for more resolution and success in that this year. We did some GREAT things, like let my scrapbooking be a little income for us (something we didn't think of when I started!) and also improving some small but important areas of the house.

I am committed to making the most of my current sb supplies and tools before adding any unjustifiably, whether it be cleaning out, selling, giving away, or using....I don't want anything stagnant in my stash.

I need to keep up with the housework better and more quickly so it's not always such a task to do it.

I need to figure out how to get the girls to WANT to wear clothes....these two pumpkins seem to like being au natural for whatever reason. Also MUST make it through the home stretch of potty training - they can, they do, but they don't always, and that's gotta change.

I pray for success, peace, friends, and fun for my dearest, wonderful, warm, nicest guy I know, best friend I will ever have, father of my beautiful angels, fruitcake of a guy husband.

There. I think that's enough for anyone, right? Happy New Year. Peace.

Wow, that was fast

My last post said that Christmas is nearly here. Well, here we are on Friday following Christmas, and I'm wondering how it came and went so quickly. We had a nice Christmas day. The girls didn't wake too too early, so our day began about 8 am. They noticed immediately their Santa presents. We don't wrap Santa big gifts, and this year, they got the Little People Castle and each a baby doll and baby stroller from Santa. They loved them, but boy, those Little People sure are popular here! The Castle set is especially loved because it has hee-haws in it! The girls have nice wooden rocking horses they ride that were gifts from Oma and Opa. I used to tell them, "EEeeeeee-haaawwwwww!" when they rode. So now, they call horses hee-haws. Go figure. Other gifts were loved and admired and being played with, used, appreciated, eaten, cooked, munched, you get the picture. Especially popular are the Dora DVDs that seem to play non-stop now. And you know they now loop? I don't even have to hit play; the darn things just start themselves! Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I guess it's good when I"m trying to do something like clean the kitchen counters off or take a shower.

Let's see, what else....Oh, I gave up my charming little scrapbook room so the girls can have a playroom in the basement. Our house needs for them to have a playroom! Way too many little things everywhere.....so now my sb room is in the more open basement room. Not happy with the current configuration, so this weekend we'll try again. Also some painting in our immediate future, because I just can't stand the yellow that's been there forever. I want fresh and bright. I want my Behr Asparagus paint back!!

In the meantime, I did get to do one layout using some of my BG Blitzen paper finally. Also used some BG Holy Cow rubons, my new QK Olivia alphabet, and a Creative Imaginations Santa metal plaque from a package I won. Not sure I love that, but will go with it for now. Big Heidi Swapp alpha at the bottom - just love those! The thing at the top is just a clip holding the page; also some glare on photos from camera flash.

It's nearly here

Christmas, that is. Three more days! Not sure if my girls can hold on that long, having no real concept of days, it seems, but it'll be ok. They are talking about Santa, saying "I love Christmas," and such. Real 3-year-old fun stuff! They turned 3 this past Saturday. I can't believe how they are growing.

So it's holiday week....still got presents to wrap and a couple of little scrapbook projects to do. Hope the next couple of nights are productive! I'm not working again at Archivers until Saturday, so I need to be working here, not to mention trying to clean house for Christmas day. Oh, gosh, and we need to take the ham and the chicken (for the cornbread stuffing) out of the freezer! I better get to work.

Super busy weekend

I hate when the weekends pass too quickly. It's nice to get things done though. Seems like we are just plummeting towards Christmas! I cropped with Tina on Friday night, and that was really fun. Not only is it my favorite store at which to crop, but it was a potluck dinner, and there were some really tasty foods and treats! Also, I worked on a Christmas gift and got it completely done with time to spare at the end of the night. That's really cool. On Saturday, we had family Christmas pictures made at Penneys. That went over as it usually does with the girls (like the proverbial lead balloon), but I think we got some passable portraits. Hopefully, by the time Easter or the next photo opportunity comes around, the girls will be past their dislike of the process!

I put in a few hours at Archivers after that, and after getting our Christmas card photo taken here at home. Again, the girls didn't get the concept, but I got a cute photo, don't you think? I just wish their faces showed more.

The rest of the weekend brought some scrapping time, when I worked on more Christmas gifts and our homemade Christmas cards. Just about finished with those and hoping to make the mail tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest. We'll see.

December already!

I am a bad blogger. I can't believe how long it's been since I blogged and also read blogs. So I've been catching up this morning, at least on the reading. The girls are playing house, so we'll see how much I can type before they decide they need to be on my lap.

Let's see....we travelled for Thanksgiving. Had a very nice time with family on Thanksgiving day and the day after. Hi, Oma, Opa, Tori and Tim! We miss you and all the family! We brought home a truck load of gifts for the girls from the family, both birthday and Christmas. They are all still sitting in our living room in the bags and box from the car. We did get the tree up, but that's as far as it goes so far. Just the tree, no lights or anything yet. My 29 cent poinsettia sits on the dining room table, and my $5 Santa on the entry table. Story of those: I shopped the 90% off sale at Hobby Lobby after Christmas last year. The santa was $50, and the poinsettia was $29.99, but it was marked down to $2.99, and the sales person (even though I told him it was marked already) said, 90% off marked price - 29 cents! Cool, huh? I also got some stocking holders on that sale that aren't out yet.

The husband and I received very nice gifts from family ~ gift certificates to Lowes and Home Depot. We desperately need some things done around the house, and we are very grateful for these gifts!! We decided that we would enjoy the fruits of those gifts in time for Christmas, so over the past week and a half, we have put down a new kitchen floor, rearranged the stove and refrigerator for a much better, roomier look, and installed a new light above the sink, a pendant light. Cool, huh? We also worked in a clearance-priced rechargable Swiffer/Red Devil power handy vac and a pack of batteries for just $13 total over our Home Depot gift card.

And this past weekend, with the help (mucho help!) of a friend's husband, we installed a brand spankin' new potty! Our old potty had a leak into the basement. It was not a huge leak, we could catch it with a bucket, but what a pain, right? It leaked only when flushing, so it was a toilet problem. That, combined with a crack in the tank and just general ugliness of an old potty all added up to one thing: we needed a new one! We didn't go super designer or anything, but we got a nice basic American Standard "toilet in a box" that had all pieces and parts in one package. That and a new halogen bulb for the new pendant light in the kitchen took care of our Lowes gift card and about $4 extra.

We really made those gift cards work for us. For an additional investment of $10, we put a new bathroom floor with the leftover kitchen tiles (a cottage wood look, so it also works in our gardeny bathroom). The final spending was about $20 at Ace to cover plumbing pieces that friend needed to fix the stupid pipe thing that was wrong with old potty. Now we have nicely installed new potty that won't give trouble to any future moving or changing either. Of course, if we had much more money and tools and ability, the floor would have been these wood plank (think Pergo type) floor, and tile in the bathroom. But this is good; we like it; it was affordable; it's a good thing.

Also news: I'm working at Archivers! We decided that the family could use a little steady extra income, and if I could get a job at this fun store, it would hardly be like working! Well, that's not exactly true (after 6 hours yesterday, lol), but if I gotta work, it's a total blast to also be surrounded by scrapbooking while doing it! I get to see new stuff, talk sb'ing, and get paid. Even more cool beans, especially right at the holidays.

So this is how far I made it. The girls are now in my lap. Well, Maddie is. Emily is serving me coffee in her Little Tikes cup and saucer. So cute.... Ok, off to more of my day. I will try to add a pic or two later on, but the coffee pot (the real one) is calling my name for now.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

The husband and I married 5 years ago today. Wow....what a long, strange trip it's been (thanks, Jerry!). When I think back...it's hard to believe all we've packed into our five years. As far as us together, the girls, our family, things couldn't be better. Sure, we bicker over stupid stuff, we all have our stupid stuff, right?, but in general things are golden! (errr...or whatever the 5 year anniversary is). Wish the external world were as easy to control. Hopefully, in time, the external things, very important things, will clarify and improve as well.

What else....I've been ebaying a lot this week. When I work at it, it works for us, so a listing, listing, listing, I go! Here's my latest craft that's listed. Love these lunchboxes!

Tagged

My dear sb'ing buddy Kara tagged me, so here goes!

2 names you go by
1. Tracey
2. Mommy

2 parts of your heritage
1. Austrian
2. Cajun

2 things that scare you
1. having money issues
2. my girls growing too fast!

2 of your everyday essentials
1. routine
2. coffee

2 things you are wearing right now
1. My CKU dorm t-shirt
2. comfy hoodie jacket

2 of your favorite bands or musical artists (at the moment)
1. Oh, gosh, I don't listen to a lot of music unless you count The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown
2. John Mayer if I have to name someone!

2 things you want in a relationship (other than real love)
1. responsibility
2. trust
2a. fun
(see how I got that 3rd one in? lol)

2 truths
1. i should do more housework than I do!
2. i love love love being married and having children!

2 physical things that appeal to you (in the opposite sex)
1. PHysical things? a nice butt!
2. Things? being nice, good sense of humor, patience (because I don't have it)

2 of your favorite hobbies
1. scrapbooking
2. blogging, reading, going to the bathroom by myself

2 things you want really badly
1. Paid-off bills
2. Total security for my family

2 places you want to go on vacation
1. Disney World
2. Cooperstown

2 things you want to do before you die
1. Attend my children's well-thought out and desired wedding ceremonies when that time comes (oh, please, at least 20 years from now!)
2. Retire with security

2 ways that you are stereotypically a dude/chick
1. I love chocolate
2. I love jewelry, purses, shoes, clothes, bath stuff

2 things you are thinking about now
1. ...how am I going to turn off the Bob video (Veggie Tales) because it's stuck and won't play anyway without the girls having total breakdowns? It's stuck because a year or so ago they chomped into the dvd and near the end it sticks.
2. ...will husband be home on time tonight?

2 stores you shop at
1. Target
2. Michaels

2 people i would like to see take this quiz
1. Tina and actually publish the blog!!!!
2. Cynthia again and be even more funny, if possible!

They say it's my birthday....

well, it was last Monday. Been a busy week or two here in our household, some good, some not so good. Since the husband's birthday, I've also had a Stampin' Up! workshop, my birthday, a household full of sick babies and sick Mommy, and now plans are firming up for our anniversary next week, then Thanksgiving soon after. The girls' birthday is in December, then Christmas....yep, we got everything absolutely as close together as possible. Lots of celebrating and gifts and loving around our house! We didn't do a lot for our birthdays...had a joint dinner out, some free babysitting (thank you, Nietra!!), some lounging around Borders like grown-ups (something we haven't done since the girls were too tiny to make a fuss), and, on my birthday, a trip to the McDonalds playland for dinner. Hey, don't knock it...the girls played while we sat and knew they were right there and safe. Well, Emily did get scared at the top of the tower thing and the husband had to climb up and get her, but she was never unsafe. Maddie was all over the place like Laura Croft, dangling by one arm and stuff. I had meant to spend some of my birthday weekend scrapbooking just for me, but I didn't do so until last night. I got two pages in my "me" book done, a 12x12 page of the husband's birthday picture, a Scrabble Scores altered comp book, and cleaned up a bit in the sb room. Oh! I received this cool new mug and some coffees for my big day, as well as a Fiskars Craft Drill. Just call me Donna Downey!

Halloween Bugs

Here in Des Moines, Halloween night is just another night. Oh sure, there are parties and such and big people celebrating, but in kid terms, it's nothing. What we have here is "beggar's night" on October 30. Yeah, that's what I think, too. For some reason a good while back, it was determined that Halloween was out of control or something and having little kids on the streets while big people partied wasn't a good thing. So, Sunday was our day to let the girls have fun. We dressed up our cute little ladybugs and set off. The plan was to bring them to the local mall trick or treat at 4, spend an hour there, then come home and take them around to our closest neighbor's houses during the official 6-8 Beggar's Night time frame.

The mall was a ton of fun. The girls had a blast going from store to store. We saw a couple of friends, too, so that was nice. Emily reached her point of saturation early and seemed only interested in what was already in her bucket. I could see her little mind thinking, now how long do I collect this stuff without actually eating any? Of course, she hadn't napped like her sister had, and her mood wasn't as good after a while. She had to be carried a little in the end. The only thing that saved us was SpongeBob. I wish I remembered what store this was, but this wonderful guy dressed in a Sponge Bob spongy outfit just delighted Emily and she had to run to him and cackle. Yes, she cackled. This is my best Halloween picture. I can't wait to scrapbook these things!

As for the neighborhood, we saw when we got home that none of our close neighbors had lights on, so we decided to just give out candy and let the girls play. We didn't even give out a lot either -- for some reason, there weren't the trick or treaters this time like we had last year. Aww well. More dum dums for the girls.

TGIF

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I blogged! I was so good and writing every day for a good while. Time really does just escape these days. My girls are doing great. Halloween is this weekend, and they will transform into the cutest little ladybugs, complete with wings. I hope they like them, because the wings make their outfits -- otherwise, it's just red shirts, black pants, and freckles added. We'll see and hope. They will have fun regardless.

The husband and I have discovered something fun and so simple to spend a little time together and relax some. Twice this week, we played Scrabble before bedtime. It was such fun! Santa gave us this Scrabble game last Christmas, and we didn't even open it until this week. Did you know the new games don't come with wooden tiles? They are plastic, made to look like the old wooden ones. We'll be on the lookout for a garage sale set in the future, just for the nostalgia of it. We haven't taken score, but we will next time maybe. Need to start a little earlier to get in a good, competitive game. I've got Yahtzee on my mind as well. I love Yahtzee.

Once again,

time flies. The weeks sure do seem to pass quickly this time of year, Maybe all times of year. I love the season though. As previously mentioned, fall is a fabulous time, quickly followed, heck, overtaken by THE holiday season -- Christmas. My projects for ebay have already turned to Christmas ones, and I'm having a Christmas Card workshop for Stampin' Up! in a few weeks. I haven't even begun to think about my personal projects for Christmas, and I need to. I really do like hand-crafting things for others. I remember years ago when I would see such things at craft sales and such, I'd wonder why they were more expensive than I thought they would be, cards and such. Now, I know. Not only do supplies cost, but the time, effort and creativity has a "cost" also. And, really, when you look at the current cost of a nice (or even not as nice) card from Hallmark, a nice hand-crafted card doesn't seem so expensive. Neither does the price of a set of stamps that can be used over and over!

Our weekend will fly by, as usual. Tomorrow we are taking the girls, once again, to Penneys to take Fall pictures. We went last Saturday, and got a good picture of Emily, but both girls were mostly uncooperative. Maddie gave us nothing, so we go back tomorrow to try again. Let's hope!! I may have to actually put on make up and wear something matching, have the husband do the same, just in case we have to resort to a family picture holding the girls. Sheesh.

My fledgling stamp club meets tomorrow, too. We sure do have fun, even just the few of us. Hopefully, the encroaching holiday season will inspire our craftiness.

Otherwise, I'm working on some contest entries, items to sell on ebay, and a few other things. Maybe one of the contests will go my way. Ya never know.....

Long Weekend

I love long weekends, when the husband has an extra day off. In this case, the extra day is today, Monday, Columbus day. We've had a busy weekend trying to clean house -- both literally and doing a lot of ebaying of stuff that needs to go. Doing ok on both fronts. I plan on finishing yet another layout this afternoon then starting a lunchbox for ebay. It's my last one, and I want to get it done and see if it'll go.

Picture day on Saturday was, well, a struggle. We took the girls to Penneys, where we have the Portrait Club membership, to get fall portraits done. They had other plans. No interest at all in getting up on the table for the photos. After about 45 minutes, we got a very nice pic of Emily, a cute, but not great pic of Maddie where she had something partially blocking her face, and nothing of them together. We ordered Em's and go back on Saturday to try again with Maddie. "It's just the age," the photographer, who, I think, is new, said and had the patience of a saint.

In the meantime, here's another lo I did this weekend. Happy Columbus Day!

New layout and Potty News

I finished this layout last night. I started it last week, but the vision wouldn't come to me, so I set it aside. Yesterday, I read a sentence by Sarah Ackerman Hale that just gave me the exact notion of what I wanted to do with this layout. Last night, I went downstairs and pretty much put it together in no time. Love the Alphabet Soup -- my first time using it!

Potty news!

I made the headline here pink in honor of my two little pumpkins. They are doing so well with the potty all of a sudden. Emily uses the potty to peepee almost exclusively. If she has on a diaper, she either goes in it or takes it off and uses the potty. She is still not doing no. 2 in the potty though. Maddie has done no. 2 in the baby potty twice now, once yesterday eve and once this morning. Awesome!!! She peepees in it here and there, but until day before yesterday, was just as happy to remove her diaper as her sister does, and then use the floor for peepee. And as late as yesterday morning, she did no. 2 on the floor, too, but told me immediately about the (yeah, I know, get this...) "babies!!" YIPES!! No idea on that one. Still, potty progress has come when I wasn't looking, and that is, indeed, a good thing. I don't want my lil pumpkins to grow up any faster than they have to, but some battles I can do without, ya know?

Circle Journal Hell

I love circle journals. I love the concept, I love the surprise of opening and thumbing through that next one that comes in the mail, I love getting one back complete. What I don't love, however, is circle journals! I do not love that they are rarely sent on time, that I more often than not get packages with two or three cj's in them because the person before me is late or behind on them, that they take a ton of postage, that they seem to take forever to finish.

This past weekend, I was determined to knock out three that I have sitting because they've been here a while. In my defense, I got them all in the same mailing. I'm expecting two more this week, and, yep, you guessed it -- in the same mailing from the same circle. I got two of them done pretty quickly (didn't even stop to think!), and have the third almost done. Look out, Sarah -- they are heading your way by week's end!

I am in one cj group that's pretty darn good -- a big shout out to my friends on the CKU KC circle journal board! I ended up not even going to CKU KC, but these wonderful ladies kept me around anyway, and the cj and our message board has been a blast. We had so much fun with the cj, which is still going, mostly on time, too!, that we're doing a rolodex card swap next. With these ladies, I don't mind at all......

On a separate note, a big shout out to Wendi Speciale, a very kind person and artist. Check out her blog in my links to the left, and definitely check out her stamps!!

Fall

I absolutely love fall. The colors, the air, the leaves....well, not raking or anything, but how pretty they can be and such. Our birthdays, anniversary, the holidays we love, all in the fall. I guess I'd have to say Christmas is my favorite holiday, but fall is definitely my favorite season. So I'm really enjoying the atmosphere here in Iowa in the fall.

Other things -- eh. Working on being and getting better at things we need to do, work, home, budgets, getting the girls to bed, all of it. It's time to shape up, ya know? It's so hard to turn around old habits, but the time is now, so we're working, ebaying, cleaning......

One project to show, another lunchbox -- this one is, hopefully, sold to my sb'ing friend in New Zealand. Waiting to hear from her today!

I cropped!

Not much new since yesterday, but I did scrapbook a layout. Woohoo! Hopefully will do something else tonight. Good therapy, this. :)

Catching Up, Clearing the Fog

What a week. Busy weekend, ups and downs, tired mostly, trying week so far, terrible day yesterday. Wish I had some scrapbooking to share. I feel like I need to cleanse my soul of burden and stress right now. I want to stare some scrapbook paper and photos in the face and it be for me, for my books, for my girls, for our family, for fun. No projects for sale, no samples, no make and takes, no circle journal entries. Maybe later tonight.

Until then, I'm on my guard. I'm watching the girls, not letting them get too far from me without worrying with what they may be into. Yesterday, what they were into was poopy diapers. I couldn't believe the mess -- the husband came home early to try and clean it up. My back was still hurting from Saturday's activities, and I didn't want to push it, so he was able to help. Maddie had two baths yesterday because, yes, she got into a diaper twice. Amazing, I know. We're now stapling the diapers on them, and that mostly works. Today it does, anyway.

Also yesterday, after all that happened and I had the girls sitting with their lunch, and I was sitting with mine, I feel something with my tongue, and it turns out a filling has fallen out of my tooth. The upper one all the way in the back on the left. UGH. I mean, how much worse can this day get? So I make a dental appt for today; dh has to come home early again. I hate dental work. Hate it. I am way beyond just cringing. I have a terrible sensitivity to it. If the drill is being used, I"m ready to throw up. If it touches my lip by accident (you know how they might move the handle part around and it touches), I can throw up. That vibration just makes me ill and hurt and puts chills up and down my spine. My knuckles are white the entire time and my whole body clinched. I hate it. My former dentist understood this, and if I needed so much as a filling (not often, thank goodness), he'd use the heavy drugs. For a cleaning, I'd use nitrous. It helps. We'll see what today brings. I asked if they had nitrous and told them I"d be needing it.

Today

Today things have not changed significantly, but seem better. Just little things can adjust how you feel about things, you know? We finally got our over-due travel refund, which helps get the bills paid! Good thing, that. I am trying to accept that someone else's stress is not my stress and not to let mean remarks get to me. And I'm wondering if they offer boarding schools that potty train. You think?? maybe?

UGH

Well, I'm having one of those 'damned if I do, damned if I don't' days. I thought I had things going pretty well. I thought I was contributing in some way in one thing I'm involved in, I thought I was doing ok with the girls, I thought I was helping our budget....but today doesn't seem like it's working. Apparently, I don't have the right priorities. Apparently, I am not a good mommy. Apparently, I take one step forward and at least a step and a half back on the budget most times.

About being a good mommy -- I do not know what to do. The girls aren't responding to using the potty. They won't keep their diapers on, and I"m running out of packing tape. I now have to go between their legs with it, too, or they can pull the diaper out from under it. Putting overalls on them doesn't work. Anything with snaps, like a onesie, etc., they can get off and get to the diaper. I bought them big-girl panties to see if that would work, figuring it would be SOMEthing between their bare bottoms and the house, but Emily peeled those off instantly. I don't know what to do.

Budget -- cleaning out the sb supplies! Need to make up to our very very tight budget for some dumb spending. That's going ok, just wish I had more time to go through stuff.

The other -- well, I"m the terrible person in a group, I suppose. I have stronger feelings about something than others do, and I feel like I'm being "put in my place" about it.....not sure what to do here, but I know that it seems I can't do or say anything right these days. I guess I"ll go through with my committment and just keep any thoughts or feelings to myself. What else?

Just having a baddddd day, I guess. Hope yours is going ok though!

Time flies

I think this is the first time I've been a week without posting....just happened. I've been pretty engrossed in the news coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Still, I cry. Some days I can't watch at all. Keep those prayers coming!

Scrapbooking -- this has been a week of working on ebay projects and Stampin' Up! projects for the Crop for the Cure (www.debbie.com/cropforthecure). I have a vendor booth, plus am on the "committee" sponsoring the event, so since it's in 2 weeks, there's lots to do. I am creating some projects with stamping like small scrapbooks, little bags, a lunchbox, all to "raffle" off. The raffle tickets are given with sales -- a ticket for each $5 earned. The husband gave me that idea, as it's what his baseball card shop guy does. Sounds reasonable and fun. I have actual SU product, too, but wanted to show what you can DO with the product, you know? Fun stuff....

Circle journal HELL. Ok, love the idea. Ok, hate the mailing. I seem to be the link in the chain where everyone decides to "catch up;" on three separate cj's, I have received 2 at a time, and am expecting 3 on one today. I know sometimes it's that the person before me is ahead, but sheesh -- how did I get to be the lucky link? I am going to be VERY selective regarding cj's in the future! I'm currently in the post-CKU Minneapolis cj (love it), a pre-CKU KC cj (love it, but am not actually going to CKU KC); a 2Peas 1980s cj that I angeled for when I was frequenting 2Peas; a local sb friends one (easy and small circle). That may be all. It's so hard to remember at the rate they hit my house.

What else -- had a quiet labor day here. The husband was off work on Friday, too, so we finally got to the bathroom painting. Yes, the same bathroom painting mentioned long ago. Sans some final touch up and installing the curtain rod once we find the hardware (another story, that), I think we're finished! Of course, this is my cosmetic make-over. It now looks like a room we decorated instead of the previous owners. What were they thinking with all that lavender and yellow??? Someday we'll replace the toilet, sink and cabinet....someday.