IT CAME!!!!

All of my fiestaware it here. I really got all of this, every last piece for free on Amazon.com via Expotv.com. Yep, I'm bragging, but only to get all of you to go out and make your own videos!!!

Anyhoo, I know it's a little rainbow-esque, but this is just the beginning of my collection. Note I have the top shelf still available for more fiestaware!!!

challenge:what is your dream summer vacation?

Another 2peas challenge. If you don't ever look at that site, you really should. It's so much fun! Lots of inspiration on there.

Anyhoo. My dream summer vacation? I don't really think of summer as the time to travel. I would rather go places when it's not quite so hot. And truly, I got to take my dream vacation earlier this year, when I went to France with my mom and sister. I'd like to go back with Rob, but it was awesome to see it and I don't think Rob would want to run as hard as we did - he likes to chill more than that.

But if we could go anywhere?? I don't know. Mexico sounds fun. I'd really like to see the Mayan ruins. I've always wanted to take a cruise too. And I really, REALLY want to take the kids to Disneyworld. But at this point I can't see us ever affording it! Oh well.

Five things I like about myself...

Today's blogger challenge on 2peas. I really need to check in with that more often, it's always an interesting post...

Unfortunately - five things I dislike about myself is far more easy to think of... Maybe I'll start there and then work on five things I like...

dislike:

1) I ALWAYS worry what people think. Ergh, it's so annoying! It's consuming and frustrating and only leads to disappointment. Such a guilt-driven mentality. I really wish I could just not care, but it's not in line with being a pastor's wife I guess.

2) I'm so not a good mom. I get frustrated and angry and burnt out. I crave alone time and silence and SPACE!!! I miss my bubble.

3) I'm really retentive when it comes to money. No matter how much I have always worry that it won't be enough. And I know that God will provide, I just have a hard time letting my head rest in that. Does that make sense??

4) I'm usually fiscally irresponsible. I should just operate against my gut instinct, and that would probably be a smarter move. Thankfully I surround myself with smart friends and ask for help often.

5) Just chilling is not my thing. I'm constantly moving, changing, worrying, spinning around. I wish I was better about just hanging out with my kids and not trying to do everyone's laundry. Being a mom is hard that way.


So now, can I find five things I like???

1) I'm FINALLY developing a firm sense of self. I know what I like and I like things long term, rather than changing my mind 15 seconds down the road. That's a good place to be.

2) I am really good at serving others. Probably too good, to the point of self-neglect. But overall it is a great quality in a person. right?

3) I'm creative. It's my super power, I think. I don't believe in boxes - I'd rather bust right out of them and do my own thing. Like six different colors of fiestaware that don't really go together - but that's ok!! I like it!

4) I'm capable of change. I can identify the things in myself that I don't like and work to make them better. I set goals and work towards change and usually it works. A lot of people can't do that.

5) I am driven. (again to the point of fault). I get an idea in my head and I won't rest until it's completed. My house is a great example of that. I really enjoy the feeling of a job well-done. Or at least done. :)

There you be. The ins and outs of me. G-night.

feeling blessed at the moment.

My kids are (gasp) both watching Sesame Street. Very slowly in the past week or so, Sarah has decided that tv might not be that bad....

thank heavens.

I seriously was starting to think she would never be a tv watcher. Which I know that's terrible, but you have to understand the kind of kid she is... She is constantly on the move. We joke that she is a hungry lion, seeking whom she may devour. I know that is a horrendous thing to say about you 22 month old sweet baby girl, but she seriously has an appetite for destruction.

Today is going to be a laid back day - I am so sore from yesterday's exploits in the yard. Had no idea how much I had overworked my arms and back, but today I know!! I'm going to try and take it easy - just laundry and probably Walmart - grrr. I need to go though - I need some things for my Missionettes class tonight. I am looking forward to some more scrapbooking during naps, but maybe a nap myself is a better idea.. We'll see.

Stalking the UPS guy again. More fiestaware and a dustbuster on the way. woohoo. Can't wait to bust dust in my bathroom, I'm too excited to sleep!

It's a Beautiful World.

This is my final page of the day. I was very much inspired by my current favorite song - "it's a beautiful world" by Colin Hay. I wanted to include a lot of various aspects of my life at this stage in the game - each flower is a different aspect of me. Anyhoo, it's random but it worked for me!! Note that Lori and I are sitting in the circle at Archiver's in Fairview Heights. Bought the Lil Davis letter stickers there too.

almost there

This page makes me smile. It started with the center picture - I was inspired to doodle on it. When I was done I wasn't sure where to go next, and had the idea of using random photos of us from the past ten years. I haven't done a 'photos-only' page since I first started scrapbooking back in 1999. But I like it. Love the doodling. Love the old photos mixed with the new. Love that it's us. Really used a piece of cardstock, glue and a black pen.

You & Me

I've been putzing with this layout for a few days. It's finally done and I'm pretty happy with it. Used the KI Memories Color Theory paper and giant HKS ghost letters - jazzed up with a bit of stickles. Found these giant rhinestones at Archiver's too. Ordered the 'favorite' stamp on Ebay for $1.95.

bringing you up to speed

I have to say that I feel bad, I've been kind of an obnoxious blogger lately - just popping in for a blurb here and there. I've had alot on my mind, but more than that I've been killing myself trying to get this house finished up and organized before Lori and Jay move in next week.

Realized a week ago or so how very driven I am, and that it's not really normal. But I'm trying to embrace it and at the same time recognize the need to slow down once in a while. I will, for certain, slow down when Lori arrives because I don't want to waste any time with her around.

I'm kind of in awe of them, stepping out in faith. I'm excited for their future. I'm praying that God gives Jay a great job, but I don't think a job is why they are moving here. I think God has an agenda for them at HAG and I'm excited to see what that is. Plus, I'm just excited to have my best friend in such a close proximity. It will be so much more fun then my headset and our 2 hour conversations.

I'm a little nervous about sharing a house long term, but it's a whole lot bigger than the Ozark house, so I just keep reminding myself of that.

I've been crazy busy with the house. I put up shutters last week, they look so nice - really updated the house. I also painted and moved the mailbox, put up new numbers and painted the back and front steps - the paint matches (exactly) the shutters. I found a wreath for the front and back door too, bought a marigold for the back and today I planted Morning Glories - to greet you at the back door. Also found a trellis for them to climb. I love morning glories. They are the next best thing to lilacs.

I spent this morning trimming all five of our hedges and sprucing up the yard. I realized today (if I'd ever had any fantasies) that I will never be a gardener. I didn't know how allergic I was to plant life. Just brushing up against the bushes, my arms are all red and itchey, still and it's been hours!!

I played a little this afternoon, my reward for the hard work this morning. But then I spent the rest of the afternoon doing dishes and making supper - a great new taco bake recipe I got from Kyndal. delicious.

Well, I've got a few pages to post. And then I'm off for a walk. It will be good to clear my head - these kids have been insane today.

Six Flags

Wow. Took me a while to post, considering we went yesterday. And I'm honestly too tired to be doing this now, but I thought I would share a couple pictures real quick. I need to pick up my film (gasp) pictures tomorrow, Walmart was dumb and screwed them up. shocker, I know. BUt this is our group picture. And I wanted to share that I rode the Superman Tower of Power. It basically hauls your butt up in the air 234 feet only to drop you all the way down at a frightening speed. STRAIGHT DOWN!! Basically, if you've ever had that dream, where you are falling... It's just like that. Only the feeling of leaving your stomach at the top of the tower, it's real. Very awesome. Can't believe I had the guts to do it!

Overall, I was thoroughly disappointed with Six Flags. It was super expensive and I did about 4 rides total, but that's because we went on a peak day so we waited in lines forever. Very annoying. I'd like to go back say on a tuesday or something. It had a lot of potential. More when I get the rest of my pictures.

Three pictures for you today...

The first two are pictures of my bathroom curtain - which so totally doesn't look like the one pictured on Target.com. I actually don't really like it - or at least don't love it - but it's such a perfect match of the first three rooms of my house I am at a loss.

Weigh in, will ya?

(please note that the bathroom color is yet to be determined, it will not be that nasty yellow-esque for much longer. Oh, no, it's days are numbered!)

My videos are up on Expotv.com too. Check em out. Just waiting for my second giftcard now to order another slew of fiestaware and a dustbuster. I find that hilarious, just for the record.

And I feel the need to mention that I got in an accident with Kyndal last night. It was just in the parking lot at Cracker Barrel, no damage, no one was hurt. But it was funny! That sounds mean, but there were just various personalities involved and I have since decided that Kyndal leads a charmed life. :)

IT'S HERE!!!

A lot of my fiestaware order came today. I'm so glad I decided to go with this and not the bike! What do you think? I will be ordering some more soon, because Expo tv invited me to do another 10 videos. So stinking fun!! This is the best thing I've ever gotten free, just for the record.

I know my colors are a little cool and the orange doesn't blend, but I am ordering the sunflower and scarlett to even the palette a bit. It just makes me happy!!!

<
I'm a brave soul.

I gave Sarah her first hair cut tonight. Right there at the dinner table. Her mop was just so in her face. Rob said it was adorable, but I thought it just looked messy. So I whipped out the scissors and comb (said a quick prayer) and now she has swept to the side (totally the trend) bangs. Very cute. She loved having it cut - because she is the girliest girl ever... and wanted to help. great. She looks super cute - and older. (sigh) Here are some pictures.

Love this Life

Definitely my favorite page of the day. Jenni Bowlin inspired me, but that's always the case with the stars. She's the queen of star usage. Sooooo in love with this 'love' stamp by Heidi Swapp. The woman is a genius. Love using it with a colored ink and writing over the top. So addictive. After I played with this one, I went ahead and ordered a second one ('favorite') because they are only $1.69 each on Ebay. Making you want one, right??? Also love the star rhinestones and REALLY love the pictures here. Thanks Lori!

Moments Like This

I should put a disclaimer on todays work - a lot has been lifted here, because it had been so long, I wanted to get started right away. But of course, for most of them I went my own direction after the original inspiration, but this one looks really similar to the original. But I loved the original (somewhere on 2peas) and my version totally makes me happy. And isn't that what it's all about??

family dinner

Not my most impresssive layout of all time, but it got the point across. Rob threw me off because he said it was a terrible picture and couldn't understand why I had it blown up. BUT we eat with Lori and Jay all the time and I wanted to capture a typical meal w/ them for our scrapbook.

Used my free avant garde Fontwerks stamps here, and old ochra inkpad, the KI organized paper and Limited Edition stamps.

Chill

First of four pages today. I totally blocked out all of Sarah's nap for scrapbooking this afternoon. I have been working os hard on the house that all of the sudden I realized it had been 11 days since I had scrapbooked! Now, that is just wrong! No wonder I was all uptight!

Used HKS sillouhettes and letter stickers here, and a bunch of Making Memories ribbon I bought on ebay for next to nothing. (gotta love that) The picture is Kimmie and I - from our date a couple weeks ago. :) Love the randomness, but it's just me today.

Just Chillin

This layout is from a few days ago. It's a fun layout about Rob and I. Enjoyed the HKS tape quite a bit. Also finally broke out my Lil Davis Hashbrown stamps.

a couple things on my mind today.


First of all, happy bithday Kyndal. Here is a picture of the card I made her yesterday. Kyndal is one of the many sweet people I've met at our church. She (and her family) are a great blessing to me and mine. :)

Secondly, I really enjoyed spending time with my cousins on Saturday. Wow, super blessed to have great cousins. Always sad I don't get to spend more time with them, because I'm always so thoroughly blessed when I do. I'm posting a few pictures here, of my cousins Rob (the less hairy one), Sara (the extremely pregnant one) and Marny. Marny is actuallymy dad's cousin, so I'm not exactly sure what that makes us, but cousins in some form or another. And there's Karl (the bithday boy) and Ernie (Sara's husband and our pal). We had a lovely time.

Sorry about blogging lately. We've been really swamped. This blog is important to me, but sometimes it falls further down on the to-do list. Speaking of - I'm really trying to be better about carving out time to relax and letting some things slide, a little bit, just for the sake of sanity. But hopefully I can talk about that later. I just really wanted to check in and reassure you (all four of you readers) that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, yet. Monday is rapidly becoming my favorite day of the week, since Rob has started taking it off. He's out powerwashing our house as I type. Off to scour paint off the porch steps. Cheerio and good Monday to you all!

I'm sure you are starting to wonder if I died.

But I haven't. I've just been consumed by my house lately. I've spent the past week mostly in 'Eli's Suite' stripping paper, painting and trimming. It's finished. Tomorrow afternoon I have the daunting task of putting it back together.

While I had the trim paint out, I finished trimwork in Sarah's bedroom, the kitchen and the master bathroom. And if I didn't suddenly feel the need to paint the master bath, I would say our house is done. But I do, so it's not.

Haven't the foggiest what to do with that bathroom. Not sure if I'll keep with the palm tree theme or go with something bolder. I've done a lot of bold in this house - would hate to disappoint now. :) I've been eyeing a shower curtain on Target's website, but reluctant to buy online because of reviews about the colors being darking in real life. I don't know. If I found a 'had to have' shower curtain it would push me over the edge on changing the whole color scheme. I should check out Gordmans or something tomorrow. Maybe I'll check the Target Greatland by the Galleria to see if they have it in stock so I can see it for real. Target happens to be right next to my all-time favorite store (probably even more than Archiver's -gasp- Crate & Barrel, who happen to be in the throes of their summer clearance sale!)

Tomorrow we head over to St. Louis to see my cousins. I'm excited, our children get along famously. Sara, my first cousin, is pregnant with number 2, due in the end of July. Her brother Rob (also first cousin) has flown in to see her, and I haven't seen him in almost four years!! Very excited. Her son is celebrating his 3rd birthday, so we got him a Rescue Hero w/ horse to play with. Eli loved Rescue Heroes at three. He still plays with them when he thinks of it.

I jumped on a trampoline tonight. We had Cribz and one of the neighbor people had a tramp, so I jumped like I was losing my mind. (not like I had to try too hard) It was great, forgot how much I liked being a kid. Eli kept laughing at me, but I was doing the splits and everything. Too bad my camera was back in the house!

And my teaser photo at the top is a total bragging thing, I ordered $134 worth of Fiestaware this morning, at a grand total cost to me of $8.96 or some such silly thing. The expotv thing totally paid off. If you have a camera and a fast internet connection it's totally worth your time. I spent about 2 hours making and uploading my videos, got a hundred dollars in Amazon gift certs and then Amazon was having a summer sale on kitchen stuff, buy $125 worth of stuff and get $25 off instantly. Plus, it was free super-saver shipping. So I finally have started my fiestaware collection, and it makes me giddy. I will be stalking the UPS guy for sure!!!

Can I get your opinion???

I'm considering a new bike. I'm looking at one at Target that is very similar to this. Rob says it's an old lady bike. I think it looks very comfortable. I consider what I do on my bike - which is try to keep up with Rob and lug a 25 pound toddler around in her bike seat. I know the bike seat won't be forever, but I really like the idea of being more comfortable on the bike - not the silly racing handlebars - they hurt my back so much. Rob says he doesn't want to be seen with me on this bike, but I think I would last longer on rides because it's more comfortable (longer handlebars, wider seat) and be more apt to use it. Totally could use some comments here, please weigh in. thanks!

the last of the St. Louis adventure, I promise. But you can certainly see that we had a good time. :)

My son amazed me today.

He read "Leaf Season" to me, out loud, front to back. It's the first book he's ever read. It's easily a second grade level book. I am in awe of him. He starts kindergarten in the fall. This book had words like "replied", "apartment", and "delicious" in it. I am so impressed. I think I will take him to Barnes & Nobles tomorrow and let him pick out a book (that he can read) of his choice, just to celebrate this amazing achievement. I had no idea he was capable of that. This morning at lunch he read Sarah's fortune cookie to her "Think of what you will thinnk of 10 years from now." He is an amazing little guy.

still more pictures.

We seriously took 119 pictures yesterday. It was just so fun to be out as adults on our own. We totally played tourist too, taking in the station. I almost had the guts to do this bungee jump/trampoline thing, but didn't have any cash and that's all they took. I didn't want to pay an ATM fee because I am cheap like that. details.

But we did fork over the money to ride up the tiny bubble thing to the top of the arch. I seriously could not believe how insanely crazy that ride is!! Literally a pod that takes you to the top. They say the ride takes an hour, but I think 52 minutes of it you spend waiting in line, and the other eight minutes is up and down. But it was worth it. A beautiful view of the city. Enjoyed a kiss at 630 feet.

more pictures

We started out at Aloe Park, which is basically a fountain in the center of the city. It's very pretty, if you like nude statues dragging their babies through water. :) But it was hot and the water in the air felt cool. Plus it made for good pictures, don't you think?

Yesterday.

Great day. Truely great day. We hired a babysitter for the kids and the three of us went out on the town. We enjoyed Cheesecake Factory for lunch at the Galleria. Then we headed downtown to check out Union Station and the Arch. I took way too many pictures and I am going to post more than a handful of them here because it's my blog and I can!!