It's been a LONG time...

I got SO lazy about updating my blog. It's not even that I've been super busy...just super lazy. The kids got done with school and we are about half way done with summer vaca. Mattie will be a sophmore next year and V will be a 4th grader. How times flies. It's been a pretty uneventful summer. Probably not taking any kind of vaca again since Steve can't get the time off from work. So the kids and I have been doing the movies quite a bit...the free ones and then we do movies as a family on the weekends...not free ones;) Visit my mom and Lal a lot, but that's about it.

I'm still going to the gym about 4 times and week and putting in some workouts here at home too when I get the chance. I hadn't been able to lose any more weight after the intial 20 lbs that I lost, but just recently, I dropped about 4, so I'm happy about that. Just REALLY need to watch what I eat...

We are also in the middle of planning our 20 year high school reunion. So meetings and trying to collect payments...busy, busy. We just had a "meeting" yesterday, but only two people showed up besides me, Lal and Laura, but it was still a lot of fun catching up and laughing a whole lot:)

We will be starting back to school shopping this weekend. I've pretty much got all the school supplies we need with the exception of like 2 or 3 small items. It really does pay off to stock up when they clearance this stuff. This is the second yr and I haven't really had to buy school supplies.

Mattie turned 16 the beginning of this month. Can hardly believe it. V will be turning 10 almost as soon as school starts. I feel so old:(

I have been trying to keep up with the scrapping. Been working on different things here and there. I have drastically cut down on my shopping...seriously...been saving myself quite a bit of $$$ ;)

I can't upload every single project I've done since I blogged last, but I will update with a few of the lastest things.

I've been on an Alice in Wonderland kick lately;) These are just a few of the things I've made using the theme. I've done some cards and quite a few different type tags. I am so loving the new Graphic 45 line. I just picked up some at 911 the other day and can't wait to use it. Jennie is doing a mini book class with the line and her book is AWESOME!!! I so want to do this class.

Just a card I made using one of my Tim Holtz dies. I am loving these dies and just starting to explore their possibilites. I can't wait for some of his new CHA release Alterations especially the tag one!!!

Going to try REALLY hard to remember I still have this thing here and update more often. Summer will be over before you know it and I'll be back to my regular schedule;) More soon...hopfeully;)

Happy Birthday to my Mommy!!!

On Sunday my mom celebrated her 70th birthday. I can't believe how quickly time goes by. My Uncle Frank planned a surprise party for her. It was a little hard to keep a secret since I had been over at my mom's on Friday and spent the night until Saturday morning. I usually take my mom out to lunch and shopping for her birthday and bake her cake, but this year we waited out until Sunday. I was afraid she would think we had forgetten about her, but she was really suprised when she walked into my uncle's house that afternoon.

My cake had a little accident:( The cherry sauce melted my icing border and ran over the sides of the cake, but it was still yummy:)

My uncle bbq-ed and everything was delicious. All of my aunts came to celebrate with my mom. My cousins came...Ruby, Felicia and Kelly. It was a very nice time and I am really happy my uncle did that for her:) My mom is my whole world and I live to make her proud of me. I hope she enjoyed her special day:)

New LOs to Share...

Lots of new LOs to share that I've gotten done since the new year. I've noticed that when I work with thinner cardstock; not textured, my Zig glue makes my paper bow:( I need to figure out what to do about that. Of course, it flattens right out sitting in the album, but I hate the look of it beforehand...

Someone on 2Peas posted about this awesome Cosmo Cricket kits they found at Tuesday Morning. There is a 1-800 number you can call to find out if a store near you has the product in stock. All you need is the SKU# and your zip code. So I called and found some at the store right by my house:) These were only $14.99 and they are FULL of goodies. I got two kits, one in the Coral and one in the Dusty Blue. I want to start some projects with these goodies soon especially the lacing card kits:)

Some other recent Tuesday Morning finds (not pictured) were packs of MM and AC paper; 25 the same sheet for $1.99. Love Elsie chip and assorted embellie packs; bundles of 4 and 5 for $3.99. MM Flower Shop Tins and Jars for $1.99 and some more AC Thickers. I found a chip Jewelery Box font and a pink puffy Umbrella for only $1.79 a pack:)

Family/Home Chip Album (as seen in Scrapbooks Etc.)

Some really cute Vday stamps I picked up at J's a few weeks ago in the $ bins. Cute to make your own Vday cards with:) Also a few of the Spring stamps...

Here are the pics of my mini album I worked on the last time we got together with the girls. This was featured in the last issue of Scrapbooks Etc.

SO long...

I can't believe that it's been over two months since I last updated my blog. For some reason I kind of lost interest in the whole updating thing:( I'm going to try to be better at keeping it up. I'm not even going to attempt to catch up for the last two months, so I'll just pick up from today:)

Well, I'm still hitting the gym and dieting for the most part, but I have been stuck at my 20lb weight loss for some time. Yesterday at the store, I picked up this acacia berry stuff to boost it a little. Today is only day one, so let's see how it goes. It's only a two week thing.

The kids were off yesterday for Martin Luther King day. We just stayed home and I did my house cleaning. Just ran to do my grocery shopping in the afternoon and a quick run to HL for a couple of punches I wanted for my Vday cards:)

Sunday the kids spent the day at the inlaws and we did a little running around. Caught a movie. Went to go see Lovely Bones. VERY good. I'd just finished the book like last week. Definately not a movie to take your small children to though. We also had lunch at the Olive Garden. Steve's parents gave us a gift card for Christmas and we just got around to using it. It was really good:)

A couple of weeks ago, we all got together here at my house; me and Lal, Laura and Liz...Yocasta couldn't make it:( We worked on a little family/home chip album project I saw in the latest issue of Scrapbooks Etc. I got the cutest little house chip albums at M's in the $ bins; got one for each of the girls:) It was a fun little project and I love how mine turned out. I'll be sharing in the next post.

Over Christmas and the last few weeks, I've made some updates in my room. Got some new storage units and added a new "desk" area to my room. Lots more counter space:)

We are planning on getting together again this Friday at my mom's house. I think we are going to be working on LOs or Valentine cards. I think I'll do a little of both. I'm really looking forward to the "me" time.

I haven't really done too much scrapping lately. Probably a handful of LOs, but I also haven't really done too much shopping;) That's a plus:)

Hopefully, I'll be back to post soon. I'm going to at least try to do it once a week. We'll see how that goes. Only 3 more days to the weekend. Have a good one:)

LO Update...

Here are my most recent LOs. Some I did at home and some I got done @ the church gathering I went to with Lal. I'm too lazy to go through them all and list all the product and such so if anyone has any questions, just leave me a comment:)


Right now I'm working on a Halloween mini album. I'm about half way done, but haven't worked on it the last few days.

Yesterday an old friend of mine from high school came into town. Her sister threw her a surprise party so we went to that. It was a real nice time and SO nice to see her after almost 18 years!!! We've talked on the phone most recently, but hadn't seen each other since right after high school.

Today we just stayed in. We spent the better part of the day helping V with a state project she has due tomorrow for school.

Yesterday before the party, we went by The Rim and dropped off our shoeboxes for Project Christmas Child. We filled up 4 boxes. I'm really wishing we'd got more cause we had enough extra items to fill up a couple more. Next year I'm definately picking up a few more boxes.

Went by Michael's and found all sorts of MM Autumn Splendor stuff for 80% off. I got several paper packs and a kit and the journaling notebook. The Vintage Findings stuff was also 80% off. I got a couple of the embellies and that's about it. Also picked up the MM Craft Fair with a half off coupon.

Friday Steve suprised me with a new phone. Not really sure what it's called, but it's REALLY cool and has TONS of cool features. I've hardly begun to figure it all out. I'm sure it's going to be a while, but I don't have any reason to be bored while waiting at the doctor's office or anywhere else for that matter;)

I've been fighting a headache all day today. I've had a headache everyday for the past like 3 days. Last week I felt them coming on and knew I'd be getting them soon. They haven't been that bad yet, so I'm thankful for that at least.

This week is the kids last week at school before Thanksgiving break. They will be off for a whole week this year...Yikes!!! We'll be spending Thanksgiving at my mom's this year. Looking forward to it:)

That's about all I've got for today. Gotta go through my pics and see what else I still need to update with. Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday:)

MIA...

It's been a while since I last updated my blog. It's not like I haven't been on the computer...LOL Guess I've just been in lazy mode again.

I've been going to the gym 3-4 times a week first thing in the morning. I like getting it out of the way before I get lazy and unmotivated to do it later in the day. I lost 12 lbs, but somehow put 2 back on:( I have hit a plateau and have not lost or gained anything since my birthday...

Yep...our birthday came and went. The big 38!!! That is SO close to 40. Scary. For my birthday Steve took me to the movies. We went and saw Couples Retreat. Good flick. Then we went to eat @ Texas Roadhouse. LOVE that place. Did a little bit of shopping in between. The Friday before our birthday I met up with Jess, Maria, Laura and her dh. We had lunch at Logan's. Yummmy. Saturday we met up with Lal, Miguel and Mikey @ Fiesta Texas for Fright Fest. Then later in the evening I caught up with Lal, Laura and Maria @ Mama Margie's for dinner. They were going out, but I was feeling horrible that day. I ended up having a cold on my birthday. Boo!!! We dropped off the kids with Steve's parents so we could get an early start the next day for my birthday so after we did our thing, we went back to Steve's parents and did the cake there w/ the kids before we headed home.

We spent Halloween here at home. My uncle was throwing a party, but the kids wanted to go trick or treating in our neighborhood and Steve wanted to decorate. Halloween is like Steve's Christmas so I didn't want to ruin it for him. Our plan was to pull out our banquet tables and set up in the driveway and hang out, trick or treat and pass out candy.

Early that day my cousins called that they weren't going to the party afterall so I invited them over here as well as Lal. So we ordered pizza. Had chips/dips and cupcakes for the kids. It was a lot of fun. We sat out and talked, but when it started to get too cold we came in.

The kids played in the other room and we watched a movie; Orphan. It was SCARY:( We had a great time and I'm thinking this may become our new Halloween tradition;)

My cousins are in the process of moving back down here and we've really enjoyed having them here and spending time with them. They've been having a time selling their house though and I really hope they won't have to go back "home". So prayers for a smooth and quick house sale would be GREATLY appreciated.

This past Friday Lal helped organize a crop at the church she attends and asked me to come. Steve got home on time and we went and picked up Lal and he dropped us off. He took the kids to the planetarium. They LOVED it.

The crop was a lot of fun. Only 3 other girls showed up, but we all still had a fun time. I got 4 LOs done. Lal and I put together some little goodie bags that we had planned on using as "door prizes", but we since there were only 3 girls. They all got to take something home:) I'm really looking forward to the next gathering which is planned for the beginning of December.

Saturday I had to drive Steve to work cause he didn't have a work truck. Since I was going to be on that side of town and had to pick him up from work as well, I just went to hang out at my mom's.

That afternoon was Nick (my cousin's son's) birthday party. We went to Peter Piper's and then to the movies to see a Christmas Carol in 3D. The movie was awesome and all the kids had such a good time. My aunt took my other cousin's 3 kids so V had girls to talk to:) It was a really good time.

Tonight V has a PTA performance. They are singing patriotic songs in honor of Veteran's Day. They also have the book fair going on, so we'll probably be making a stop in there too tonight.

This morning I did 3 miles on the treadmill at the gym, then came home and did another one on the Eliptical. Hard work, but I'm really hoping to get out of this slump and lose another 10 by Thanksgiving.

This past weekend really threw me off. I made pumpkin bread loaves for the church gathering and ended up eating too much:( Darn that pumpkin bread!!! I need to stop taking my weekend "breaks" and just follow through all week long.

I have lots of pics to share, but I will post those later in a seperate blog. I really need to stop slacking on my blog too. Going to make more of an effort to keep on it;)

More LOs and Germs...

Saturday we spent the day over at my mom's. We just hung out and the kids played. Lal scrapped and I kind of put some things together. I didn't have a whole lot of time in the morning to get stuff together, so I just did a little work on some LOs, but didn't complete anything. Lal did. I took some of my new Sizzix dies and my Big Kick and I did some cuts for Lal. The kids played Candy Bingo, which they LOVED!!! I ran a quick errand and brought the kids back McDonald's for lunch.

In the afternoon, V started complaining that she didn't feel well and that her throat hurt. She didn't look very well either. She felt warm and looked flushed. We came home and I gave her some Ibuprofen. As soon as it kicked in, she perked up. We went out to eat and ran a couple of errands; I went by 911 and picked up some new goodies. I got the new Comso Cricket Nutmeg line. LOVE it!!! Went by M's and HL, then came back home.

She ran more fever through the night. We stayed home all day Sunday cause she was not well. Last night she ran a lot of fever and I just couldn't bring it down. Pretty scary stuff. It finally broek this morning. We took her in the doctor this am though; double ear and throat infection. I am just ever thankful that it was not the swin flu or something else. She is on antibiotics and out of school for the week. On the road to recovery though, so that's good:)

Since we were home all day yesterday, I got to work on my LOs I started at my mom's. Here are the finished products...

Lift off 2Peas. Used up Early Bird scraps. The green pp is Carolyn Gavin and the brown I made using kraft and woodgrain rubber stamp. AC puffy Thickers, MM Puffy alphas and tiny alphas and an HS chip heart. I also machine stitched a border along both of the scrap strips.


Lift off April Yap. MM pp, Tim Holtz Addage tickets, Prima felt flowers, JB bingo card, MM Just Chillin' journaling sheet, 7 Gypsies cardstock stickers. The house is cut out of a sheet of Recollections fall paper. Vine is Sizzix cut; one of my new Bigz dies;)

In these pics V was about 4 or 5 years old. This was a playgroup date; Super Hero day at the park. She dressed up as Bat Girl. Papers are all Pink Paislee Twilight. Prima flowers, adhesive gems, Recollections diecuts, MM journal tag and Doodlebug Shindig alpha stickers.

Tomorrow is cleaning day since the kids were off for Columbus Day today and we had to run V to the doctor and all. Wednesday I have my appointment with OAG. Praying for the best:) Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their evening.

Where the Wild Things Are...

So I'd really been wanting for Mikey to dress up as Max from Where the Wild Things are for Halloween; with the movie coming out and all. Of course there aren't any costumes in the stores. I looked online and found some really pricey ones, but I also found some ideas on how people made their own. This got me thinking, so I talked to Steve and we decided we'd make one ourselves:) We went to J's and found a pattern we could work with and we got a super deal on the fabric too. The weekend V was sick, we stayed home so we spent that Sunday sewing Mikey's costume. This is how it turned out. Of course, it doesn't fit V very well. She's quite a bit taller than Mikey...


I took it to Mikey last Friday when I went by my mom's and he loved it. It made me so happy:) and he looked super adorable in it...I'm not just saying that cause he's my nephew and we made the costume and all;) I gotta have Lal take some pics of him in it.

V is going to be a Skelanimal Kitty. We bought it at Target. She's modeling it in one of my recent LOs in my last post. Mattie is going to be the king from Burger King. It's hilarious. TFL

120 LOs!!! Photo HEAVY;)

I've gotten quite a few LOs done since my last post. Some of these were done during a mini palooza that Lal and I had. I think I got like 4 or 5 done that day. Can't quite recall. The rest I've gotten done since then; here and there. So here they all are. I'm too lazy to list all my product and such for every single LO I have here, so if anyone has any questions, just leave me a comment:)



In other news, I had V home sick week before last. She was home for 2 days. She had ran a low grade fever for a day, but then she was super congested and coughing so I kept her home. A few days after she went back to school, I came down with it. I'm going on a week now. I started to feel some improvement and then I woke up yesteday feeling worse. Today was a better though, so here's praying it doesn't last much longer.

For the last week and a half I have been dieting and so far I have lost 8lbs. I'm hoping to get to 10 by the end of the week. I am setting short term goals to keep me motivated. Setting my weight loss in 10lbs increments.

We finally got our gym membership transfered to the new gym right by our house, so starting Monday, I'm hitting the gym. Hopefully this will help me with the whole weight thing; give me a little boost;)

Today I did a little yard work. All the rain we'd had really got the grass growing. Or should I say weeds. I went out there and pulled out quite a bit, then just mowed. The yard REALLY needs some work. Hopefully once the weather cools down more consistenly, I can work on the yard more.

Not much else going on here...at least not that I can think of at the moment. I'll be back to update with another post later today to get caught up. I think this post is photo heavy enough;)