A Beautiful Day

yup.

2012-01-23T12:10:00.001-08:00

wiping the dust off the keyboard

2012-01-23T06:54:00.000-08:00

so, i ran into a bit of bad luck. said kidney infection made me a little more sick than anticipated and well, i wasn't in the best of moods....so, i just sort of hibernated. i feel mostly better now. still have a pain in my side, but i go to the dr on wednesday, so we'll see. i did go to immediate care one night and they ruled out the 'big' things (appendix, kidney, pancreas, blah, blah, blah...did an xray, nothing showed up) so, i just have been dealing with it instead of dwelling on it.

it has quickly become 'that' time of the year. the blahs are setting in, i hate my husband, the kids are passing sickies back and forth, i'm a pleasant person all around :)

the past couple days i have been very irritable. for no specific reason, just irritable. could be pms, could be the weather, i'm just not sure. little things annoy me. people i should be nice to, i just can't be nice to, so, again, i hibernate.

darik is at that point in the hunting season where i hate him. i keep telling myself, only 2 more weeks (not even that) and then i'll have my husband back, but i seriously don't know if i'll make it this year. every year about this time, he becomes a selfish prick. he doesn't come home after they're done, he stays out there to drink with the guys, i ask him to do something and he just flakes on it, he comes home to eat (sometimes) and sleep and that's about it. then, he'll call me and wonder why i don't want to talk to him. prime example (so you know, i can justify not being a complete psycho wife), madelyn is sick. every time she gets sick, she gets goopy eyes. not pink eye, but her eyes leak and she gets gunk. i have pink eye drops but hate to use them bc she doesn't technically have pink eye. so, i text him yesterday, he was working at the hunt club, about 2 pm to ask if he could stop and get some visine since i thought we had some and didn't pick any up. he says, 'sure.' he came home about 430 to go to the bathroom and i asked if he had the eye drops. he said no because he hadn't been to the club yet. he was going to drop off his stuff and he'd bring them home. he wasn't going to stay out there because there was no one there, everyone had gone home. so, we go about our business...i finally call him about 645. yes. 645. i ask if he'll be home soon. he says, 'let me talk to the girls and i'll tell them good night.' i say, 'well, they're not going to bed yet but i was wondering about the eye drops for your daughter.' he then says, 'oh shit. that's right. do you want me to go get them?' no. i'll deal with it and i'll get them in the morning. fast forward about 1/2 an hr later when they DO go to bed. i have them say good night, then i hang up. he immediately texts me...'what? you don't wanna talk to me?' i told him i was taking the dog out. he says back, 'you should love me.' o_0 i say, 'i was taking the dog out so i could put your children to bed.' end of discussion. he got home about 11. i mean, am i overreacting? no? i didn't think so either. i'm still angry about it today. he called me this am, just to talk and he says 'boy, you seem like you don't want to talk this morning.' really? you think?

rawr.

well, i'm off to take m to the dr's. hopefully it's just a cold and no big deal. it's her first 'real' sickness of the winter so i can't really complain.

until next time...

where does time go?

2012-01-14T19:44:00.000-08:00

i swear. one day it's monday, the next it's saturday. jeez. i had to babysit both thursday and friday and well, once the kids leave and i get mine to bed, i'm done for. i'm old. i can't hang with the big kids anymore.

friday was a busy day. i had madelyn's little boyfriend and his twin brother here. lily was here, josh was here after school...and then emma had her 'big game' she was so totally stoked for it and darik got home in time to go watch her which made her even MORE excited. i of course brought pictures :p

she was SO into the game. she had no idea what was going on....but wanted to root on the boys!

she had tons of fun and that's all that was really important to me. i have a feeling the next time the opportunity comes up, she'll be alll over it.

today we took the girls to see beauty and the beast 3D and then ate at the food court in the mall and then went to Target. it's becoming a sort of 'winter tradition' that we all get together for a girls day on saturday's when lynn doesn't have to work in the am.

other than that, not much else has been going on. we got a pretty good snow storm thursday morning. i didn't send madelyn to school on thursday because of it. emma's cheer practice got cancelled thursday night because of it too. now it's just cold. the girls have been asking to play outside but, brrrrr

i'm still having quite a bit of pain from this kidney infection. i got the results of the culture today and asked about the pain. the chick told me to wait and take the 10 days of antibiotics before i worried about it. awesome :/

one last thing i wanna bitch about.....m takes singulair. she's taken it since before she had her adenoids out. it helps her SO much and imo, she really needs it to prevent all the sickies. we have to order maintenance drugs through the union hall if we want the insurance to cover it. so, her rx for that comes from the hall. we had to take her for a reassesment to make sure that the dr wanted to keep her on that and that doseage, blah, blah, blah. so, i sent in the rx on December 31st. TODAY....January 14th mind you, i get a thing in the mail saying i have to go pick it up at the post office. so now, the poor kid has been without her medicine since 2 wks ago and we have to wait until tuesday to pick it up, all because i wasn't home to sign for it when the mail lady was here. rawr.

that's it. i suppose i should head to bed. i didn't sleep much last night. went to bed late and d got up early so....i'm kinda tired.

i want my mommy.

2012-01-11T18:33:00.000-08:00

so, yesterday about 1 pm, i started peeing. i peed until about 10 am this morning when i took a major dose of antibiotics. i have never had a bladder infection, ever. no clue what one would feel like, no idea what i should look for, but something was definitely wrong. as the day went on, i was peeing more, it started to hurt on my lower right side, then it sorta leaked over into my back. i'd lay down, and have to get up 10 or 15 min later. literally. i had made an appt with a dr, but couldn't get in until thursday. at the time, thursday was ok, i wasn't in a lot of pain, the peeing wasn't super annoying but just irritating, and i figured i'd be ok. well, when i talked to darik about it, he told me not to wait and go to immediate care, i told him i would, and as the night went on, i was glad i did. sooo, i went to immediate care after a very long night. i have a bladder infection, with the possibility that it's in my kidneys. they sent off for a culture and i'll know for sure by saturday. they put me on some uber antibiotics and i picked up some cranberry pills, some cranberry juice, and a bunch of other stuff to ease the pain/discomfort and i'm hoping tonight is a little better. i do feel better and i'm definitely not going to the bathroom as much (thank you baby jesus) so hopefully even if it is/was in my kidneys, the antibiotic will clear it up.

other than moaning and crying and complaining, i haven't been doing a whole lot.

the next couple days are going to be a whirlwind i think. tomorrow i have to watch lily, then after school i have the 3 bigger kids, emma has cheerleading practice and of course darik won't be home until sunday. we're supposed to have a bunch of snow, but only time will tell i guess. the girls are SUPER excited about getting some snow finally though. i digress....friday, i have to watch 2 of the little boys who are in m's class as well as lily, then i'll have josh after school, emma's game is also friday night too. guess that's what i get for being a hermit and lazy all week :)

anywho, i'm off to watch the people's choice awards. hopefully i'm back tomorrow...well rested :)

friggin' full moon

2012-01-09T17:36:00.000-08:00

you know me, you know that madelyn is my rapscallion. she's sassy, she's mean, well, she's a lot like me, let's be honest. the past couple days she has just been out of control. the mouth, the attitude, the way she treats others....yes, she's 3, but that's no excuse.

she started off the day talking, like she always does, but it never tapered off. ever. she was either spinning or bouncing off the walls (literally) or asking questions or running after the dog, at one point, she even dressed the dog up in her dress up clothes. i handled it all in stride....until we were getting ready for bed and she kicked the dog...and laughed. i snapped. we had JUST discussed 2 days ago that we don't kick the dog, how would she like it if i kicked her for no reason. you get the picture. so, that recent discussion coupled with the way she'd been acting all day and the fact that poor emma was trying to tell me she was sick, just, i snapped. i spanked her. i spanked her out of anger. now, i didn't spank her hard, but i don't spank. i scared her more than anything, but damn it, she needed to know this kind of behavior is NOT acceptable. the past 2 days have been HORRIBLE for her and i honestly don't know if i can take another one. darik leaves in the am and well, she may just be spending a lot of time in her room. i just don't know what to do with her anymore.

i feel bad for emma because she sees me get mad at madelyn and then she thinks i'm mad at her as well....blah. i don't lose my temper with them often, yes, i yell at her for doing things she shouldn't and what not, but i rarely come unglued.

today was that day.

and i feel horrible about it.

*sigh*

yup. still lazy.

2012-01-08T13:29:00.000-08:00

well, now it is sunday...and yup, i'm still lazy :) i haven't left the house (minus to go to the grocery store to get stuff for darik's apple slices) since friday night and i'm ok with that!

i mentioned yesterday was a good day, well, let's just say the demons are making up for that today. madelyn has been whiny and just plain rude all day. she threw the dog off the couch at one point earlier today if that gives you any indication of her loveliness today. *eye roll* emma's never really bad, but when m is like this, it just adds fuel to the fire. e gets annoyed by m, then they bicker, then i get annoyed, and when darik's home he just plain blows up. so while we haven't done a whole lot today, emotions have been....high.

emma starts cheerleading tomorrow night and she is SO excited. she has practice 3 nights this week where they learn a little dance and a cheer and then they're going to perform at one of the varsity boys basketball games at the HS with the Pantherettes. she is just beside herself. it's kinda nice because one of the girls i babysit after school is doing it as well, so kayli will be able to practice with emma. i kinda worry about how well she'll take to this LOL

here's a layout i did today, with la grier's newest kit. i <3 la. i always love my pages with her stuff. scrap therapy is my friend.

well, that is all for today. like i said, we've been boring this weekend, so, not a whole lot to report :)

ahhh, the weekend

2012-01-07T17:41:00.000-08:00

gotta love a lazy weekend :) today we did a whole lotta nothin'. once we were up and moving this morning, i made the girls chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. the bacon was more for darik, but that's beside the point LOL

i planned on doing a whole lot of nothing because these past few weeks have been so insanely busy. i DID make some brownies and apple slices for darik's meeting tonight, but for the most part, i spent the day scrapping, playing kinect with the girls, bathing the dog (fun times right there) and just being lazy. i love the age that the girls are at now. yes, madelyn tends to be on the sassy side, but we're all just content just staying home and spending time together. tonight once darik left for his meeting, we sat down and watched thumbelina (well, they watched thumbelina, i read my book) and just snuggled on the couch. they sat and watched the whole movie (minus a few moments of pent up energy) and it was just a really enjoyable evening. i'm not so sure we had many of those about 6 months ago!

i mentioned my book. i'm reading "the happiness project" right now. it's our book of the month over at SSD and it had been recommended to me by a friend almost a year ago now. my one goal for the new year is to be more positive. the older i get, the more i realize that the whole 'fake it until you make it' mantra, is a good one to stick to. so, my goal for this year is to woosah more often and try to focus on the positive instead of the negative. i'm really enjoying this book and i really do think that i will incorporate a lot of what she's saying into my daily life. the part that i just finished up had to do with her relationship with her spouse. it made me realize that i really do need to concentrate more on how i interact with darik. i do push him to the side quite often, not because i don't love him or care about his feelings, but because i'm so strongly independent and well, often times it's just easier to do it myself. i hate to nag, i hate to ask more than once....but i need to own up to the fact that i have my own faults as well.

i've said it before, but, i worked on the outside for 2 years, now it's time to work on the inside. i'm not unhappy with the person i am, but there's always room for improvement :)

another week gone

2012-01-06T06:34:00.000-08:00

this week has been a rough one for me. hormones, coupled with lack of sleep, coupled with a few people spewing negativity has made for a very emotional week for me. that being said, i've learned a few things. YES...this old dog CAN learn new tricks.

we all know i'm pretty opinionated, and i often say what i'm thinking. i guess the older i get, the more i realize i just can't say whatever i want to say. i mean, yes, i'm still going to be opinionated and i'll still say what i say and what i believe in, but i really need to take people's feelings into account. i realize that saying things, may hurt someone else's feelings and then when it comes around to it, i feel horrible because i've hurt someone's feelings. i play a badass on tv, but we ALL know i'm not one.

other than that, not a whole lot has been going on. babysitting, wallowing, like i said, rough week.

i'll leave today with a couple layouts i did for sweet shoppe's new releases this week :)

new year, new blog?

2012-01-03T19:22:00.000-08:00

now, i know this is doubtful...but....i'd like to keep up with blogging again. i think. i mean, i'm sure people get sick of hearing me spew my nonsense on facebook and well, i need someplace to just talk. so, why not start up ye blog again. it's here, may as well use it ;)

things around here are quite different than they were last year. darik is still working for the same company *thank god* but i am not working. well, i'm not working outside of the home anyway. i've started babysitting. odd job choice for me, but in all actuality, i really do like it. i like that i can stay in my pajamas all day, snuggling up with the kiddos, yet, i can still go to the school activities i want to go to for my OWN children. right now, i only have 1 full time kiddo and then i have 3 after school ones. i'd really like to get another full time child but, we'll see.

emma is loving school...as is madelyn. in that respect, i couldn't be happier.

big news around here....we leave in 42 days to go to cozumel! wooohooooo! darik got it in his head around christmas time that he wanted to get away. so....we all know, when he gets something in his head, it always happens.

other than that, really, same ol' same ol'

i'm sure i'll be back with entertainment again soon

whoops

2011-08-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

man. where has this week gone??? monday and tuesday we spent the days cleaning and what not in preparation for emma to go back to school on wednesday. not a lot went on, but it was stuff we needed to get done.

wednesday was the big first day of school. granted it was only 1/2 a day, but emma was SO excited.

of course, miss madelyn couldn't be upstaged. *eyeroll*

today i watched Jack for a few hours as a test run. he's not going to be a problem i don't think. he's definitely a boy, but he's used to being with girls so i think that will give him a little bit of an edge here. he's a good kid and he definitely kept me on my toes today. i won't start watching lily until the week before labor day so...about 2 more weeks.

i am just SO mad about this next topic, i could spit nails. i'm sure of it. madelyn tested for the preschool that emma went to back in april. april 9th to be exact. they told me she didn't need any further supplemental help (such as REACH or what not) but that they would contact me in about a month to let me know if she would be placed in the preschool. flash forward to june. i get a letter in the mail stating that she is on the waiting list, but that i will be contacted some time before school starts. well, i enrolled her in a preschool here that's 2 days a week for 3 hrs and i have to pay for. she needs something. i figured, even if she got into the school emma had gone to (which is free...and 5 days a week) i would suck up the $75 deposit because well, it'd totally be worth it. emma got SO much out of the school. so, i got a message from my friend yesterday asking if madelyn was in the am or pm class. ummm....she didn't get in? i explained to her about the note, and she talked to the teacher that emma had had. today mrs best called me and asked me what the deal was. i explained to her (lol how many times will i have to tell the story?) about the waiting list and she tells me that all i need to do is produce the wait list letter and fax it to them and she's in. well, of course i can't find the letter. i'm assuming i tossed it because why would i need a letter telling me i was going to get another letter to tell me if she was picked up or not. SO, flash forward to tonight. my friend took her little boy to orientation for the preschool tonight and she explains the whole story to the teacher that her son has (the other teacher, not the one emma had). apparently she thinks there was a lost waiting list. they have SIXTEEN spots available in coal city alone. SIXTEEN. why haven't i been contacted about my daughter yet? they're retesting kids and my kid is still not getting picked up? sure, it was irresponsible of me to lose the letter, but shouldn't that be on YOUR files? i have PT at 9 tomorrow and if i haven't heard anything by the time i get out i will be making phone calls and making sure that she has a spot. this is ridiculous.

RAWR

sunday....a day of rest?

2011-08-14T19:38:00.000-07:00

we started off the day on a shaky foot this am. darik went to an auction that homer did last night so he wasn't home until about midnight. therefore, i didn't go to bed until midnight....because belle was pacing the house because darik wasn't home (which that statement in itself is funny since she could care less any other time). of course madelyn was up at 5 am. so, i made her sit in the chair and watch cartoons so i could snooze on the couch for at least another hour. she was awfully snarfly when she woke up, but i didn't pay much attention to it because i had shut the air off, the windows were open and well, darik was in the same situation.

we went to ryan's bday party at noon....which was bound to be an interesting situation. it actually went fairly smoothly. any fighting that occured was under breath and not where anyone could see. i would be lying though if i said that i wasn't glad that that was going to be the last joint party. poor nattie was in the same boat that madelyn was in and the poor baby was all snotty and allergy like. she fell asleep on my lap about 15 min after we got there and stayed there until we left about 2. makes me miss when my kidlets wanted to nap on me....not enough to HAVE another, but it does make me miss it.

we all came home and napped and then we decided to go outside and enjoy this beautiful weather we're having. it was about 76 today and there was a breeze...was just gorgeous!

unfortunately, when m woke up from her nap, she was NOT feeling well. she said she had a 'fwog in huh fwoat' and she was all 'booguhwee.' we went out and got her some meds and she was running a little fever when i put her to bed. hopefully she'll wake up feeling a little better. i hate when she gets ill because it's never just a cold. it's always 'something'

oh well. school starts wednesday and i picked up another kiddo to watch on tuesdays and thursdays so, hopefully we'll be in a good routine soon enough!

making up for lost time?

2011-08-13T18:47:00.001-07:00

so i hadn't blogged since thursday, and today i'm blogging 3 times? LOL we can see that this is working out very well.

So, Friday we went to the zoo to meet up with my mom and Levi, and we also met Heather up there. it was just about perfect zoo weather and the kids made it the majority of the day with no meltdowns (minus one from miss madelyn). Here's a few pics from the day...

we were ALL whupped by the end of the day but it was a good time.

i met with he family of the little girl i'm going to be watching once school starts last night. actually, it was a mad dash to get home so i could meet them here in time. she went to the same sitter that m and e went to when i was working...up until that sitter quit. i guess her parents had never found another sitter and a mutual friend of ours sort of connected us. they came here and emma and madelyn picked right up where they had left off with her. she actually cried when it was time to leave LOL i guess that's a good sign for me!

today, we made up for the business of yesterday. laundry, a trip to the dollar store and lots of cuddling on the couch and in the recliner watching movies for us today. emma went with darik this afternoon to run errands and madsy and i stayed home to have some time together. we both fell asleep on the couch until darik and emma got back home! lol

tonight, here i sit...home by myself on a saturday night now that the babies are in bed and darik is out with a couple buddies. sad as that may be, i honestly wouldn't want it any other way right now.

first things first....

2011-08-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

i gotta show off....

scrappity goodness releasing today at SSD.
(for those of you who aren't aware, thursday, friday and Saturday will probably consist of me posting a lot of scrappy stuffs along with the regularly scheduled programming....bc....well, that's when my designers release their new stuffs. and yes, they are MINE)

now, i must note.....i didn't use a template on any of these....perhaps my mojo has returned??? perhaps?? not that there's anything wrong with templates, i was just stuck in a rut where i didn't do a layout without one very often. ANYWHO, like i said, on to the newness.

first up is some amazingness from KCB. i love that she did a lake kit. the whole beach thing has been done, and well, none of my 'beach' pics are....beachy. so, here ya have it....my fave layout atm.

next up is a peek at my new favorite alpha. for reals, Darcy Baldwin really hit it outta the park with this one.

next up is a peek at the gorgeousness from Traci Reed...with a lil' bit of that alpha from D thrown in. :)

zoooooeeeeee! i love when zoe creates. just makes my heart happy. OH, and more of that awesome alpha from D

next up, a lil' feebee for you.

this layout is with goodies by Lauren Grier....and i have to say, i absolutely ADORE this kit. one of my faves.

next up is my little megalicious. it's like she made this kit just for mads. LOL

last but definitely not least, Penny Springmann released some totally fun photo masks. here's my layout...

aaaand with that, imma end this blog post. i'll be back later tonight with a recap of the weekend thus far....and a few pics from yesterday :)

wow!

2011-08-13T06:46:00.000-07:00

i haven't blogged since THURSDAY! what the hell maynard? yesterday was a busy day with friends at the zoo and then i met the little girl i'll be babysitting once the school year starts. today's just a lazy day here. laundry, have to run to the dollar store later (the little diva broke her sleep mask and needs a new one) but other than that...i think i shall scrap. and blog later......

i want to punch someone

2011-08-11T05:21:00.000-07:00

not sure why....but for the past few days i've been extremely irritable. yanno, in case you hadn't noticed LOL it's not getting to the point where i feel like i need meds again...but i wonder if it's heading in that direction. i'm going to wait it out and see how things are once school starts. the non-stop fighting and whining coming from the kids i'm sure doesn't help. all of that seems to subside a bit once emma gets her routine and schedule back.

so far today, all bets are off. today is levi's last day with us....and i think we're all kinda glad for that. like i said, yesterday, emma and levi have reached that point where they just can't stand each other anymore and that makes for a lot of very tense situations. i was supposed to have PT this am and then we were going to go for lunch with my aunt since today's her birthday. well, 2 little girls were up at 400 so, that won't be happening. emma's been complaining of her ear hurting so i think i'm going to finally bite the bullet and take her in.

i'm just very......RAWR. i have a bad attitude, i just want to cry...and that's the first sign that i need to step away and have a break. we're supposed to head to the zoo tomorrow, so i'm hoping that will be a little break that we all need. either that or it could be totally disastrous. damn the pessimist in me!

the best of intentions....

2011-08-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

i honestly always have the best of intentions when it comes to blogging. i think i'm going to do it everyday but when it comes down to it, 95% of the time, once i get the kids in bed, all i want to do is just sit and do nothing. i can't do it in the morning because well, they wake me up and once they're awake, there's no quiet time LOL

yesterday was not a good day. i think that's why i was so hesitant to even blog yesterday. i was in a bad mood and it would have definitely shown in my blog post.

yesterday was supposed to be m's first dentist appointment. she woke up totally stoked about it, was fine all the way there, as soon as we got out of the car, she started BAWLING. now, madelyn is not a crier. the only time she cries is if she's honest to goodness scared of if she's in pain. i knew it was going to bad from there on out and we shouldn't have even gone in. she did great in the waiting room, she did great when the assistant brought her in to show her all the tools and tell her what they do....and then the dr walked in. she started bawling. wouldn't open her mouth. started hyperventilating....was having NO part of it. we tried to tell her that she couldn't go to school until she let the dentist count her teeth, no dice. we tried to tell her it wouldn't hurt, that nothing bad was going to happen, nope. i sat with her on the chair, uh uh. finally after about 10 minutes, we all said forget it. i'm not sure what her problem was but i made another appointment for the 18th. the little shit woke up this morning saying, 'mama. we go see my teeth doctah today?' grrrrrrrrrrrr!

we had an incident with emma yesterday too. she decided it was a good idea to just take off and go talk to the boy down the street. granted, he was just hanging out in front of our house, but in my house, you do NOT just go outside without telling anyone and you most certainly do not leave the yard without telling anyone. i have issues with this little boy playing with the girls anyway, but that's another story for another time. needless to say, she lost her itouch today.

today was a new day. i woke up with a good attitude...i actually slept for 8 whole hours last night! we went and got groceries/school supplies and i TOTALLY rocked it. i usually allot myself the same amount of money each week for groceries and with school supplies i only went $1.20 over my norm. i was pretty proud of that!

today we spent a lot of time outside. was a pretty good day overall. was nice to be out in the fresh air with the kiddos. it's definitely getting to be 'that' time of the summer though. the girls are getting on each other's nerves, levi is picking at emma, emma throws a fit because she can't just ignore him.....there have been lots of tears and meltdowns the past few days.

tomorrow we've got a day of PT planned and then we're going to go out for lunch with my aunt. it's her bday and the girls just adore her (as do i) so we're going to spend the afternoon with her.

friday we're going to hang out with my friend heather at the zoo, then the girls are going to go see glee with my MIL. should be a fun next couple of days!

so, here it is....

2011-08-08T16:29:00.000-07:00

why i hate today.

thursday last week i got a call from the hospital here saying that my insurance denied my MRI. awesome. 6k that won't be covered. i wasn't sure why so i decided to investigate. the lady in billing told me that we had exhausted the medical funds that were with our auto insurance. again, awesome. i called the lawyer, she was in a meeting, so i left a voicemail. she never called me back thursday night, she never called me back friday, so sunday night i email her. i got an email from her early this am, explaining what i needed to do. now, i realize she is not my slave, but shouldn't my lawyer deal with this? i called the appropriate people today and things have been pretty much taken care of, but...seriously? i'm to the point where i want to say forget it to physical therapy and just get this case moving. so over all of this.

d came home about 1 pm today. no rain. no wind. no nothin'. he just came home after 6 hrs of work because there wasn't anything else to do. that's not good. this is august. he should be so busy with work that they can't keep up. reason why i hate today #2.

reason #3. i got a call this morning from my best friend. she's going through a divorce. it is not going well. i hate that it's all going on and it's turning sour, but it is. it just sucks.

reason #4. my kids need structure. school can't start soon enough. emma is a child who thrives with structure. we do not have that in summertime. she is done, which in turn makes madelyn obnoxious because she of course feeds in to it, which in turn makes me done, which in turn makes for a long day.

i posted that i'm looking for sitter jobs today. i'm hoping that i pick up at least one or two more kids. we'll see though.

alright. done bitching for today.

*note....i know my life does not suck, i realize that i have a wonderful husband who provides for us the best he can, i know that i have 2 children who are beautiful and healthy and well behaved for the most part, but i need to complain sometimes...and here you have it.

hmm, what's this old thing?

2011-08-08T05:42:00.000-07:00

is it, a blog???
you mean, this still exsists? LOL

i've decided to start blogging again. i don't know if anyone will read it, or if it's even going to be on a regular basis, but i need something. i need an outlet. i'm a bitch anymore. no one wants to listen to me whine and complain so i've decided blogging will be the outlet i need.

i will preface these posts with, i'm not a complainer, honest. sure i whine, who doesn't, but, i need somewhere to let it out, and this is the spot. my husband doesn't want to be burdened with my whining, i'm sure my friends say that they would listen, but, eh, they don't need my problems either. so, the little bloggy gets the beatings.

first, i'm going to work on a makeover. i'll post more later, i'm sure.

sheesh

2010-09-26T12:34:00.000-07:00

so, um, i apparently suck at doing anything on a daily basis. lol that's why birth control pills never worked for me. i'd do well for a week, then i'd forget a day here and there...sorta like my sporadic blogging!

darik wound up getting rained on on Friday morning so i packed up madelyn about 730 and headed off to get groceries while darik got emma off to school. we got our stuffs and then i headed on to therapy. i go back to the orthopedic on tuesday so i'll find out then if i'm done with therapy or what. it has helped me a TON and i'm so glad that i went and did it. i'm still having some issues but i almost wonder if it'll ever be back to normal.

friday night was a busy one. emma went to her first 'big girl' birthday party. it was a drop off kinda party but she wanted me to stay...which was fine since i am friends with the girls mom and we're technically related anyway. lol it was super cute. it was a circus theme and they had about 8 little stands set up for the kids to play with. they got 10 tickets when they walked in and they used 1 ticket for each game. they had cotton candy/popcorn/mini corn dogs/ nachos/cupcakes to eat and some of the little booths they had were face painting/tattoos, balloon animals, penny pusher, ping pong toss, clothespin drop...it was just really a super cute idea. both girls had an absolute blast and i'm SO happy that emma's already making some great friends.
here's a quick photo of her with the birthday girl

darik left for a weekend hunting trip on friday night as well. he goes every year to his friends house and they go over the border into iowa for a weekend of drinking and hunting geese. i'm assuming he had a wonderful time because he was complaining of not getting enough sleep yesterday LOL he texted me earlier today and told me i'd better have my boyfriend out by 5, so i'm guessing that's when he's planing on getting home. our anniversary is tomorrow and we're going to go out next weekend so, i'm glad he got his little trip in this weekend.

yesterday i took the girls to Cornfest with my friend emily, her 2 kids and our friend laura's little boy, ethan. surprises of all surprises, i didn't bring my camera! i was kinda bummed about it because emma was SO brave. she went on some rides that i never in a million years would have guessed she would ride. we were there for a few hours and got the kiddos home in time for naps. wristbands were $15 for unlimited rides from 12-4 so we totally took advantage of that. madelyn and natalie didn't ride many rides but i think they really enjoyed watching the bigger kids get to ride all the rides. they all got a corn dog (or in madelyn's case, a piece of pizza lol) and a lemonade so they were all quite happy! we ended the night with a visit to my parent's house. we made individual pizzas for everyone and had brownie sundaes. then the girls got to do their very favorite thing to do at grandma and papa's house...they played games on their iphones! lol madelyn seriously amazes me with how she navigates her way around that thing. she does better than i do!

i promised the girls that since the pumpkin farm opened this weekend that we could go today. so...we all know what we did this morning! we went and they played on the little houses, the pirate ship, and hay bales. then we went on the steam engine ride, walked through the corn maze 3 times, checked out the tipi, bought a few things at the 'trading post' and then i picked them up a happy meal (and a pumpkin latte for myself) and we headed home! they are now napping peacefully and i'm going to scrap my heart out the rest of the afternoon. i have no impending deadlines for ct work and well, i just wanna scrap for me. i've decided that i'm done applying for ct's for awhile. i am very blessed with some wonderful teams and instead of trying to impress the people who aren't interested, i'm going to scrap for me. it's been a long time coming and i've just recently started to realize that i don't HAVE to please everyone. baby steps.

before i sign off, i of course have to share a couple photos from today :)

and with that, i'm gonna leave this post. until next time....

i don't know who's idea it was to get a job....

2010-09-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

oh right. that'd be mine lol

i love my part time job, i really do, but i hadn't planned on taking it. it sort of fell into my lap. i'm glad i took it because it gives me the chance to get out of the house and be someone other than 'mom,' which we ALL know i very desperately need, but it also gets in the way of, well, stuff. yesterday i worked. i worked from 8-530. i got emma off to school, took madelyn to the sitters and went to work. i love working at the bank. i see people i normally wouldn't see and i get to do busywork, which i love (call me weird, i love to do meaningless stuff) BUT, it just totally ruins my 'schedule' at home. i have this issue with things being in order. we're all on a schedule for day to day stuffs and my kids thrive on this...as do i. for example, madelyn knows that as soon as she's done with her lunch, she takes a nap. she doesn't ever question it. they know that when they get out of the shower at night, we get dried off, get our jammies on, read a book, kiss Daddy, and head to bed. i have the same routine every night after they do go to bed. i sit with Darik, catch up on the day, then i sit down with my laptop, watch tv while i do whatever it is i have to do online, and eat my nightly snack. it's usually the same snack, but i won't elaborate on that, i'm making myself look more and more nuts by the second here. ANYWAY, my point is (yes, i do have one), the only working one day a week thing puts a crimp in my nice, little schedule and i usually spend the next day recovering from the work hangover. i feel like i'm behind on all things housework and all things online. which is SO not true, but, alas...the way my crazy mind works. i almost think working full time and getting into a routine with that incorporated into it would be better, but i just can't justify leaving madelyn at a sitters all day when a)i love to be home with her and spend the alone time with her and b) i don't NEED to work full time. once she's in school, i *may* work full time, but, i think after 6 years of raising kids i'll enjoy the time to myself. i may be wrong, but that's my thought.

i was rather productive this AM and i'm damn proud of myself. I got 2 loads of laundry done. took a bath. did the dishes. got emma off to school (which is a feat all in itself), got my challenges for BOTCT written up (GO ME!) ANNND now i'm going to sit down to work with some new releases for this weekend at SSD. if i get nothing else done today, at least i can say the morning was productive!

tonight when emma gets home from school we're going to meet laura and her kidlets at the children's museum. emma is VERY concerned because we haven't seen them in awhile, but she's super excited. in fact, she came racing down the stairs this morning saying, 'ok mom! lets go see laura now!'

i've got therapy at noon today and i think i'm just going to spend madelyn's nap time doing stuff for myself. mads has been absolutely bouncing off the walls this morning and i need a second away from the insanity!

OHOOHOH before i go...it's kristin's birthday this weekend and there are some AWESOME challenges going on at SSD in celebration. k was going to make a little freebie today but has been having some computer issues so we decided to come up with another fab challenge for peeps to win a gc to her store. k is a bit Glee obsessed. It's no secret. so we're having a 'mash up challenge' over at SSD...and i am in love with my layout for it!

i used my wish for him and sugar and spice. two kits i NEVER would have thought to use together, but i love the results!

and with that, i'm out. i'm gonna spend some time with the monkey and then we're off to therapy!

until next time...

it's a full moon...yes?

2010-09-21T14:45:00.000-07:00

lord. these. children. are. insane. today. every time i sit down to start typing i get interrupted by a crazy or something. they're NUTS. literally in madelyn's room bouncing off the walls. no joke.

not a whole lot of interest in these parts today. today was a catch up on the tv i missed last night kinda day. i watched dancing with the stars...and omg...jennifer grey...bawled. what the hell derek hough? srsly?

the day started off kinda crappy. just a bad morning, i'm not going into specifics. i'll spare you that. so after i dropped emma off at the bus stop, madelyn and i went for a bike ride. i like going for a bike ride with her in her 'cart' because she pushes me. the kid would go on a 20 mi bike ride if i'd let her. her telling me she wants more is just the incentive i need. so, we went for probably a 4 mi bike ride and it was MUCH needed. helped me clear my head some. we came home for awhile, i did some 'work,' and then we headed to the park with emily and nattie. the girls had an absolute BLAST. i love that they play so well together. the thing that amazed me the most is the fact that the heat doesn't even seem to bother them! they were both beat red and sweating and wouldn't stop for a second!

after the park i took miss madelyn to mcdonalds for a happy meal and then i was off to therapy. my shoulder has gotten SO much better and i go back to see dr. rezin on the 28th. i'm guessing he'll say that i'm good after i finish my 4 weeks....or i'm hoping LOL

guess what tonight is?!?!?!?! GLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! i'm sooo excited it's back!

on that note, i'm off. i have been trying all day to get a blog post and it is just NOT working.

until next time...

so, i sorta dropped the ball, just a little...

2010-09-20T06:29:00.000-07:00

but i have good reason!

i was obviously not in a good place on Thursday last week. i had gotten bad news, i found out just a bunch of bad news all in one giant gush of yuckiness. i am in a MUCH better place this morning and i'm hoping this week will start an uphill climb for all of us. i'm cautiously optimistic and i'm hoping that will help with the mood throughout the week.

Friday was the beginnings of a WONDERFUL weekend. after therapy and what not, we came home and Madelyn laid down for her nap. my friend Lynae called and said she'd come down to hang out after her son got out of school. she literally hasn't been down here for about 2 months. between her work schedule, my work schedule, all the crap with the accident, etc, etc, it was hard to find the time to get together. yes, she only lives 20 min away, but that's just far enough to put a crimp in our plans. we made pork tenderloins and the kidlets had hot dogs. i love how well our kids play together, even when they're in bad moods. about halfway through the night, emily got home and came over with her kids. so, it was just like the 'old' days when we all got to hang out and just sit and chat while the kids play in the yard. it was so nice just to sit and catch up on the everyday happenings. i love lazy evenings where we all just get to hang out.

Saturday was...interesting to say the least. i had to work that morning and while i was there i got a call on my cell phone from the body shop. my car was done!!! so, since Darik had gotten rained out, he went there, picked up my keys and brought them to me so i could go and pick it up when i got off work at noon. i was SO excited. it seriously made my day totally turn around. i find it amazing that something so minor, yet so totally, totally major like that could change my whole day. i got off work at noon, went and picked up my Jeep and went to my mom's to get the girls. they came home, napped and then we were off to go get the NEW car. we got a 2011 Chevy Traverse, and i love her already. she's white...has 8 ppl seating. i just love the extra room and the fact that it doesn't feel HUGE. after we picked up the car, we went and got emily and the kids and headed out to harvest days. it's an annual festival in the next town over. we always head to the craft show on sunday morning but this year we decided to take the kids to the carnival on saturday night. they had SO much fun. even little miss nattie got in on the action! emma loved the ferris wheel (she went on that with emily, i don't do heights...or swingy things) and both her and ryan rode the big slide about 3 times. they had a BLAST. here's some pics...

it always makes my heart happy to see them have so much fun!

Sunday was another busy day. We went to my mom's in the am because the girls have to see her everyday of the weekend since they're so deprived of her during the week lol. mom was going to church at 1030 so since we were heading to the craft fair with emily when she got home from church at 11, we headed home to wait. went to the craft show, which was kind of dumb. a lot of the vendors must have taken their stuff down the night before because of the rain. anyway, i got a SUPER cute witch door hanger thingy and a super cute witch's brew thing for the end tables. next weekend is Cornfest so i'm hoping that that craft fair will be a little better. oye. after madsy got a little nap it was time to get ready for darik's parents to come over. his mom's bday was saturday so we invited them over for dinner. Darik grilled butterfly porkchops, i made oven browned potatoes, vegetable casserole, and pineapple. his brother got a 1/2 a sheet cake...and it was SOOO good. after they left, we went for a ride. darik hadn't even been in the new car yet so we just went toolin' around. and THAT rounded up our weekend. the girls AND darik were in bed by 730 last night LOL

was going to do nothing today but of course my husband has other plans for me. *sigh*

on to ct stuffs...

did you see this?

kcb has lost her mind...

http://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46462

go play along...humor me, please?

i've been working hard on brainstorming for BOTCT coming up next month and wow. we've got some awesome entries!

now i'm off to watch a lil' wizard of 'ah' with mads and then we're off to run our gazillion errands!

until next time.............

does it ever stop?

2010-09-16T19:44:00.000-07:00

the past few weeks have been an absolute roller coaster. emotions have been high (and low). i've been crazy busy. i've had to deal with so much shit lately that i don't know if i'm coming or going...and well, i need to slow down. i realize that. if i don't get some 'me' time in a day, i don't function. at all.

yesterday i worked. i worked from 815-530 and then i had emma's open house from 6-7. i had to help clean up afterwards since i couldn't get there early, which was SO not a problem, i just didn't get home until almost 8 PM and well, i don't do well with a messy house and when things aren't in order. so today, was my catch up day. i had physical therapy this am, then when and got groceries. i did 3 loads of laundry...and even folded them! washed dishes 3 times. it was just a busy day. i got caught up on all my online stuffs and even scrapped. i really need to start brainstorming for Battle of the CT's but the fact that it's a couple weeks away yet...i keep putting it off. I KNOW this is going to bite me in the ass in a week but i get that crazy overwhelmed feeling and don't do anything. I don't have therapy tomorrow so i'm thinking i may work on it then. we've had a ton of entries so far and i'm super excited. i'm hoping to have some really fun challenges this time around.

sooo, we found out today that my car is NOT going to be done by the end of the week. iCry. i got a call from Enterprise yesterday while i was at work saying that that was the last day that State Farm was going to be paying for my rental car. again, iCry. i called the lawyer because well, they told me that we couldn't contact the insurance because they would do that for us. soooo, since i spent most of my lunch break on the phone with the lawyer's office, i didn't get the chance to call the insurance company. fast foward to today. i had to call the insurance company to see if they would give me an extension on the rental since my car is STILL not done. they said no way. they told me i'd have to contact enterprise and explain the situation to them, see if they'd allow me to send it to the dude's insurance...blah, blah, blah. almost immediately after i hang up with the insurance, the auto body shop calls me. he says he knows that yesterday was the final day that my insurance would pay for a rental car but my car wouldn't be done until probably the middle of next week. PROBABLY? NEXT WEEK? seriously. could this get any more complicated? he then proceeds to tell me that they will pick up the tab for the rental car. well, thank you! you know, since it's your fault that i'm driving the rental car for so long! so, i had to cancel my play date with laura for today because #1, i'm still driving the POS rental car #2 I had to deal with all this insurance/rental car/auto body shop crap, and #3 i have all the misc bills that are coming in to send to the insurance. rawr. seriously. just want my life back now.

buuut, the night ended on a good note. my friend lynae and her kiddos came down for dinner AND emily stopped by with her kiddos. it was just like old times and i really, really loved it. lynae hadn't been down for gosh, months so it was great to get to hang out with her and see how the kiddos have changed in the past couple months.

anyway, i've chatted enough tonight. tomorrow i am doing absolutely NOTHING. it is friday after all :p

until next time...

we're adults, yes?

2010-09-15T04:30:00.000-07:00

if you know me, i'm a pretty straight forward person. i always have been. reason being, i'm not a good liar. i get nervous, i tense up, my eyebrows shake, it's pretty much instantly that you can tell i'm lying. anyway, i have a point....
i vow from this point forward, to be totally honest with people. yes, i may sugar coat stuff because i'm not totally heartless but i honestly do not want to have to walk on eggshells anymore. if something's bothering me, i'm gonna say it. if you can't handle it, i'm sorry. i hate feeling bad because i said 'the wrong thing,' or having a knot in the pit of my stomach because i'm worried how so and so is going to feel. i hate when people get their feelings hurt because of a miscomunication, i hate having to worry about lines getting crossed. i'm a FABULOUS friend damnit, and i refuse to let people walk on me because of it.

ahhhhhhh...i realize this is a little heavy for this time of the morning, but i needed to get it out there. if it's written down, i'm accountable for it. if i hurt your feelings, i apologize. if i seem a little harsh, again, i apologize. i am just totally, totally fed up with carrying around guilt for something i have no control over.

*disclaimer: this is not directed to anyone in particular...just a blanket comment. promise*

i have to work today so will be all but missing from digiworld today. Emma's open house is tonight so we'll be there from 6-7.

until next time...

rawr...grrr....the mean laura monster's gonna getcha...

2010-09-14T12:42:00.000-07:00

ok...well...not really. LOL i like to think like that but, no. i realize i'm not the most scary person in the world.

today has been a busy day in lauraland. as i was leaving to go take emma to the bus stop this morning, i thought i'd better double check my therapy schedule, just in case. glad i did. my appointment was at 8, not 9, like i had originally thought. thank god i took a shower this morning before the girls got up LOL so, madelyn and i headed off to therapy after we dropped emma off at the bus stop. i swear, madelyn LOVES to go with me to therapy. they just eat her up there. give her suckers, stickers, play ball with her, let her play hopscotch...what's not to love! they're never on time there so i'm glad that i get scheduled in the morning when i don't have anywhere i *have* to be. it is helping though. i can put my arm straight up again and i can turn my neck right almost the whole way. we're still working on the motion across my chest but it is definitely much better.

after therapy we ran to the store. tomorrow night is emma's open house for school. my friend michelle is one of the heads of the parent/teacher group at school so she asked me if i could make some cookies for that tomorrow night. now, if you know me, you know, i'm no baker. they're edible, but that not delicious by any means. i'm guessing they'll ask me to help out in other ways.

came home for the store and sat down at the computer. We're starting Battle of the Creative Teams again at the beginning of October so I really need to get on the ball with that. It was a total blast last year and I'm hoping we have a great turnout like we did last year. A bunch of people getting together to win some great prizes all while doing the one thing we love...what's not to love about that?!

I finished a layout for a scraplift challenge that will be going up on Zoe's blog....got together the birthday celebration plans for Kristin's birthday week (and omgosh, you'll LOVE the presents she's giving!)...oh and got miss crazy thang down for her nap LOL love nap time.

i've been working on a little sumpin, sumpin behind the scenes too that i'm hoping i'll get to reveal soonish. i'm super excited about it and well...it's just me. all me....

we don't have much planned for the rest of the day. i'll have to go walk down and get emma in about 20 minutes. i'm sure the girls will want to play outside so i'll read my book on the deck. darik's mom is coming to see them tonight so she'll be here about 6 i'm guessing. then, i'm off to my first PTG meeting at 7 PM. i'm kinda nervous...i don't do crowds well. especially crowds of people i don't really know. emily is supposed to go with me so hopefully that will pan out, i don't know that i'd want to go by myself. then...i'm guessing it'll be home to bed for me.

i work all day tomorrow so i'll be playing catch up on thursday...joy!

until next time...

yah...

2010-09-13T12:03:00.000-07:00

i have no idea for a good title for today...so...yah :p

this was the best weekend we've had in a long time. we didn't do anything spectacular but we did spend a lot of time together, and it was just what we needed. we went to the cookout at laura's yesterday and it was just so nice to kind of sit and hang out and just be someone other than 'mom.' my friend emily has sort of been mia (working, etc., etc.) and she recently got a new job that is allowing her to be around a lot more, and selfishly enough, i am loving it. i've really missed hanging out with her and it was nice to just get to sit and chat with her for awhile. i don't have a ton of friends and the ones that i do have i don't see near enough. life gets in the way, blah, blah, blah. i haven't seen (or really talked to) my best friend in awhile and it's really been getting to me....

speaking of friends...i got a call from one of my oldest friends. we've been friends since 2nd grade and she's run into a rather rough patch. i've mentioned her before. she's been through rehab, she's gotten arrested, she can only see her children with supervised visits, it's just bad. anyway, she had gone to rehab just recently, she got a boyfriend, they moved in together, she got a new job, it seemed like she was really trying to get her life back. well, apparently that's not so much the case. she called me friday morning asking me if i could give her a ride to bail her boyfriend out of jail. he's much younger than us (23...next to our 33), and she's been sort of reliving her youth through him. he has a suspended license and he's already gotten caught driving her car more than once. apparently he got arrested for a DUI thursday through the night and he was sitting in jail, and her parents truck was being impounded. the whole thing was just too much for my taste. i was walking emma to the bus stop when she called. i had physical therapy later that morning...it just reeked of nonsense. if you know me, saying no is near impossible. i felt horrible, but come on. we're 33 years old. we have families. it's time to grow up. i kind of forgot about it all and then her ex-husband called me last night. apparently things have been a lot worse than she led on. she got arrested again after she'd been in rehab, her boyfriend just recently totalled out her car, she hasn't been seeing her daughters...it all just makes me so sad. At the same time, it makes me so thankful for what i have. i have a family who loves me, a husband who busts his ass every day so we can have the things we want and need, 2 daughters who are not only healthy but well behaved and smart, and while i have my issues, they're mild to what they could be in the grand scheme of things. it just...addiction is such a horrible, horrible thing and i'm glad that i am where i am today.

on a lighter note (thank god, right?), madelyn and i are taking up biking LOL i mentioned my deal of the year bike 'rickshaw' that i got for madelyn yesterday and she is obsessed. we went for a 1/2 hr bike ride this am and she was begging for more. her wanting to go for a bike ride is just the push i need to get out and exercise in the mornings. today we dropped emma off at the bus stop and then rode for awhile. one nice thing about living where we do is that we can pretty much ride the whole town and not worry about traffic or the streets we 'can't' go down. i always seem to feel so much better when i get out and exercise, it's just a matter of actually getting off my butt to do it.

we've got no plans for this evening so maybe i'll just let the girls play out in the yard and i'll finish my book. lynae had mentioned coming down but now isn't. soooo, we'll just hang out by ourselves again. tomorrow night i have my first PTG meeting and then i work wednesday night followed by emma's open house (that i'm making 3 dz cookies for eeeek), busy, busy, busy!

until next time...

Sunny Sunday

2010-09-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

ahhhhh. today has been such a good day so far. it's an absolutely gorgeous day. About 75 degrees, sunny and breezy. perfection. the girls woke up about 630 so i started washing sheets (my sunday usual). cleaned the kitchen and living room, hung the sheets on the line, and then the girls and i went on a bike ride. darik is in full on hunting mode already so he was off screwing around with his decoy trailer. i bought this from a friend for $75 earlier in the week last week and OMG, best $75 i've ever spent. Madelyn absolutely loves it, it gives me an excuse to exercise, and well, emma could use the exercise as well. we came home from our bike ride (girls still in their pj's LOL) and the girls played in the yard for about 2 hrs. I sat on the deck, drinking coffee and reading my book (Two for the Dough). seriously. best morning in a LONG time.

this afternoon we'll be heading to my friend Laura's for a cookout. I don't think we'll stay long, but her little boy is emma's age and they like to hang out...plus Madelyn sorta has a crush on him and it makes me giggle.

yesterday was the first saturday in, gosh, i don't even know how long that i didn't buy a thing at ssd. it was like, a piece of me was missing LOL i get sweet rewards tomorrow so i'm saving for then. I did however go hit up Jenn Barrette's store since she's retiring some stuff. I haven't scrapped since Saturday AM...that's like...unheard of. We've just been sitting around enjoying each other. it's such a rarity that i like to revel in it when it does happen.

maybe i'll be back tonight with more to say, but for now, i'm going to sit here, enjoy the quiet that is naptime, and do nothing! :)

until next time...

the weekend is here....

2010-09-11T12:07:00.000-07:00

...and honestly...that means nothing to me LOL

Darik got called off this morning, came back home, and then they called him back out again. SO, i decided since none of my pants fit (which is weird because i haven't gained any weight), we were going to go to kohl's and target for a lil' retail therapy. i picked up 2 pairs of pants for myself, a really cute sweater/tunic, a top, a pair of shoes, 3 tops for Madelyn, an eeyore she HAD to have, and a coloring book for emma...all for $140! i love when i get good deals like that. i hate to spend money on clothes (holy change of person batman) for myself so when i get a deal, it makes me happy. i also got my first pumpkin spice latte of the season, so that made the whole trip worth it.

we have no big plans this weekend. my friend laura is having a cook out tomorrow afternoon so we may stop by there, but i think the plan is to just be lazy bums. this is a-ok with me. between therapy and working the days i don't have therapy, i think we're entitled to that. emma's still having a bit of a time adjusting to not taking a rest/nap during the afternoon through the week so it's kind of nice to just be sitting here doing nothing today.

so, like i said, today is Saturday. Which means, SSD had their new releases today (plus Lita Bita Velveeta)...which means, i posted a shit ton of new layouts to my gallery today. wanna see? well...even if you don't, i'm gonna show them anyway because ALL of my designers rocked it this weekend.

first up is La. if you know me, you know i've stalked her forEVER. well, i finally managed to wrangle a guest gig out of her for this month LOL she has a super, cute, doodly fun kit out this week. Mr. Cool

Fee always amazes me. She's one of my 'oldest' teams at SSD and she couldn't pry me away. Life is Good is just that....GOOD!

next up...Miss Zoe Pearn. i wanted to make sure i knocked the socks off this layout because i didn't want people to ask, "jeeez. why'd they pick HER?' Here's my layout with School Days.

next...my favorite pair EVER. Meg and Kristin paired up for this beauty...A Wonderful World

i was so stoked for this kit. Penny did girly! True Beauty

Lita Bita's kit...well, it just plain ol rocks. i can see me getting at least another page outta this one. perfect for my moodiness! Bad Attitude

Last but not least...Traci teamed up with MandaBean for this totally adorable Conversations With Kids. I've been wanting to do a layout with all my little quotes from Madelyn FOREVER and this was the perfect kit for it. I've done a few layouts of Emma like this, but never Mads. So here's 2 with that one.

aaand with that, i'll leave ya be. i'm gonna sit around and be lazy for the rest of the afternoon :)

until next time...

oh lord....

2010-09-10T06:27:00.000-07:00

so....i kinda abandoned my little ol' bloggie. there were a million things going on in my life, kids, summertime, and well, i just put other things ahead of my blog. someone mentioned it yesterday (thanks leen) and i thought to myself, 'self...' haha just kidding. no, it reminded me how much i really love blogging and having it there to look back on. i'm a sentimental mush lately and i need to fuel that fire.

oye. i can't even begin to catch you up (you know, the 2 people who read this LOL)...
back in may, emma finally had her eye surgery. we'd put it off for as long as we could and finally we had to have it done. her 3d vision was starting to disappear (even with glasses) so dr. rahmani decided that it was better to have it done now while she was still young and we had the possiblity of the 3d vision coming back. the surgery was hell. she wouldn't open her eyes for 2 days, but the results have been phenomenal. she still wears her glasses, but her prescription is a whole point less and she more or less wears them to strengthen her eye muscles that were moved. i haven't seen her eye cross once since the surgery! talk about a load off! there's always the possibility that she will revert back to the eye crossing but as of now, we're calling the surgery a great success. we are supposed to go back next week for a check up and i'm hoping we have even more good news!

other kid...other story lol
madelyn had her tonsils out (after just having her adenoids out in january) august 20th. we're still in the healing process but i'm hopeful that things will finally be normal with her. she's been so sick her whole life, i'm hoping this will make a difference. she's already sleeping better at night (oh my god, i forgot what a whole night's sleep felt like!) and her breathing is much better too.

ummmm, me. i'm a hot mess. i can readily admit that. i was in a pretty major accident. i was being a nice girl, because you know i can't say no, and was working at the branch where i used to work before madelyn was born. i got off work a few minutes early and was on my home to pick up the babes. i was sitting at the stop light talking to my mil when some jackhole rearended me...going about 40. $8000 damage later, i'm pretty much ok. i'm in physical therapy for issues with my neck and shoulder and i'm hoping that that will take care of it. he hired a lawyer to take care of all the insurance issues bc well, either Darik or I are any good with all that legal mumbo jumbo. the other effects of this are just...well...my anxiety is back full swing. i hate to drive, in fact, i hate to even leave the house. i've done pretty much all i can to avoid doing anything i don't 'have' to do. i realize i should call the doctor, i really do, but i keep telling myself that things will get better with time. working is helping, but then i am SO sore the next day and that leads to me being upset and just, it's a nasty, vicious cycle. i guess what i'm hoping is, it'll go away on it's own. i've submerged myself in my little digiworld and that has helped me deal with stuff. i have some of the best friends in the world...who i've never even met. they pull me through this crap and they reassure me that i am in fact ok....and i love them for that. they make me feel like i'm not some sort of freak...and unfortunately, all this crap is not something i feel comfortable sharing with anyone in real life. i know certain people wouldn't judge me, but again, the anxiety...fear of rejection...it all comes rushing back when i even think about talking to someone about it. anyway...enough serious stuff, i'm gonna make myself cry.

digiscrap wise...well...i am SO happy. i have a ton of teams, yes, but i love them all. right now i'm creating for fee jardine, darcy baldwin, penny springmann, meghan mullens, kristin cronin-barrow (i'm actually her lead eeeeeep), zoe pearn (i still wanna pee my pants over this one), jennifer fox (lead), sir scrapalot (lead), sugarplum papiere, laura banasiak, tracey howard and jaclyn bernardo. i'm also guesting this month for lauren grier (guess all that pestering finally made her give in LOL). i have a few freelance teams as well...litabell designs, geek chic scraps, and nikki epperson. yes, my hands are full but like i've said before, this is my release. i need to be doing something at all times....and this is something i love.

ok, my goal from here on out is to blog every day. i know in reality it's not going to happen, but i'm definitely going to try to be better. plus, this way my friends don't have to listen to me bitch and moan all the time...people can choose to read it if they want to LOL

until next time....

you see how well that worked...

2010-03-05T13:12:00.000-08:00

empty promises i tell ya!

not a whole lot has been going on here. Wednesday was our first "nice" day in awhile. Darik and I took the girls with us grocery shopping since Emma didn't have school and it was actually sunny most of the day! The girls were actually behaving and it was the first of a few really enjoyable days.

Thursday was another sunny day! We went for a walk and the girls even got to play outside for awhile. It is seriously amazing what a little fresh air does for all of us! When Emma got home from school we went to meet Laura at the Children's Museum. It's nice to be able to talk "shop" with someone in real life. Plus, her little boy is soooo much like emma it's sometimes creepy to me. I guess it's just nice to hang with someone who 'gets' me. The kids enjoy it too so that's an added bonus. Yesterday was also the start of yucky molar teething for Madelyn. :( My children can never just get teeth, they always get sick with it. Call it coincidence, I do not.

Today we've just sorta been laying low. I did housework and caught up on laundry but Mads is just too crabby to try and even do anything. Her nose is a faucet, she's coughing now, and just down right ebil LOL Plus, I had toooons of stuff to catch up on for DSA and LO's and what not. We had a busy day yesterday so the"slow" day today was much needed. Add the fact that girlies were both up before 530 and you get...laaazzzzyyyy day.

Anywho, i'm gonna wrap up with 365 pics

until next time...

Day 61

2010-03-02T14:43:00.000-08:00

it's an "i hate winter" kinda day here today. kids are nuts as am i SO, i'm only going to post my photo and not elaborate any more than that :D

why do i even bother

2010-03-02T09:24:00.000-08:00

i really do have every intention of keeping up with 365, i'm just horrible at posting. We've been dealing with the sickies since we got home and now that it's gone through everyone, i think we're finally in the clear. i had my turn sunday and monday, blech. that's all i have to say about that.

first, lemme catch up on 365. Have i mentioned that i love my family? Everyone has such distinct personalities and it absolutely tickles me to no end. these last few days you can really tell from the pics....

no pic yet for today....i'll try to get back and do that tonight. it really was so much easier to do it daily then doing the catch up thing.

Like I mentioned before, I'm having MAJOR issues with coming back to crappy Illinois weather after being on vacation. I'm just super sick of being cooped up in this house and all this dreary, gray weather. If it weren't for the girls and my little chats with my friends on a daily basis, I may very well have gone insane by now!

I can't believe I'm even going to say this but, I'm kinda having an issue with my weight. I know people will want to smack me for saying it but, since being sick, I've dropped down to about 125. In my opinion, that's too small for me. I've always been overweight, I've always had meat on my bones, and now, I have none of that. Darik teases me all the time about being so small but I kind of just blow it off because well, that's not the me in my head. I want to be back around 135 or so but I don't want to go about gaining weight in the wrong ways. I need my protein intake to remain about the same and I do not want to add a bunch of carbs back in. Who'd have ever guessed that *I* would be talking about trying to gain weight. Oh, the irony.

ohohoh, so I picked up this SUPER cool CT. I'm now CTing for my NeeNee! If you know me as a scrapper, I typically stray from templates. I love the idea of them, and I tend to collect them, but never use them. I have to say though, I am ADDICTED to NeeNee's. I was super stoked when she asked me to be on her CT. I'm also guesting for my friend Tracy (Trixie Scraps) this month. I looove her stuff and I'm kinda sad that I hadn't come across her stuffs sooner! THEN, I found out yesterday that I ran the contest my friend Laura ({simply.scraps}) had to win all of her products for a month. That is one thing I'm sooo excited about. She has a totally fun and funky style and I'm loving everything she's been putting out lately.

ok, well, Emma is *still* hungry even though she just ate all of her lunch, so i suppose i should wrap it up and get going. I'll try to keep updated but I can't say that'll happen!

Until next time...

365 catchup and a whole lotta other shizz

2010-02-24T20:03:00.000-08:00

so, as you can see, I pretty much suck at this blogging crap. I try so hard to keep up but if you know me, you know I do way more than I should and I consider this pretty low on the totem pole...sorry.

So, first I'll start off with the 365 catch up. I can't believe I was as far behind as I was. eek. sorry for the massive photo overload.

i'll try not to do that to you again...dear blog reader :p

as most of you who read my blog know, we just got home from a cruise 2 days ago. it was WONDERFUL. We left on Tuesday night about 9ish at night. We decided to drive straight through at night just because we'd get the bulk of the driving in over night when it wasn't as busy. I slept most of the time lol. I am not a car person. I typically always fall asleep, and this was definitely no exception to that rule. It took us 13 1/2 hours to get there, almost to the minute. We spent the night in Mobile on Wednesday. Farted around...went to dinner, made a trip to WalMart, got some good coffee (bc that is apparently hard to find in the south), and just sort of hung out. We knew we'd be busy on Thursday so we kept it pretty low key. In typical Wilson fashion...we had some pretty lousy weather. It was rainy/cloudy and cool up until the morning we got to Cozumel. In fact, it downright poured on Friday night. Someone was smiling down on us the day we got to Cozumel. It was GORGEOUS. Sunny and about 80. We would TOTALLY do a cruise again. If you want to see all the pics you can go to www.dropshots.com/emmasmommy. I'm far too lazy and tired to put them all here :p

We've been dealing with the sickies here. Stomach flu for over a week now. Emma's been better but my mom got it again and poor Punk is still dealing with diarreah. :(

Anyway, i guess that's enough for tonight.

Until next time...

Hooray for Friday!

2010-02-12T04:18:00.000-08:00

Today is cleaning day in the Wilson household so I figured I'd get the bloggie post out of the way this morning. We leave Tuesday night/Wednesday morning for our cruise (YAYAYAYA) and we want to make sure our house isn't totally disgusting while the moms are here with the girlies. Granted, our house isn't disgusting, but you know what I mean...I need to pick up the piles, dust (I hate dusting) and this totally gives me an excuse to clean out Punk's closet. The clothes that don't fit her usually just wind up going in a pile on the floor of her closet, so today, it's going in the bins where it belongs. I'll admit, I'm not looking forward to it, but it must be done.

Today's pic is actually an even that happened yesterday. Emma got a "painters desk" for Christmas from MIL. I put the desk together but I couldn't get the actual part you write on on to save my life. Yesterday, Darik finally put it on for her. She was sooo excited. She sat up in her room and painted with her watercolor paints for almost an hour yesterday. Emma never sits and does anything for an hour. She painted "me," complete with an ankle tattoo and all. Here's her work of art....

Until next time...

It's funny...

2010-02-11T07:22:00.000-08:00

I love my internet friends...often times much more so than my IRL friends. It absolutely amazes me how caring and how close I have become with certain people in the few years I've been a "computer dork." I have a group of friends who I know I can count on any time of day and they'll be there for me. To listen to me bitch, to listen to me when I'm rambling about nothingness, when I have a stupid question to ask, and to give me some constructive criticism when I need it, whether it be about life or a digital layout. I have a couple close IRL friends, but we all know how real life gets. They work, they have kids, I hate to bother people when I have to actually see them everyday. Anyway, I was just feeling all gushy about my friends this morning. It's crazy to me that people I have never met care so deeply and can pick my mood up instantly.

But, on to the piccies...
Today's is Madelyn. Completely and totally Madelyn. that is all...

until next time...

I'm lazy...

2010-02-10T05:15:00.000-08:00

this snow and cold weather is making me grouchy so I've been steering clear of blogging. No one wants to listen to me bitch and moan.

Guess I can recap the last few days...

Monday was Emma's eye dr. appointment. We got some good news. No surgery as of now!! Her 3D vision was fine this time and her doctor is hesitant to perform surgery unless he needs to. This could not please me more. Emma's VERY sensitive to everything and I know when she has to have this surgery would be very traumatic for her. The longer we can put it off the better in my opinion. He says as long as she has 3D vision, there is no need for the surgery. Once it's gone for two consecutive appointments, then we need to look into the surgery. When we get back home from our vacation, we're going to go and get her some new glasses. She's been looking over her bifocal, which totally defeats the purpose of why she's wearing glasses in the first place, so we're going to try to get her a bigger frame so that the bifocal goes up higher. Hopefully that'll be the ticket. She fell this summer and scratched up her glasses along the top so, she's due anyway.

Yesterday was Emma's Valentine's Day party and I was a helper. I brought in sugar cookies, frosting and decorations as my "craft." The kids really loved decorating the cookies, but I'm not so sure her teachers did! LOL Other than that, we didn't do a whole lot yesterday. It snowed the majority of the day and some times it was really heavy. We didn't get the snow storm they were predicting and cancelled the blizzard warning but, it did snow quite a bit.

Today's a hibernation day here. We've been pretty go-go-go this week and I need a day just to stay home and chill out. The kids may not enjoy that so much but they'll deal :p

Now for the 365 catchup. only two days...well, technically three but it's only 7 AM and I haven't taken today's pic yet.

for now, that is all. until next time...

Weekend recap

2010-02-08T06:19:00.000-08:00

we did nothing :p We really did...I just wanted to be a pain.

Saturday morning we just went to mom's house. Lynn, Lisa and all the kids came over and we had lunch. The kids all made individual pizzas and they had SO much fun. They all looked like a hot mess but they loved it. Saturday night we took the girls bowling. We even let Madelyn bowl! Of course, I had no plans of bowling OR letting Mads bowl but we joined in and I of course did not have my camera. We'll be going again, and I will not forget my camera then!

Yesterday was sort of a lounge-y day. Emma and I have both been battling sore throats and fevers for the past couple days so we just stayed home. I had a wake to go to in the afternoon, but most of the day was spent in jammies with photoshop open...my kinda day. Emma did take a 4 hour nap so I know the poor baby wasn't feeling well. Madelyn's been just being Madelyn. Crazy. Pent up energy running through the house. The kid is never without a smile, I swear.

Today is Emma's big eye appointment. We'll find out today if she's going to have surgery over Spring Break or over the summer. We tried everything we could to avoid the surgery but her 3D vision is gone again and the dr is afraid if he doesn't operate she may never get it back :( I'll be back with an update I'm sure.

I wanted to dump off my 365 pics before I forgot though!

Saturday...

and Emma Sunday...

I need to hop in the shower so we can make the trek to Children's Memorial. Until next time...

a day out

2010-02-05T04:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was such a fun day. Well, in the afternoon :p

We met up with Laura (simply.scraps) and her two boys yesterday at Perry Farm. We didn't get to go outside, obviously, but we had TONS of fun at the 'kids museum' and then at McDonalds for a very elegant dinner.

As soon as Emma came home from school, I loaded the girlies up into the car. We made the trek over to Kankakee and I was sooo happy the kids got along. I had no worries about meeting Laura, I knew we'd get along, it was the kids I worried about. We stayed at the 'kids museum' for about an hour and a half. It was really cute. They had a bunch of different exhibits and you couldn't beat the price. It's donations only on Tuesday and Thursdays! I have a feeling we'll be going back. Perhaps even next week when Emma's out of school W, R, and F. Anyway, I digress. They had a ton of cute exhibits. A water table, this HUGE bunny, a castle, some cars, a little 50's diner, and a really cute little arts area. After we left there we went to McDonalds so the kids could eat and play at the playland there. It was SO nice to talk to someone who actually "gets" me. I have friends IRL but they don't always get the whole digi thing and they sure don't get what it's like to scrap.

Isn't she cute?

Anywho, my pic for yesterday is love. true love. I knew Emma and RJ would love each other, and I wasn't wrong. Well, Emma loved him anyway :p

That's all from me right now. We're going over to visit my momma this AM. She's doing much better but since she's home, we need to invade her space!

Until next time...

wowza

2010-02-03T19:25:00.000-08:00

what a busy day today was. phew.

Today was my 1 year appointment. I'm officially down 125 lbs (145 since the whole ordeal started) and in the clear now. All my blood work was great and all my numbers were good. My BMI is 25. 25!! I could hardly believe it! After that we went grocery shopping and out for lunch at Applebee's. By the time I got home...well, let's just say I was all discombobulated because I wasn't home all morning.

Miss Mads is totally into dress up shoes lately. She's starting to voice her opinion on what clothes she wears and what shoes she wants. Where'd my little baby go?? Stubborn little 2 year old snot :p

Here's my pic for today.

Until next time...

Oye

2010-02-02T05:20:00.000-08:00

It's been a rough couple of days around here. Nothing tooo major, but just exhausting.

I found out Sunday night that my mom fell. For a typical 58 year old, this would be no problem, my mother, is not a typical 58 year old. My mom had both of her knees replaced almost 3 years ago. She fell, hard, on the hardwood floors in her bedroom while she was putting clothes away. Her hip and knee got hurt so bad that she wound up going to the ER. My mom is no wuss when it comes to pain. I was SO worried most of Sunday night and Monday morning until I heard from her. Nothing was/is broken but she is in an immobilizing cast until at least Monday next week. Her surgeon told her that she has to stay home from school (she's a special ed. teacher) for a week, and while she is NOT happy about it, she knows it's necessary. We went over there yesterday morning before I took Emma to school and we'll do the same today. I know my dad is helping her out, but I just feel like I need to be there to help her. Granted, I don't know how much "help" we really are...me brining along two wild and crazy kids :p

My pic for yesterday is nothing really exciting. Just the corner of my living room. I remembered at nap time that I didn't have a pic and rather take a pic of my makeup-less, scraggly lookin' self, I decided to take a pic of the corner of the living room...

today the kids are already nuts. Madelyn woke up at 5 AM, followed by Darik at 530, and then Emma about 545. It's gonna be a long day. They're already winding down from their first freak out session LOL They wake up running. Every day. We're sitting around, me trying to wake up, Darik playing Halo, and the girls, doing 9000 different things. Today I got them, rocking out. M on guitar, E on keyboard.

Suppose I'll go start laundry since I've been up half the day already :p Until next time...

January Roundup

2010-01-31T14:42:00.000-08:00

Totally stealing this from KT the Scrapbook Lady, but I LOVE this idea. I know I'm not big figure in the digiworld but, it'll be neat to look back on this.

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
Well, this month I finished up the Sookie Stackhouse series. In fact, just last night LOL I also kept up to date with my usual

What movies, television shows, plays, etc. did I watch this month?
Oh, how I love bad reality TV. American Idol started again and both Emma and I couldn't be more excited. Grey's and Private Practice came back, and a new Celebrity Rehab started. Bad Girls Club is a little um, dramatic this season. Movie wise, I watched My Sister's Keeper (book was definitely better) and my usual kiddie shows.
What fun things did I do with my family and/or friends?
We actually have had a lot of fun this month. I've been trying to do things with the girls every weekend since we're stuck in the house all week. We went to Jump Up a couple times, we went shopping for dresses with Aunt Lynnie and spent lots of time with my mom.

What gifts did I give and/or receive?
Um, we didn't really give any gifts...Madelyn got a really cute Dora tracksuit from Emily for her surgery. I got myself some super cute stuffs yesterday but that's about it. January is kinda slow money wise.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?
I spent money on myself! That's HIGHLY unusual

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
I've been good. Miss Mads had her adnoids out though.

What were my accomplishments this month?
I ran my first succesful contest at DSA. I couldn't have been more thrilled with the outcome and I think DSA got a couple of really great guest CT members out of it. I've been a tweetin' machine too.

What were my disappointments this month?
I didn't make a CT I was really hoping to make but hey, we can't win em all, right?

How did I do on my goals for the month?
I try not to set goals. If I have something to acheive I get SUPER upset if I don't achieve it. So lately I've been attempting to just wake up and do my thang every day. Whatever that may be. laundry. dishes. So. PRetty good!

Anything else noteworthy to include?
Not for January :D

Today's Sunday so that means Miss Emma was in charge of the picture taking today. Before I get to the picture I picked...I HAVE to share some of the outtakes. She is so my child...all the way down to the arm shots.

isn't she hilarious? LOL

ok, today's pic is of me and Miss Madelyn...ala Emma

end of the month?

2010-01-30T19:23:00.000-08:00

Man. Wasn't it just the end of the year? This month fleeeewwww by.

We went shopping with my momma today. I TOTALLY scored. We went to Burlington Coat Factory because they have some majorly cute dresses. Like, nice dresses and we're trying to convince my sister to get the girls' "junior bridesmaids" dresses there. Well. I needed stuff for our cruise, which is in 20 days btw, and Darik handed me a $100 bill and you know, I spent it all on myself. I NEVER do that. I bought 2 dresses, a pair of sandals, earrings/necklace, and 3 tops. I think I'm set now. Darik still needs some shorts but I think that's something he needs to do on his own.

Yesterday we went to the dollar store, just to waste some time really. Emma has been begging me for some heart suckers so we got those...

Madelyn obviously enjoyed the suckers as well

today's pic is one of my dresses. I lurve it. a little. I hated shopping for so many years and to be able to go shopping now and have stuff that actually fits...well, I could have a bit of a shopping problem.

until next time...

It's a jammie day!

2010-01-28T13:05:00.000-08:00

YES. So, I realize I probably look like the laziest person, ever. I really am not. Once the weather turns nice, I will do more things. I have just had it with the indoor crap. Today was PJ day at school for Emma (they're studying the letter P this week) so, I decided it was a PJ day for all of us. I took her to school in my jammies and Madelyn didn't wear shoes because she had on her footie jammies. LOL My laziness with the fact that it didn't get about 15 today...I think that's a good thing.

Madelyn is at my absolute favorite age right now. I just love sitting with her and listening to all the things she has to say. Why do they have to grow up so fast? Really...it'll be all too soon that I'll have not one, but two mouthy little girls on my hands. Can't wait :p

Today's pic is of Emma. Her birthday is July 28th so, I'll always have a pic of her on the 28th. Poor thing has an infestation of cold sores right now. :( BUT, here she is, eating her lunch, talking as usual, with her hands, nonetheless.

Until next time...

Humpday, humpday

2010-01-27T13:52:00.000-08:00

Whoopadeedoo! We had a pretty eventful morning today. Madelyn's been sleeping in her crib (yay!!) all night for the past three nights *knock on wood* so the fact that she's getting up at 530 AM doesn't totally bother me. Getting 8 hours of actual sleep opposed to 10 or so of being kicked and elbowed and head butted is a huge difference. We went grocery shopping this morning. Now, that sounds simple enough, but one of my friends was totally mortified today when I told her it would take me all morning. We're about 1/2 an hour from "civilization," so, we have at least an hour there and back, paired with the actual shopping and anyone with kids knows that is doubled when they're with you. So, yes, it takes me most of the morning. I was super shopper today and it only took me 2 1/2 hours PLUS I put in a trip to the bank and got coffee. It felt good to get out of the house, but I'm still meh. It snowed AGAIN today, probably another inch or so. I am SUPER excited that in oh, 23 days we will be on a cruise ship. I need warm weather. I need sun...and we are definitely NOT getting that here.

Today's pic is of the babe. We get about 1/2 an hour every day where it's just her and me. She wakes up from her nap around 230 and Emma doesn't get home until around 3. We spend that time everyday just snuggling and watching Dora, it's one of my favorite times of day. Today...I got it. us. this pic is totally our attitudes and all.

Until next time...

day 26...

2010-01-26T08:35:00.000-08:00

seasonal depression has indeed set in. I get like this every year. just meh. Nothing's wrong per say, I just hate the cold weather, the gray, the not being able to go on a walk when I feel like it, I just get sick of being indoors. I'm not crabby. just blah. Like for instance, this is the 2nd day in a row where I am still in my pajamas at 1030. I've been up since 530...just never got dressed. Granted, I will get dressed soon because I have to take Emma to school, but, why rush things :p

Things with the ScrapOff at DSA are coming to an end. I'm glad, but it'll be weird to not have anything to do over there for a couple months. I could not be happier with the turn out we had and the CT is going to get a couple of really great new members.

Today's pic was a total fluke. Emma was playing by the window and she amazingly kinda smiled when I pointed the camera her way. pleasantly pleased :)

It's a two-fer

2010-01-25T06:25:00.000-08:00

I was lazy yesterday. Well, technically not, but last night I was. I didn't even have to take a picture yesterday and I didn't post it. lazy. We went to Jump Up again yesterday with Matt, Levi, Cole, and Kris. Madelyn wasn't feeling so hot and was tired so she didn't really enjoy herself as usual, but they had fun regardless. Then we went out for dinner last night. Chilli's...YUM. I tried the chicken bacon quesadillas. O.M.G. TO DIE FOR. I have my left overs for lunch today. soooo good.

It's snowing here again today :( Other than laundry, we aren't doing much. This gloomy weather has made me SO lazy. The girls have colds so we're just lazing.

Here's my "birth day" pic and Emma's Sunday pic

and then today's pic. Emma's a dancing queen. She wakes up dancing. Sassafrass.

Until next time...

Sleepy Saturday

2010-01-23T05:21:00.001-08:00

Madelyn decided she was up and rarin' to go at 445 this morning so pardon my, um, sleepiness :p

Today it's supposed to be 40 out...if there wasn't mud everywhere I'd ship the kids outside. I'm just not up for the mess! We're headed out to my mom's in a bit for breakfast. Emma loves Grandma's scrambled eggs so off we'll go.

Today's pic is my current obsession. I'm almost done with the Sookie Stackhouse series and I'm in desperate need of something new to read, especially while we're gone on the cruise. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Until next time...

Friday...Day 22

2010-01-22T07:35:00.001-08:00

I'm actually quite amazed that I've kept up with 365 thus far. It's not that I fail at the things I set out to do, that's NEVER the case, I suck at resolutions. If I say I'm going to "resolve" to do something, I've totally set myself up for failure. This year, I said I'd give it a try. I'm really enjoying it actually.

Emma's stoked that she gets to go to school today. After having to stay home yesterday she wants out of the house bad. Speaking of Emma...she slept in her room, all night, with her desk lamp off. She has *never* done that. As I was tucking her in last night she told me she wanted the light off. I asked, "are you sure?" She said she was. We talked about how everything was the same in the dark and how her eyes would adjust to the dark and she could see everything anyway (she's got like 3 nightlights up there but it is really still dark up there). I was SO proud of her, and she was proud of herself. She told me she wants to try it again tonight! It's so great to see her making progress with her sleep issues, no matter how big or small the steps are.

Today's pic is of a comfy, cozy Madelyn. The girls play house, A LOT. This morning, Emma made Madelyn a bed out of her Dora couch, the cushions from the couch, and her blankie, and then she added her baby, her cup and of course binky. They just make my heart happy!

Until next time...

Ice, Ice Baby

2010-01-21T06:40:00.000-08:00

We got ice. Lots of ice. Our street is literally a sheet of ice about 2 in. thick. Needless to say, Darik made me call Emma in to school. While I love my daughter dearly, she does not do well with staying in the house all day. I'm prepared for lots of nutsy's today. Darik's not working at the hunt club because the customers are thinning out...it's just a day of chaos. I, just like Emma, do not do well with a disturbed routine. Wooooosah.

Today's laundry day since we'll be home all day. So, my pic today is of my naked bed :p

Until next time...

Blogging say what?

2010-01-20T19:06:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to post this all freaking day long, I swear it. See. I have what I like to call "shiny object syndrome," I can never sit still and I get pulled into 92 bazillion different directions. I could probably do 10 layouts in a day if I didn't sit and check facebook or get up and make some cookies or check out this site or go look for something to submit to that contest...it's bad. It gets worse in the winter too. ANYWAY, nothing really new here today. We've had some crazy weather though. The big news is the freezing rain. Really dangerous stuff. IDOT is managing to stay on top of it though!

My pic today is of the devil child. She has found something that keeps her entertained for literally an hour at a time. Little People.

Until next time...

wowie zowie

2010-01-19T07:12:00.000-08:00

Nothing really...I just like saying that :p

Today's going to be a pretty low-key day. The weekend was just exhausting and it's rather gloomy here so I've decided that I'm going to sit and scrap/hang around the house today. I have to take Emma to school but other than that, nuttin. :p

My kids are nuts. If you know anything about me, you know this. They constantly say things that make me laugh, shake my head, and just stare in disbelief. This was the fun game this morning...

They were watching Nemo sitting on the Dora couch which was on top of our couch. Nuts. Seriously nuts.

Until next time...

Catch up...

2010-01-18T15:04:00.000-08:00

that's all. Just posting day's 17 and 18. I have had serious lack of motivation to get anything done the past couple of days. Weekends are so busy and add the DSA contest to that and blah....stress out Laura.

ANYWAY

Day 17 is Emma's day

and Day 18 is baby girl's new do

So that big news I was talking about....

2010-01-18T07:40:00.000-08:00

was announced today! For real...DREAM gig. Now, I'm waiting on pins and needles until the end of the call!

for real. DREAM gig

I know I'm behind in 365 pics but I'll post them later today. I have Emma's from yesterday but we're going at 2:15 to get her hair chopped. Her bangs have grown out to about chin length so we're going to get it all evened out today. She says she's excited to get it cut, but I have a feeling she's going to freak when she sees how short it's going to be. It's just hair, right? It grows back. I obviously have no qualms about short hair...so I think as long as it's not as short as mine, she'll be ok. Eventually.

Day 15 on Day 16?

2010-01-16T07:14:00.000-08:00

My original plan was to have everyone's pictures for their birthday day. Well, I screwed that up with Madelyn's...the first one. Her birthday is April 5th, on the 5th of this month she had her adenoids out. I got a pic of her but it was in the surgery center. Not ideal...but it was of her. Yesterday was Darik's day. His bday's on the Ides of March (March 15th) so I wanted his picture. Well, he didn't get home until after 9 last night and I did NOT want to get up to get the camera or take his picture, so instead you get it today.

he can't take a serious picture I swear. The following months should prove to be interesting.

Today we have a TON of stuff to do. I started the morning with getting layouts sent out for voting in the DSA ScrapOff...no easy task lemme tell ya. I always feel physically and mentally exhausted after I do that. Thank God I don't have to vote! We have to leave here in about an hour to go to a bridal expo with my sister. Blah. I'm not a fan of them but I need to do it for her. She's sooo excited and she dealt with me when I got married so I will do it!

Ok, that's about all. Like I said, exhausted at 9 AM LOL

Until next time...

Busy Morning!

2010-01-15T13:25:00.000-08:00

We live in the boonies. Well, not *really* the boonies but we have to drive 1/2 an hour to get to anything of importance. Like Walmart or Target, or even a "real" grocery store. This morning was our trek to Walmart. We didn't need a lot of stuff but we needed things. I promised Emma I'd get her a present for getting 5 nights in a row on her sticker chart (when she sleeps all night she gets a sticker), so she HAD to get that and I wanted to get Madelyn something for doing so well with her adenoids. We also needed a few groceries but nothing major. So, off to Walmart we went. As usual it was a 2+hour trip. Blech. I like to go in the AM because the girls are super, duper hyper in the afternoon into the evening and we usually have less meltdowns in the morning. I so pick my battles.

We've got a busy, but fun weekend planned and I'm kind of excited. Tomorrow we're supposed to go to a bridal expo with my sister and possibly go somewhere with Emily and the kids to let them burn off some steam. Sunday we're going with Matt and Levi to either Chuck E Cheese or the bounce place again. Then Sunday evening we're going to the IL's for dinner. Monday we'll probably do something with my mom since she'll be out of school too.

Today's photo is a two parter. I couldn't pass up the pic of Madelyn because she was truly disgusted with me when she woke up from her nap. You can just see her thinking, "Mom. Seriously. I just woke up. Let's quit with the pictures."

Part 2 is my baby girl who makes my heart so happy. Not everyone knows about Emma and her eye problems. Emma has a strobismis that is ultimately going to lead to her having to have surgery in either the spring or over the summer. We've dealt with the issue since she was 2 and she has no 3-D vision. We couldn't figure out why she was having so many issues with balance and picking things up off the floor, etc. and now we know. The glasses did correct her 3-D vision for awhile but now we're back to square one. ANYWAY, they had told us when she started school they weren't going to push the whole writing issue with her because of the 3-D problems. Well, in true Emma form, she has surpassed everyone's expectations. This picture doesn't totally show what she does but I love the fact that she loves to write. She will seriously write anything that you help her spell out. This is her version of Mom/Dad/Emma...

and with that I'm out. Have a SUPER weekend.

Until next time...

I am SOOO excited!

2010-01-14T05:47:00.000-08:00

There are two reasons. I got a PM yesterday at one of my favorite places to hang out and got some news that I am seriously soooo excited about. I bet you're dying to know, huh? Well, I'm not tellin. :p I can't wait though...

The other reason is Grey's is on tonight!!! Whoohoooo! Little things I tell ya. All I see in the preview is naked McSteamy. 'Nuff said.

Short and sweet today. We didn't do a whole lot yesterday but hang out at home and I got spanked by Emma in bowling on the wii last night. How is it that my 4 year old beats me in bowling? She enjoyed it though!

Today's pic is said 4 year old. This girl has an imagination like no other. At any time in a given day she can be found going to work, going to a dance party or being her baby's mommy. She seriously amazes me. Anyway, here she is in her favorite "hang out" spot getting her Leapster ready for another long day at her "Hannah Montana work." She was really upset because "they never pay her!" hehehe

Until next time...

The middle of the week...

2010-01-13T06:47:00.000-08:00

I don't know why it matters, it really doesn't I guess. BUT, today is Wednesday and Emma is SUPER stoked because they get to play outside today at school. It's been sooo cold here that they haven't got to play outside for recess. She's reminded me about 30 times (and it's only 830) that she has to bring a bag with her snow pants, snow boots, and hat and gloves for school today. My little Worry Wart.

Darik took the day off today from the hunt club so I have him running errands for me. Such a good wife! I hate having to go to WalMart with two kids in tow and since he was going to be by there, I just made my list for him and sent him a-gettin'.

I think we've nipped the whole sleep thing in the bud around here. Emma's been sleeping through the night (minus if she has to go potty or has a bad dream, but that's to be expected) and even Madelyn is sleeping from about 8-4 or 5. I'm a muuuch happier person now! It's amazing what a little sleep does for ya!

Madelyn has some mad skillz when it comes to flexibility. I know all kids do but she seriously hurts me sometimes with the stuff she does. Anyway, today's pic is just that.

that's it for today. Until next time...

Another early morning post...

2010-01-12T05:20:00.000-08:00

Here in the Wilson household, we deal with obsessions on a daily basis. We watch the same shows over and over again, we get "stuck" on certain toys, we read the same books over and over...and that's just the girls. LOL I'm the same way, and so is Darik. I tend to eat the same thing for breakfast every day, if a movie's really good I'll watch it for like, 4 days straight....I could go on and on. The reason I bring this up is today's picture. Emma's Hello Kitty lip gloss. My mom got her a 6 pack of ring lip gloss and she is absolutely in love with it. I had to fight her to take it off last night when she went to bed! Remind me again that she's only 4 please!

We've been VERY lazy the past couple days. It's been so frigid here, there's no point in dragging the kids out in it. Today's supposed to be the first of a few "warmer" days so I'm hoping we'll get out and do something. We'll see what the day brings!

Until next time...

Reflection Monday....

2010-01-11T05:33:00.000-08:00

I get all mopey and sentimental about once a month...I think any woman does :p Today is one of those days for me. Emma has always been my special baby girl. She was colicky as a baby and she's always been high maintenance. I never noticed it much before Madelyn because well, I had all my time to devote to her. When Madelyn came along and I saw how low-key she was and that she was just a completely different kid, it really struck me. She is so tender, so caring, and that just translates into so many other things. Anxiety about things a 4 year old shouldn't worry about is the big thing. She worries that our house is going to catch on fire, she worries that someone's going to get in the house, she worries that no one will pick her up from school, she worries that we're going to drive a different way, and I am constantly reminding myself that this is who she is. My little worrywart. Today is my day to really reflect on Emma. I need to appreciate who she is and not always reflect on the "bad" things. She is wise beyond her years. SO caring. The girl is seriously funny, and even though she exasperates me to no end...I wouldn't want her any other way. What 4 year old still wants to cuddle with their momma, all day long?

Anyway, my photo for today is obviously Miss Emma. :p

Until next time...

Emma Sunday

2010-01-10T11:55:00.000-08:00

I bring you another installment of Emma Sunday! This kid seriously amazes me with the pictures she takes. Now, this is by no means a great photo, but there's something about the way the sunlight has caught Madelyn's severe case of bed head that makes me smile...

Today was Lynn and Doug's brunch at my momma's. *sigh* I just don't know what to say about the whole thing. So, I'm not going to say anymore. We're supposed to go to a bridal expo next weekend with her to look at dresses and what not. We took out the flower girl gown that Skylar wore in our wedding and tried it on Mads. SO CUTE. Madelyn is obviously much taller than Sky was but it fit her really well. There was a huge stain on the front of it that never got cleaned out so we're hoping that the dry cleaners in town can get it out. It has sat there for almost 7 years so who knows!

I have to gloat. The whole "skinny me" thing is starting to sink in now but there are still some things I can not get over. Like, the fact that yesterday, I bought a size small underwear. Yes. Me. A size SMALL! It just amazes me that 13 months ago I looked like this...

and now I look like this...

oh, and I apparently like pink :p

That's all today, I really need to scrap...and nap time's a tickin

Until next time...

mmm...coffee

2010-01-09T13:19:00.000-08:00

Darik's been sick since about Tuesday-ish. He's been sleeping on the couch so he doesn't infect Madelyn or me. Well, last night, he decided he was well enough to get into bed. Yah. Madelyn got up at 1, got into bed with us, and she and I were both awake until 4 AM when Darik got up. Mads can sleep through just about anything, but that snoring...was horrible!

So

today's photo of the day is...

We've got Cabin Fever

2010-01-08T08:14:00.000-08:00

We are very quickly running out of indoor "fun things." We've played Wii, we've played CandyLand, we've played Crazy 8's, we've colored, we've made snowflakes, we've played in the snow, we've had a teaparty, we've played "backrub," needless to say, everyone is sick of each other. It's stopped snowing and now it's supposed to get cold. I sometimes wish that we lived in a warmer climate, but then I stop and realize, as much as I complain about it, I really do love that we have different seasons. So, please, allow me some time to bitch, and in the spring you'll get sick of me gushing!

Here's our cabin fever induced 365 pic of the day. The girls were so cute playing together this AM. Madelyn decided it was going to be great fun to crawl through Emma's legs. Emma didn't understand at first but then they played like that for about 20 minutes.

It's been a strange couple of days here. Honestly. My faithful blog readers know how much of a hunting buff Darik is. He worked at the local hunt club here as a guide, in fact, he pretty much ran the club. Well, look closer at the previous sentence. Yes. That's right. I said worked. Last night he quit. Now, this will be great for us family time wise, but that's our income for the winter (minus unemployment). I am in no way saying I'm upset, because I am really ecstatic that he'll be around more, but wow. That was his life. Has been for 2, almost 3 years. He's going to be a bored, restless man, I know that much. I honestly can't see him totally quitting but for now, he's very mad and just is done.

I also found out yesterday that my sister is now engaged. I'm kind of torn on the whole situation. I love that she's finally found someone that is perfect for her, Lord knows she deserves it. Only downfall, her boyfriend has no job. He's not even really looking for one. I hate to be Debbie Downer, I just don't want to see her miserable.

Ok, that's all for today I guess. Hopefully the roads will be plowed and passable soon. This staying in the house for 3 days has been for the birds!

Until next time...

Today's word of the day is....

2010-01-07T07:40:00.000-08:00

SNOW

we are being overtaken by snow. Lots and lots of snow. We've got about 10 inches now and we're expected to get another 6-8 inches. Now, my children, along with my husband and me, are not inside people. We do not like staying home, we do not like not being able to come and go as we please. This is rough. Very rough.

It's not all about Madelyn

2010-01-06T11:32:00.000-08:00

Really it's not!

Madelyn is fine today. You'd never know she had surgery. Seriously. Kids are so resilliant it's amazing.

Nothing really new today. Darik's still "dying." Emma's off to school and Miss M is napping. Love me a lil' Mommy Time. We're supposed to get 6-10 inches of snow over the next couple days so I'm going to head to the store when Emma gets home from school. I'm sure everyone and their mother will be there as well. BOOOO.

I know that I've been focusing on Madelyn a lot lately, but we all know that Emma runs this household. She's SOOO big into pretending lately. I never know if she's "Hannah Montana Emma," "Mommy Emma," or even "Baby Emma." She's all about the emo look for pictures lately. She refuses to smile. I can live with that though. It just amazes me that she's only 4.

Until next time...

Is it really only 11 AM?

2010-01-05T09:07:00.000-08:00

Wow. It's been a long day already! Today was the day that Madelyn had her adnoids removed. The surgery itself went really well. Her dr. told us her adnoids were HUGE and that she had very little bleeding. Coming out of anesthesia was another story altogether. She did not do well at all. In fact, they had to sedate her because she was so out of control. :( Now that we're home, you'd never know she'd even had surgery. She's playing with Emma and acting pretty much like her normal self. I will be most definitely alternating the tylenol and motrin every 3 hours though...I don't need her to be in pain and then me not be able to manage it.

To top the surgery off, Darik isn't feeling well. Anyone who has a husband knows...the husband is usually worse than the kids when he is sick. This house is no exception.

Needless to say, I'm ready for bed already!

Anyway, here's my pic for today and now I have to get Emma lunch before she heads back to school...can we say YAYAYAYA!!?!

Until next time...

just one picture??

2010-01-04T08:10:00.000-08:00

What if I want to post more? LOL Today's Emma's last day of Winter Break. I told her we'd go and see the Chipmunks if she slept all night and wouldn't you know, she slept until 8 AM!! That is unheard of for her.

Project 365 is going to start looking really one-sided, but I swear, I love my kids equally, I really do. Today's photo is of Mads....being well, Madelyn. This kid is so full of spunk and pizazz, she makes us all bust out laughing. Emma even says "Mom. Madelyn is a MONSTER!" haha

I know, it's not really a funny picture, but the faces she makes when she plays this saxophone are just hilarious.

Tomorrow's photo will be more than likely Madelyn too. Tomorrow's the day she gets her adnoids out :(

Until next time...

I seriously needed this...

2010-01-03T12:49:00.000-08:00

this kick in the ass that is! So far, I'm LOVING the whole 365 thing. It's inspiring me to look at things in a different way and hell, it's even giving me a ton more pics to scrap, and we all know I need those! :p I need some sort of inspiration lately because the mojo...waaay gone down the tubes.

ANYWAY, today's pic is going to be brought to you by the letter "E." Emma's on a photo kick lately. I have nooo idea where that comes from! ;) I decided that Sunday's are going to be her day to take my photo of the day. So, without further adieu...

I hope ya'll are having a good weekend. I think the funk has finally left the building around here! ♥

Jump Up...

2010-01-02T13:36:00.000-08:00

It always comes back to me, I swear. I've never been a real involved mom. Not because I don't want to...I love my kids more than anything in the world...I'm just not that type of person. For so long I was SO overweight that I physically couldn't do it, and then, well, there's the fact that I'm just not a creative person. I mean, yes, I am creative in the fact that I love to do scrapbooking and take photos and even play music. I am not creative however with glue and scissors and glitter. It's just not how I work. I don't like the mess. I don't like not being in control. BUT, I made a promise to myself that I would be more involved now that I'm physically able to. Thus...today we made a trip to Jump Up in Channahon. It's about 20 minutes away and the kids get to play on the inflatables for an hour and a half for $7. How could any sane person pass that up? We had a ton of fun. Seriously. I even played with them!

Anyway, my photo for today was one that I could have NEVER taken last year...

She had so much fun today. Emma did too but Emma was more of a given. Madelyn was very hesitant last time but this time she just had a BLAST.

Until next time...

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T17:03:00.000-08:00

If you know me, you know I'm not a very optimistic person. It's not that I don't think good things don't happen and it's not that I don't see the glass half full with most things, I an just realistic. People aren't going to change overnight, resolutions are more than likely going to fail...it's just me. Perhaps it's cynicism, if it is, so be it. I've been in sort of a funk the past, I don't know, week or so. I know a lot of it has to do with the fact that Darik's not around much and the girls and I are stuck in the house (love IL weather), but even so, I need to snap out of it. It's much to easy to be the Debbie Downer in the crowd, and no one likes that. My "resolution" this year is to work on the inner me. Last year was all about the outside me, this year, it's about the inside. I need to try to kick the self-hatred and skewed body image to the curb and learn to accept things as they are, however that may be. Nothing huge, but definitely attainable.

ANYWAY, today kicked off Day 1 of Project 365 and I'm here to post my photo. It totally sums up what my day is spent doing lately. Both girls are big into pretending. Their favorite past time is to play house with their dolls. Today, Emma decided her baby needed a diaper because she was sick and kept pooping her pants....I don't know, don't ask...I just go with it. So, without further adieu...

It's a Design-iversary

2009-12-30T05:28:00.000-08:00

Check it out, it's Brandy's 1 year Design-iversary...
Starting January 1, we will be celebrating my 1 year Design-iversary on my blog!

Each day in January, there will be a freebie download and at the end of the month, you will have a complete mega kit great for scrapping those winter photos and it is even versatile enough to scrap your everyday photos as well!

January 7, there will be a template challenge. Make sure you visit then to download your free template and every participant will be a winner with one grand prize.

During the month of January, I will also retire some my oldies but goodies to make room for 2010! Select items will be on sale for $1.00-$2.00. All other items will be on sale for 30% off all month!

Every customer in January will be put into a drawing to win all of my New Releases for 3 months!

so apparently I suck at blogging

2009-12-29T07:44:00.001-08:00

I am going to give project 365 a try this year and I'm going to use this blog as my posting point. Aren't you all totally excited? :p

It breaks my heart...

2009-11-21T18:53:00.000-08:00

I've been absent and for that I apologize faithful blog reader(s), but life has been well, crazy. I mentioned sleep issues in my last post...which was like a month ago, and we're still in that same situation...just with new twists and turnsies.

2 weeks ago we dealt with H1N1 hitting our house. I came down with it first and I have to say, I'm pretty thankful for that. I came down with cold like symptoms on Wednesday. By Thursday night when I had Emma at tumbling, I thought it could get no worse. I had horrible, horrible aches and I could not warm up to save my life. I went to bed at 7:30 that night with four blankets on me and 3 sweatshirts on. It was bad. BUT, the next day when I got up I felt as if I could function, sort of. I kept Emma home from school because I felt horrible and she said she just wasn't feeling well either. I figure, she's in preschool, it's ok if she misses one day. Through the night Friday night, Madelyn woke up and was burning up. Her fever was literally 104. I took her to the doctors first thing in the AM and she tested positive almost immediately for H1N1 (notice I just can not call it swine flu? I wanna oink everytime!). They prescribed tamiflu and since she has the risk of respiratory crap, they told me to give her breathing treatments twice a day for 5 days. She had the same cycle of sickness that I did. One day of wanting to do absolutely NOTHING and then the next day she felt somewhat better. Sunday through the night, Emma woke up burning up. The doctor told me just to call when she got it and he'd prescribe her tamiflu. Amazingly enough, Darik never got it! He was gone a lot for work but when he was home he bathed in hand sanitizer and he wouldn't sleep in bed with me. Knock on wood, I hope he doesn't somehow come down with it later on down the road. It was horrible.

Only other big thing going on right now is with Emma. That's the main reason I just haven't been around much, save my creative teams. About 3 weeks ago they put her on attarax. Anxiety meds. If you know Emma, you know she's always been my high maintenance child. She was colicky as a baby, she had horrible, horrible separation anxiety, she needs her routine, she needs to be coddled a little more than most kids, and well, she doesn't adjust well to change. It's never been anything I really worried about but lately, it's gotten out of control. Her OCD tendencies are really becoming apparent. Bedtime is such a strict routine that if we even sort of stray from it, she's ruined. She has these horrible, horrible irrational fears. In fact, just tonight she told me that she didn't want to close her eyes to go to sleep because she has bad dreams. :( Seriously? That makes me feel like a piece of poo. Something is obviously wrong with her, and I can't help her. She isn't ever with anyone but me so I don't think there's abuse or anything going on somewhere but things are progressively getting worse instead of better. Example. We were at the mall last weekend with my mom. There was an expo in the middle of the mall and there was a Tigger that was walking around for one of the booths. Emma saw him and FLIPPED. Everywhere we walked she was looking over her shoulder and crying every time she thought she saw him. It got so bad that we had to leave the mall. She's afraid of everything and I'm afraid it's going to get to the point where she's afraid to leave the house. Panic attacks are not fun, I've been there, and that is the last thing I want for my baby. The attarax has helped with some of the sleep issues, but she slowly is creeping back up to getting up 2 and 3 times a night...not fun at all. I was supposed to wait it out a month and see if it helped, and it did at first, but now we're pretty much right back to where we were. I've tried talking to her and she just doesn't want to talk about it. I seriously could just cry all day about it. I hate that my baby's broken and I can't fix it.

Madelyn's sleep issues are totally my fault. I guess they aren't really issues, but I always swore I'd never let my child sleep in my bed with me. Well, you guessed it, Madelyn is sleeping in bed with us. She starts off in her crib but by about 12:30 every night, she's in bed with us. It's not so bad most nights but some nights she just kicks and tosses and turns horrible. I really need to fix it before we leave for our cruise in February!

Other than that, not a whole lot is going on. Emma has decided she hates tumbling so she's done with that on Monday. We're going to try dance once the New Year comes around.

Tomorrow we're having a birthday party for Skylar and then Darik and I are going to see New Moon and get a little Christmas shopping done. The girls are pretty much done, now it's just everyone else.

Anyway, until next time...

10.29 FOBTY

2009-10-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

My favorite candy is a major toss up between reese's peanut butter cups and butterfinger's. I'm not much of a straight chocolate fan but when it's paired with something....mmmmmM!

holy snot

2009-10-27T12:05:00.000-07:00

so, I haven't blogged because well, who wants to listen to me complain about the same shizz all the time :D We're still dealing with sleep issues with both girls but we're surviving. The real reason I'm blogging is because I was looking back at photos today...

I've finally began to level off as far as the weight goes. I'm lingering around the same 5 pounds and have been for about a month and a half now. Nothing wrong with that, I'm TOTALLY happy with where I'm at. just wanna put that all into perspective.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing
wow.

10/22 FOBTY

2009-10-22T04:44:00.001-07:00

Yah, this is why I am in the situation I am now LOL

Your Autumn Sense is Taste

It's pretty simple... you love fall because it's the most delicious time of the year.

From Halloween candy to Thanksgiving leftovers, there's always a culinary treat right around the corner for you.

You also enjoy the smaller seasonal foods of fall - a pumpkin latte, apple crisp, or butternut squash soup.

You wait all year for your fall food favorites to return, and you're going to savor every single one of them!

What's Your Autumn Sense?

Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes and 3 Stupid Ones

It's a new dawn...it's a new day...

2009-10-20T05:05:00.000-07:00

The girls slept...most of the night last night!!! YAY! We decided that instead of letting Emma use her "noisy" (one of those noise machines with rain falling, nature noises, etc.) that she's used since she was a baby, that we'd let her have her TV on. I know, we're replacing one bad habit with another, BUT Darik sleeps with the TV on and she always wants to be like Daddy. I had had a discussion with her earlier in the day and I asked her why she hasn't been sleeping. The truth finally came out. She's afraid that the house is going to catch on fire and she's afraid of bats. :( So, last night I let her blow out the candle (therefore, no fire) and we sprayed her room with "bat spray" ( a lil' Febreeze). She woke up once at 12:30 because something happened with her TV, the channel changed when it was upgrading and she must have gotten up and noticed. I went upstairs and turned Noggin/Nick Jr back on for her and she slept until 6:30 this morning! Madelyn woke up at 4:30 but she only cried for a couple minutes and it's now 7 AM and she's still sleeping! I gotta say...it's amazing what a lil' sleep does for someone!

Yesterday we had a dentist appointment. Emma's teeth looked great and she didn't even cry this time. She actually laughed when they "tickled her teeth." Momma however has a cavity. I swear, these children have killed my teeth. I have to go back tomorrow morning to get it filled.

Darik has decided that he needs to lose some weight. He's got hooorrrible knees so he wants to get some weight off to ease the pain. He started South Beach again yesterday so I'm hoping he's successful. I seriously think he just wants to get some weight off for the cruise ;)

Today is a lazy day. I need to catch up on some scrapping and what not so that's that. Keep your fingers crossed that the sleep keeps up!!

Until next time...

a hot mess...

2009-10-19T04:38:00.000-07:00

The title pretty much sums it up. The girls both have not been sleeping. Last night Emma was up at 10:30 and then from pretty much 1:30 until 4:00 when Darik snapped. Add to that Madelyn waking up crying at 3:30 and you've got the situation in our house right now. I seriously have no idea what to do. I have taken all of Emma's toys out of her room. The only thing she has are her bed, her dresser, her TV (which I can monitor) and her books. I have told her that she will not be going to tumbling tonight because she can't sleep. I'm going to talk to her teacher today to see if she's been acting differently at school. I just am done. I'm so tired. I cry at everything. I yell at the kids. I don't want to do anything but sleep...which I obviously can't do...I'm just done. Darik got up at 3:30 and came undone with Emma. It did NOTHING. Madelyn cried in her crib for an hour, fell asleep for an hour and then woke back up. So, here it is 6:30 in the morning and I have slept maybe 12 hours in the past 4 nights. I'm hoping someone reading this can help me because I'm out of options at this point. I'm going to crash or meltdown and hard. I apologize for seeming as if I'm in a hopeless situation but at this point, that's what it seems like. February 17th can not come fast enough.

Saturday night we went to one of Darik's friends for a hayrack ride. We didn't ride the rack because it was freezing and nothing about that seemed fun to us. So, we hung out at the house until everyone got back (there were other people there also) and sat around and BSed until about 1 AM (not a good idea given the current sleep situation in the house but hey). It was so nice to go out and just sit and chat with friends we don't see often. I seriously have not gone out like that in probably 2 years.

Today we have to take back the carpet cleaner to the hardware store by 9 AM, then Emma and I have dentist appointments at 10:30. I'll drop Emma and Karly off at school about noon and then hopefully I'll get to catch a quick nap while Madelyn (hopefully) naps.

We booked our cruise...I think I failed to mention that. LOL We're leaving out of Mobile, AL on February 18th and we'll be going to Cozumel and then back to Mobile on the 22nd. We're going to drive down there so we'll actually be leaving early on the 17th. Thankfully our parents are willing to watch the girls for us. I seriously can not wait. Darik and I have never taken a vacation together so it'll be nice on so many levels.

Ok, I'm done. I'm rambly and that's never good for anyone.

Until next time...

HUUUGE sale

2009-10-11T05:27:00.001-07:00

Not only is Amy having a huge sale but Scrap Orchard in general is! Make sure you check it out. Once this sale is over, they're gone forever! Don't miss it!

FOBTY 10/8

2009-10-08T05:15:00.000-07:00

Pretty much right on...

You Are Pumpkin Soup

You are warm and happy. You feel truly blessed, and you are content with all the little things in your life.

You live slowly and deliberately. You take the time to notice every joy and be grateful for every small bit of happiness.

You never let an autumn pass without sitting back and reflecting on how amazing the changing of the seasons is.

Every smell, sight, and taste makes you thankful to be alive another year. Life is pretty darn amazing.

What Pumpkin Treat Are You?

Blogthings: We'll Tell You The Truth... Someone Has To!

Yet another fun week...

2009-10-07T12:53:00.000-07:00

I'm really not Debbie Downer, I swear. It just seems like we go along really good for awhile and then BAM...Fit hits the shan.

Madelyn now has bronchitis. She started having a really loose cough on Monday but I figured it was just all the croup crap breaking up. Well, yesterday she started again with the fever. Red flag for me. She was coughing so much she was vomiting, she didn't sleep last night...fun times. Doctor almost immediately confirms she has bronchitis, just by looking at her. Gives me a round of antibiotics, on top of the breathing treatments and allergy medication and tells me that if this doesn't work the next step is to put her in the hospital for a couple days. The only other breathing treatments they could give her have to be observed in the hospital because her heart could race. Super, right? Oye. Once this all clears up, he wants to put her on a preventative allergy medication so that this doesn't happen again. As long as she's healthy, we're good. When she gets sick, she just can't shake it. If we can go a month on the allergy meds with no real sicknesses, we're going to call it good. If that doesn't work, the next step is to go back to the ENT and talk about possible removal of the adnoids. This poor kid. She's totally got the Wilson curse.

Other than that noise...not much else has been going on.

OHOHOHOH...remember that CT I was talking about...I MADE IT!!! I seriously wanted to wet myself I was so excited!

I've got so much crap to do around here, I had to sit down and eat lunch (at 2 PM) and get my thoughts together before I did anything else. I still have to finish putting groceries away!

Until next time...

What a weekend...

2009-10-05T05:37:00.000-07:00

All I have to say is...Madelyn is truly my "give me a run for my money" child.

We wound up taking her back to the doctors on Thursday. They diagnosed her with Hand, Foot, and Mouth. That would explain the 102 fever she was running, right? Wrong. Friday night she started with a HORRIBLE cough. She was literally barking. So, first thing that runs through my mind is she's got croup. Yes, you guessed it, we were back to the doctors on Saturday morning. Her fever was 102.6 when she woke up that morning and the poor baby just laid in your lap. That is not my child. We were all supposed to go to Octoberfest that day but since it was raining and Madelyn was very obviously still sick, Mom and Lynn wound up going with me to take her to the doctors. Since it was Saturday, the place was a madhouse. Our appointment was at 10:50 and by the time we got out of there it was almost noon. Dr. heard her cough and said, "Yah, you could record that and play it for someone to let them know what croup sounds like." He thinks that what happened is she had allergy issues to begin with, caught a bug and that was what made her get croup. He gave me a prescription for an anti-inflammatory, some allergy medicine and told me to give her breathing treatments 3 times a day for the next 5 days. I'm thinking, ok, we'll drop the script off at Wal-Mart, since it's noon we'll go grab some lunch, and when we're done, I'll pick up her meds and we can go home. Should have known it wouldn't (or couldn't) be that easy. Drop off the script and go next door to Applebee's. Madelyn of course doesn't want to eat and is practically falling asleep in her highchair. Her fever is getting higher, but really, what can I do. We need the meds and are 1/2 an hour away from home. An hour goes by, I leave everyone at Applebee's so I can go get the meds before the pharmacy closes for 1/2 an hour for lunch. Get there, it's not ready yet. Dude tells me to wait 15 more minutes and it should be done. So, I go back and pick everyone up and we go back to WalMart. I leave them in the car and just run in. Get up to the counter and the pharmacy tech tells me I'm going to have to talk to the pharmacist. Wait my turn to talk to him...the rat bastard tells me that they couldn't fill my prescription. Excuse me?! I've been waiting for an hour and a half, my VERY sick child is outside in the car with a fever of almost 104 and you couldn't call my phone and tell me that an hour and a half ago? Are you freaking kidding me?! Needless to say, I went off on him. He tells me he couldn't fill it because they didn't have the name brand and he couldn't substitute generic without calling the doctor...was he in the office? Um, yah, asshole, he was an hour and a half ago, he's not now! So, I got my script back and went to Walgreens. The pharmacist there was super sweet and seriously filled my script in 10 minutes. Needless to say, I will not be frequenting the Super WalMart on Rt. 52 in Joliet, EVER again. Everytime I go there there's an issue with the pharmacy. So much for convenience, huh?

Madelyn's doing much better since Saturday though. We were fever free all day yesterday and the breathing treatments are helping SOO much. Now instead of her cough being barky, it's really breaking up and you can tell she's starting to feel better. I'm hoping when she finally wakes up this morning, we're still on the mend.''

Emma wound up going with my mom to Octoberfest even though I couldn't go. I guess she was kind of afraid of the "characters" (the big things dressed up) but she had fun anyway. They went to the petting zoo and she got to see the Jesse White Tumblers. I was kinda sad that I didn't get to go with her but I'm glad she got to go anyway.

Darik's got another busy week this week. I know I should be thankful that he's got such a great job but, oye, it's gonna be a long summer.

Other than that, I don't have much today. We're going to have a busy week. Tonight Emma has tumbling. I need to pick up Mads' meds that weren't in stock, but I think that's gonna have to wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow we'll pick up the meds and hit up Target. Wednesday Emma and I have dentist appointments. Thursday we have Madelyn's 18 month check up/follow up (I swear, I'm going to set up a cot there). Oye. I'm tired just thinking of it all!

One of my very, very, very favoritist digiscrap designers is having a creative team call and I'm sitting on pins and needles waiting to hear if I've made it or not. I know, I can hear Whit now...like I need another creative team, but um, I would die to get a spot on her team. Wish me luck!!!

Until next time...

What a Day, what a day!

2009-09-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

Oye. It feels good to sit down.

Our day started early for us today. I had my appointment at 8:30 so that meant we had to leave the house about 7:45 in order to get there on time. Lord knows I can't be late. I had to wake Madelyn up and that never goes well for any of us. Let's just say, I caved a little on my binkie detox. All my lab work came back excellent and I'm officially down 114.5 lbs since my surgery date. Dr Joyce said I could possibly lose about 10-15 more lbs, but I'm honestly more than happy with where I am now. I'm going to bring up at my one year appointment about loose skin. It's gross. Especially on my stomach and thighs.

Next we went to Wal-Mart for groceries and whatnot. Let me give the "prestory" to this one. *eyeroll*

Last night when I was getting ready to give the girls their baths, Madelyn was standing next to Darik pointing at her hand and her arm and saying "owie, owie." Neither one of us thought anything of it, she's big into labeling things lately so we just sort of assumed that she was doing it for attention. Start giving them their baths and notice that Madelyn is itching her arm and still saying "owie, owie." Look down and lo and behold, she's got a rash on her forearm and the palm of her hand (only her right). I immediately check her feet and inside her mouth because it looks a lot like hand/foot/mouth. Nothing. So, I have Darik take a look at it. He's got sensitive skin like she does so he knows more about rashes. I seriously have had maybe 2 rashes my whole life and one of them was because of chicken pox. He looks at it and really can't make heads or tails of it. He tells me to take her to the doctor in the AM because it's almost pussy looking. SOOO, I get her up this morning and it's still there and it's even on her left arm a little bit now. The left arm is nowhere near what the right arm is but it's there nonetheless. We go to my dr's appt and on the way out, I schedule one for her. It's at 11:20 so that gives me enough time to run and get groceries, get her to the dr. and still get Emma home in time for school.

*end of prestory*

Groceries were pretty uneventful. I forgot some of the stuff I like to have to snack on but that's always something I can go get tomorrow or Friday.

Fast forward to Madelyn's dr's appt. We see Dr. Paul...who was originally Madelyn's pediatrician. He walks in and says, "Long time no see!" Puke. I like his dad so much better so that's who we've been seeing since Madelyn was about 6 months old. His parenting style and his medicinal methods are more like mine and I was more comfortable taking Madelyn to him. Deal with it. He checks her out and determines it's an allergic reaction to something. I have NO idea what she could have gotten into. We weren't anywhere new and she hasn't eaten anything new. He said that if it clears up with the lotion and the medicine, we won't test her to see what it is because 95% of the time it just winds up being some fluke thing that they get into. Fine, I can deal with that. I just don't want her to be itchy anymore. Get done, go up to the chick to check out and they don't have her chart. Seriously? I should know better than to schedule things so close together. It's getting to be about the time where I need to leave to have Emma home for school. Winds up they switched Madelyn's chart with another kids. No big deal for me, I got a diagnosis and medicine for her, it's just now her info is in this other kids chart. Oye. They were freaking out about it behind the desk and I just wanted to leave because #1 I had to get Emma home and #2 Madelyn was not enjoying the fact that I was holding her this whole time.

So, yah, Emma got to school on time, we got Madelyn's meds and now I'm resting for a few more minutes until Emma gets home and Madelyn wakes up. I still don't feel like I've rested at all but whatever. Such is life! I guarantee we'll be doing NOTHING tomorrow! :D

Until next time...

No good excuse...

2009-09-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

I honestly don't have a good excuse for being a horrible blogger. Not even a little. I suppose now that the weather is changing and we're in the house more often, now would be as good a time as any to settle in and get back into a good blogging routine.

Emma is loving school this year. She's always been one of those kids who really enjoys being given responsibility and she's getting it this year in school. She gets to write her name on her papers everyday instead of the teachers doing it for her. She gets to cut things out on her own, instead of the teachers helping her. She even gets to help other kids do things when they don't always get it the first time around. She's in hog heaven! Tumbling is going SO good for her. She looks forward to Monday nights...and I have to admit, it's kind of fun to watch her get so excited about things we take for granted. She asked me about joining soccer so maybe next year she'll get to do that as well. We'll just have to see how she adjusts to all day kindergarten. We're still trying to find a happy medium as far as napping goes. The days she doesn't nap (which is more often than not through the week), she is an absolute bear. Sassy, crabby, defiant, very not "Emma-esque." The days that she does she is her typical happy, go-lucky self. As always with kids, it's definitely a learning process for all of us.

Miss Madelyn. Oh, my dear second child. She'll be 18 months on the 5th. THAT blows my mind. She talks more than Emma ever did and she throws twice as many fits but that's honestly why she's such a good fit in our family. She knows now that if she stares at us long enough and makes enough funny faces, chances are she's going to get her way and not be in trouble anymore. Yah, she's gonna be a handful, we all know that. Today is Day 1 of Operation Ditch the Binky. I'm still going to let her have it when she's in her crib (for a little while anyway) but no more walking around and trying to talk around it. She's been chewing on it so I'm guessing that it's definitely time to say bye bye.

Darik's in the thick of working right now so he's not around much. We miss him, Emma especially, but I try to keep us busy with little things so the girls don't dwell on it.

I've been throwing myself into my digiscrapping lately. People laugh at me, but I seriously have gotten rid of my food addiction and replaced with scrapping...and I don't consider this vice a bad thing. I've got some VERY talented designers that I am creating for and have whittled down my shopping list quite a bit. I love that it gives me that creative release that I need, and I also am really enjoying all the people I've met along the way. Some I may talk to more than others but I can't say that I've been disappointed with my "computer geek" hobby at all.

Tomorrow is my 9 month post-op checkup. 9 months. It's freaking crazy that it was that long ago that I had surgery, but at the same time, I feel like it happened ages ago. I'll give definite stats tomorrow but according to my records, I'm down almost 140 lbs since I started this whole journey last year. That is seriously 1/2 the person I used to be. It's still all surreal to me. People come up to me and say, "Laura, you look so good!" Yes, I know I do (sorry, I know that sounds vain), but I don't have an actual picture of myself in my head. Imagine this. I was fat for 31 years of my life. How am I supposed to grasp that in 9 months I went from being very obese to being average. Heck, even below average in some cases. I went from wearing a 26 the day I had surgery, to wearing a size 8 now. I went from wearing a size 8 1/2 (or 9) shoe to wearing a 7 1/2. I went from wearing a size 8 1/2 ring to wearing a size 5 1/2. I went from wearing a 38D bra...to a 34 B. Seriously. How does a person grasp that in 9 months? Don't get me wrong. I don't regret my decision in the least. I'm healthier, I'm happier, and I am absolutely over the moon that I'm where I'm at today, but please, if I don't give you the reaction you think I should when I see you in the street, try to remember...this body is new to me too.

Ok, Madelyn is up from her nap and Emma will be home from school soon (loving the arrangement we have...my best friend since grade school has a daughter in school with Emma. I take them to school and they bring her home. I don't have to wake Madelyn from her nap so I can leave and well, I get a lot more done in the afternoon!).

Until next time...

Rock on!

2009-09-24T04:37:00.000-07:00

Today's FOBTY at Sweet Shoppe is so fun!

Your Rockstar Name Is: Vanilla Destruction

Rock on!

What's Your Rockstar Name?

Blogthings: Waste Time at Work!

FOBTY 9/17

2009-09-17T05:10:00.000-07:00

I love Fall Festivals. The weather is crisp, you don't sweat your tush off and the food is always SO yummy!

The first weekend in October is always Octoberfest in the town that I love in. It's only one day but it's a craft fair, lots of food vendors and a little parade to wrap it all up. I love getting to see everyone I grew up (yes, honestly) and the girls love to get all the candy at the parade.

FOBTY 9/10/09

2009-09-10T05:53:00.000-07:00

today's FOBTY is supposed to be about our favorite sports teams/sport. Well, if you know me, you know, I don't do sports.

I always loved going to the football games while I was in college. We always had so much fun and I even learned quite a bit about football. Now, I just don't have the energy to keep up with it!

FOBTY 9/3...I think

2009-09-04T08:19:00.000-07:00

LOL I have no concept of what day it is anymore!

1. Do you wash your own car or do you go to a car wash? I go to the car wash

2. Are you wearing socks right now? nope

3. Where were you 3 hours ago? getting breakfast for the girls

4. Do you have laundry waiting to be done? nope

5. Can you pick objects up with your toes? ew, never tried.

Want some free stuff?

2009-09-03T04:11:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't? Well, if you're a digi-scrapper and you haven't been to Polka Dot Plum yet, well, first off you're just plain silly, but most importantly, you're missing out on some FABULOUS freebies for their grand opening this week.

Today I'm hosting a challenge in the forums called "All About You." Come on, you know you wanna check it out.

The image is totally linked up so click on it, and come and play along. Everyone who plays along gets a super cute freebie from Miss SuzyQ herself. One layout...who doesn't do that in a day?

Oh, and while you're there, don't forget to check out the other challenges posted for today! ;)

2009-09-02T04:09:00.000-07:00

It's finally here! That's right...Polka Dot Plum is opening it's doors today! Make sure you stop by and check out all the yummy goodness that is going on there today. There are TONS of games going on and awesome, awesome prizes to go along with that!

FOBTY 8/27

2009-08-27T04:07:00.000-07:00

Today Sarah wants to know what kind of exercise routine we do (or don't do) now that school's back in and we're back into a routine.

Well, exercise and me are kind of a team. Ever since having surgery in December, I make sure that I do something every day. Normally it just consists of taking a walk with the girls, but some days I "exercise" with the girls. I always make sure they're involved in some way. Whether it's laying on the floor playing "Superman" with them or chasing them in the yard for a little while, or even dancing in the living room (our favorite is "Hoedown Throwdown"), I make sure I do something to get the blood pumping. My best friend has joined the gym in the next town over and it has daycare too. I've been tossing around the idea of going with her...I just don't know if I'll stay faithful.

so, yah

2009-08-26T07:25:00.000-07:00

Why do I even bother with a blog? I only update like every couple weeks! BAD BLOGGER

Let's see, what's new in our lives? LOTS and LOTS.

Let's start with the kidlets...
Emma went back to school Monday and she couldn't be happier. She was a little put out that all of her friends went to kindergarten this year but she's quickly making friends at pre-school. She really wants to go all day. I'm hoping she just continues with this love for school the older she gets. Monday night was also her first night of tumbling. She loved it. I was kind of nervous because of the whole eye thing, but she did sooo well. I told her that if she loves it this term (it's an 8 week session, Monday nights at 5:45 for 45 minutes), we can do it again next term, and maybe even get her in some dance classes. It really made me realize that my baby girl is growing up *sniff sniff*

Madelyn. Oh, Madelyn. Teeth. That's the biggest thing in her life right now. She just got all 4 molars and is now working on her eye teeth. BOO! I stand firm in my thinking that they should just get them all in one day. That way you have one day of pure torture and then it's done. The whole 2 years of this SUCKS. She's starting to talk like crazy and is definitely Darik's child. It's so cute when we go to pick up Emma from school every day. She sits in the back seat (obviously lol) the whole time and goes "sissy? sissy?" SO cute.

Me...well, my bday was Monday. Sunday we had dinner at John and Gloria's and it was nice. Darik's grandma got me a cookbook (which I LOVE so much), Darik's parents gave me some money, his bro and GF got me a gift card and Darik got me the rest of the Sookie books (YAY!). I can not wait to go shopping soon. My parents also gave me some cash so you can bet your booty I'm going to spend it on myself this year!

Darik's still working crazy mad hours so it's me and the girls a lot. It's kind of nice to have school and tumbling to keep us structured again. The girls were really getting bored with sitting at home and playing outside.

I guess that's about it...didn't wind up being as long as I thought it would. Guess we lead boring lives! ;

I'll be back soon with some exciting news about a digihaven! ;)

Until next time....

Hey scrappers.....

2009-08-24T04:10:00.001-07:00

Check THIS out...

FOBTY 8/20

2009-08-21T04:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's technically 8/21 but you get the picture...haha

This week's FOBTY is to show your favorite photo from the summer. This photo has SO much meaning for me.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Not only is it a super cute photo but I have Emma sitting with Darik this same way, looking at the same giraffe's. Memories! aaaahhhh

FOBTY 8/13

2009-08-13T06:14:00.000-07:00

Today Teresa wants to know some of our fave songs right now...

I must admit, I'm not SUPER into music these days, nothing really grabs me anymore...BUT...

I'm LOVING anything from Dave Matthews Band new CD (particularly Shake Me Like a Monkey and Funny The Way It Is)

and I'm super hooked on Run To You by Lady Antebellum, even though it's a little older.

That is all!

Dude.

2009-08-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

Dude. So, I weighed myself, just like I do every Monday morning. You'll never believe what I saw. Me. Yes, me. I saw 148 on the scale!!!! I seriously weigh below 150 lbs. I NEVER thought that this would ever be possible. I know I haven't been updating so much on my success with gastric bypass, but it's basically because it's become second nature to me. I seriously have such a different outlook on life now. Granted, I'm always going to be that cynical person who tends to overdramatize EVERYTHING, but I seriously can't even compare my life now to my life a year ago. Not even a little. A year ago, I weighed almost 265 lbs. Yah, that's 115 lbs more than what I weigh now. That's technically a whole (albeit very small) person. There are so many things I do now, I couldn't do then. I cross my legs almost every time I sit somewhere. I play on the floor with my kids. I sit on the couch with Darik, because now, we can sit together, and actually be comfortable. I play outside almost every night with the girls. I can eat just a little bit of my favorite foods without going totally overboard. You just don't even know the peace of mind this whole experience has brought me. Relationships are better. My frame of mind is better. I just can't even begin to explain the difference in my life. I hope that anyone reading this who has even had a thought about having WLS will not be afraid to ask questions...the first couple months were hard, I can't lie, but wow...for a lifetime of difference, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I'm a little over 8 months out and I've far surpassed my expectations of the surgery.

Let's see...new news...OH, OH, I know about a new digisite that's going to be opening up on September 2nd! Can I just say I'm soooo excited?! It's been in the works for awhile now and it's been much anticipated. So many of the designers I create for are going to be there, and um, I must say, it's gonna be pretty fabulous! ;) I just took on a guest spot with Bella Gypsy....and I could not be more excited. I've "known" Lena and her sister Tabatha for quite awhile now, but only recently discovered their designs and I was seriously in love with them. Here's just a couple layouts with the gorgeous stuffs they have in their store at ES.

Today we went to the beach. I met a new "friend" and so did Emma. There was an obviously pregnant woman there with her daughter and the little girl was carrying a doll. Well, Madelyn, being the baby lover she is, went flying over to them going "baby, baby, baby." That sort of broke the ice for all of us! Emma liked having someone her age to play with in the water and it was nice to sit and talk with someone who had some similar interests as me. She was from Kankakee but it was still nice to have someone to chit chat with.

Speaking of Emma, we've been having some behavioral issues with her. She's not bad, so much...she's just out of control. I have to tell her to do things 3 or 4 times, she flat out ignores things I tell her (especially if it has to do with Madelyn), and she's been big on telling me "I promise I won't do that again Mom," even though she fully intends on doing it again. I know it's just her age and she's testing her boundaries and she's bored because she's ready for school to start, but mix that with a cranky Madelyn and um, the walls in this house get closer and closer. I guess I'm just going to have to suck it up until school starts...and we all know how well I deal with that

Darik just started working 12's today :( He was kinda sad this morning when he left for work. Hung his head and said, "well, there goes my summer." It's 2 PM and I just talked to him for the first time today. I've normally talked to him 3 or 4 times by this time of day. It's good on one hand, but then you have things like what happened this weekend. Every time Madelyn went up to him yesterday, she'd call him "Papa." We had to keep reminding her that he was "Daddy." He just kind of laughed it off, but I know it broke his heart. We'll just have to look forward to winter when he'll be with us 24/7

Well, I think that's all for today...I'm obviously chatty

Until next time...

An update

2009-08-07T05:20:00.000-07:00

Seems like I'm always apologizing for being a "bad blogger," as if anyone really read this, but I never really have much to report.

We had Emma's birthday party on the 2nd. We totally lucked out and had gorgeous weather again this year. I don't know how we do it, but every year the weather has been so perfect. Her birthday is at the end of July so there's the potential of some really nasty, hot weather or even a storm or something. Sunday was upper 70's and sunny the whole day! I felt really bad for her because about 2ish she started feeling sick. She said she had a headache and she didn't even want to open her presents or cut her cake. We did plow through cutting the cake and opening (most) of the presents and then she went in the house and took a nap for about an hour. She woke up feeling fine and she did get to play with some of her friends who were still here. She had a great day, despite the minor upset.

We've been spending lots of time with my mom before she goes back to school. Emma almost expects it now. I know Mom's having a really hard time with going back to school this year. She's in a new (much larger) school that's about a 1/2 hour from home. I'm sure she'll be fine, but you can tell right now that she's not so excited.

Yesterday was a BUSY day of nothing. Well, ok, it wasn't nothing but we didn't really go anywhere. Keli and Andrea came down since Keli was watching her nieces. They're 6 and 4 and we've always said we''re going to get them together to hang out. We went out to the beach from a couple hours and then we came home, put Mads down for a nap and let all the kids play outside (she brought her 2 younger boys too). They stayed until about 4 and then we came inside to just "chill out" until the normal Friday gang came over at 4:30 (yes, yes, I know, it was Thursday). We hung out and cooked out until about 7 and then it was definitely time for the girls to go in, get baths and go to bed. It was a long day of outside, but they really enjoyed themselves...and so did I!

Today I'm going to watch Ryan for Emily while she runs and gets all the stuff for her sister's bridal shower. It's just not right that she should have to take a 4 year old and a newborn to WalMart by herself. Ryan and Emma are usually really well behaved so I don't mind at all. Other than that, I don't have a whole lot going on today. Seems like most of my creative teams release stuff on Friday/Saturday so I've been doing lots of scrapping the past couple days (surprise, right?!).

Other than that, not a whole lot to update on.

Until next time...

FOBTY 8/6

2009-08-06T04:25:00.000-07:00

HAHA, you thought I was actually going to blog?! MAN! I should do that....

Anyway, this week's FOBTY is to post a pic of someplace you've been in the last month. I know that most family's look at summer as a time to get away and enjoy it all, but our family is kind of opposite. Darik works construction so he's busiest in the summer. However, we got a lucky Saturday where he was off. We have a zoo membership so we took full advantage of a beautiful day, packed up the kids and went to the zoo. It was Madelyn's first time really being able to walk around and enjoy it...and if you can't tell by the look on her face...she definitely did. Of course Emma did too, but that's not even a question!

sniff sniff

2009-07-28T03:56:00.000-07:00

4 years ago today, my Emma was born. It seems impossible that it's been 4 years, but she seems so much older than 4 to me at the same time. I seriously still remember the morning she was born like yesterday. 12:21 AM on July 28, 2005, our lives changed forever. Who would have known that we would have such a caring, sweet, dramatic, tenderhearted, mature, and wise beyond her years baby girl? We aren't doing a whole lot of anything special today. This morning, if the rain holds out, Emily and I are going to take the kids to the park, we're supposed to go to lunch with my mom and Aunt Kathy today, and then this evening after dinner (corned beef, Emma's favorite), Darik's parents, brother, and grandma (and of course Levi), are coming over to give her their presents. Gloria's bringing an ice cream cake and I know Emma will love that! It kinda irks me that they feel they have to come over to give her her presents before her party because they don't like that they "get lost in the shuffle," but whatever. It's supposed to rain tonight so we'll just be crammed into the house...not an easy task at all. I'm going to go ahead and give her her presents this AM. Well, some of them. She'll get her Hannah Montana guitar (she's DYING for it), some clothes, some undies, and a pair of shoes this morning and then tonight Darik is going to stop on his way home from work and pick up her bike. She's going to freak when he comes home with it! Tomorrow we're going with my mom to Joliet to the mall so she'll probably get a few more little things then. Her party is Sunday and she's sooo excited for everyone to come. So far we've only gotten RSVP's from her "boyfriend" Alex and his brother Cayden. I know my family will be there and my friends, that's really all that's important!

The official "end of summer" blues has hit. Emma is VERY ready to go back to school and we're trying to fit everything in now that we know the end is near. We've been going to the beach, the park, taking lots of walks, and just trying to do as much as possible. We've gone to the zoo quite a few times and we're trying to spend as much time with my mom as we can before she goes back to school. I have a feeling Emma won't start until after Labor Day but I think Mom goes back the 12th or something silly like that. :( Who'd have thought that after all this time I'd still hate to see the end of summer?

Yesterday we had Lynae and the kids over for dinner. Nothing fancy, we just ordered pizzas, but it was our last official hurrah before Nae goes back to work. It's been so nice having her and Emily around this summer, I think I'm in for a rude awakening when they both are back at work!

Well, Miss Thang is now up and we're going to watch the Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana concert again, so until next time...

This is SO me

2009-07-23T11:06:00.001-07:00

Today's FOBTY is all about names...
here's what I got

You Like Names that Are Retro and Fashionable

You like names that are from the past but becoming modern again.

Names with a strong history are very appealing to you.

You're a big believer in giving children very adult sounding names.

You're not a fan of nicknames or newfangled spellings.

Some female names you might like: Audrey, Emma, Fiona, Georgia, Isabelle, Naomi, Rosemary, and Veronica

Some male names you might like: Brendan, Colin, Ethan, Jared, Kenneth, Martin, and Nathaniel

What Kind of Names Do You Like?

Yah think?

Where is time going?

2009-07-23T05:04:00.000-07:00

I came to a horrible realization this morning. My baby is going to be 4 in 5 days! Where has the time gone??? Emma's always been one of those kids that's mature for her age so I don't normally think of her as "only" 3...but why does the label "4" seem so much older than "3?" AAAAH! We let her pick out the bike she wants yesterday, now we just have to go pick it up sometime without her. We'll be getting her a 16" bike this year. She just got one last year for her birthday but the kid grows like a weed and it's already too small for her! I'm thinking we'll go to Target today and pick her up a few things, she desperately needs school clothes and shoes. I'm just not sure how I'm going to convince her that they have to be for her birthday and not now!

Yesterday I went to my mom's in the morning and helped her with Lisa's tribe. She FINALLY went to go get some birth control so hopefully she won't have any more kids. I know that's horrible to say but given the circumstances her kids are growing up in and how much Mom and I take care of those kids (and provide for them), she doesn't need anymore. We came home about lunch time, since Emma was up at 5:30 again yesterday, the girls at lunch then took naps. I was super stoked because I got to talk to Sheana for quite awhile yesterday! Once the girls woke up we went and got groceries, and I had to pick up Levi from daycare. Yes, we had Levi, again yesterday. It was not a good day for him either. He got in trouble at daycare and he got in trouble, um, most of the night at our house. Ryan came over too, but of course it was raining and they had to play in the house. Emma and Ryan behaved at least!

I think we're going to head to Target today. Emma needs lots of clothes and well, yesterday Aaron told me about a super cute dress his wife got and um, I think I need it. Plus, it's on sale! ;) Tomorrow we're probably going to go to the thrift stores in Pontiac and Lexington. Like I said, Emma and I both need clothes and I hate to pay full price for anything. Especially for us since we both go through clothes so fast.

Well, Emma just woke up (yay for sleeping until 7:15!) so I'm gonna watch a little Zack & Cody with her before Madelyn wakes up.

Until next time...

A Beautiful Day

yup.

*wiping the dust off the keyboard*

where does time go?

i want my mommy.

friggin' full moon

yup. still lazy.

ahhh, the weekend

another week gone

new year, new blog?

whoops

sunday....a day of rest?

making up for lost time?

first things first....

wow!

i want to punch someone

the best of intentions....

so, here it is....

hmm, what's this old thing?

sheesh

i don't know who's idea it was to get a job....

it's a full moon...yes?

so, i sorta dropped the ball, just a little...

does it ever stop?

we're adults, yes?

rawr...grrr....the mean laura monster's gonna getcha...

yah...

Sunny Sunday

the weekend is here....

oh lord....

you see how well that worked...

Day 61

why do i even bother

365 catchup and a whole lotta other shizz

Hooray for Friday!

It's funny...

I'm lazy...

Weekend recap

a day out

wowza

Oye

January Roundup

end of the month?

It's a jammie day!

Humpday, humpday

day 26...

It's a two-fer

Sleepy Saturday

Friday...Day 22

Ice, Ice Baby

Blogging say what?

wowie zowie

Catch up...

So that big news I was talking about....

Day 15 on Day 16?

Busy Morning!

I am SOOO excited!

The middle of the week...

Another early morning post...

Reflection Monday....

Emma Sunday

mmm...coffee

We've got Cabin Fever

Today's word of the day is....

It's not all about Madelyn

Is it really only 11 AM?

just one picture??

I seriously needed this...

Jump Up...

Happy New Year!

It's a Design-iversary

so apparently I suck at blogging

It breaks my heart...

10.29 FOBTY

holy snot

10/22 FOBTY

It's a new dawn...it's a new day...

a hot mess...

HUUUGE sale

FOBTY 10/8

wiping the dust off the keyboard

sniff sniff