A day at the George house

I finally got the pantry boxes unpacked and loaded the shelves. I'll be honest and tell you this is my second favorite room in the house, only because I can see all the food at once and there is no guessing to know if I'm out or low of anything...so love that!

(you all know what my favorite room is :o) )

Baby Mark having a good old time in the walker. He was cracking up at everything Cole was doing today after Cole had come home from school. For the most part he is a really happy baby.

So I walk into the family room and see Brek inflating a semi large pool in the house with the air compresser which inturn blew the breakers twice shutting down my garage fridge and deep freeze....hello! no indoor swimming here! They took it outside on the back porch and filled it up...you guessed it...water was way to cold to swim in.

(that pile of stuff on the desk are my curtains...need new rods)

Next best thing to swimming is taking a bath in Grammy's bath tub. He usually takes a bath in his baby tub, but he has become a pro at swishing out more water than he keeps in. The higher sides of my tub helped contain the big splashes. Such a fun boy!

Before I forget...we finally heard from Chad yesterday after 2 weeks with nothing. We heard from our nephew that he talked to Chad on myspace, so Mark set up an account and sent him a message. He replied!!! He said things are going well and that the people are kind to the soldiers and that he misses the family . I really want to talk on the phone with him so I can have some details. I also need to send him a package, but first I will make him a few more pages for him to put in his scrapbook. I think I'll take Nicole's advise and send him some clean new socks too. Jen put together a wonderful package for him. You'll have to go check it out on her blog. Thanks again Jen!

We survived Easter!

After church from 3-6 we had my family all come over for dinner. I had ham cooking in the crockpot and got the deserts the day before. (yes, I bought them..I have guilt since I love to bake) Came home and quickly cooked corn and carrots. My family brought the cheesy scalloped potatoes, green beans, rolls, deviled eggs, and soda. We all pigged out and enjoyed each others company. This picture is of my sister Coleen holding her foster baby Angelic and my sister Rene' holding Mark. Baby Mark is one month older and he really likes playing with her. I think he was a bit envious of all her hair since he is a bit lacking in that department. There is nothing better than family. I love having my family over and I'm glad they all love me enough to make the drive out here. Next time I will have to do a George side dinner. Mark's sweet sister Mary Ann had a baby boy on Easter afternoon. I don't know all the details yet, but his name is Owen George Hill. I can't wait to meet the newest member of the family.

While I was "in the city" on Friday I got a long overdue pedicure. I'm fully aware that feet and toes are ugly and mine are no exception, but look at those cute flowers! Love them! Helps make ugly toes a little more bearable.

Here are a few more pictures of my house...actually its only the huge hallway that serves no purpose, but I like it anyways. Really it does have a purpose, because here is where you decide whether you want to go in the family room, scrapbook room, bathroom or upstairs. I put my potting bench that was on the front porch at the old house here. It's such a big space, it needed to have something there and it may as well be cute. In the first one you can see a sneak peak into the family room...and also that pile of boxes I still need to unpack. What I should show you is a picture of the garage and the amount of boxes out there waiting for me to unpack them. It's never ending......but I'll spare you my pain. :o)

How to make Mark mad....

Don't get the cat fixed when he asked you to and have momma kitty pop out another bunch of cute kittens....oops! He is seriously not a happy camper about this one and it is my fault because I didn't get her into the vet. Well it's her fault too because she kept escaping and being the floozy of the neighborhood. They really are cool looking kitties though. That's not blood on the kennel. Remember when Cole spilled the can of red paint? Apparently that was an object in it's path.

Last night I went to a way fun candy making class and believe me when I say that I was on a chocolate high. Everything was so good and I got to meet some girls from my new ward. It was a lot of fun. Brittany called me there and said kittens were coming, so I came home and my closet was set up as the delivery room. After all the babies were born we moved them to the nursery in Brek and Brittany's closet so that I could take a bath. Apparently I was very tired because that bath sucked the life out of me and I didn't even have the strength to dry my hair, so you can imagine how bad my hair looked this morning...you guessed it...Medusa (sp?) I'm pretty sure I'd have to kill anyone who saw me that way. Perhaps that was what her problem was. She was just embarrassed and killed people so they couldn't tell anyone how terrible she looked. It was self preservation. :o)

Gotta run...going to town. Lots to do today.

Living room/formal dining room

Here are a few pictures from the living room and the formal dining room...okay, so it's not that formal. I am not a formal kind of girl. I prefer comfy cozy instead. I haven't painted the walls yet, so they are still the icky flat builders white that's impossible to keep clean. I WILL paint when I have money and time to do so. For now I decided to put things on the walls because I was sick of looking at bare walls. I really should have taken the pictures during the day, but night pictures are better than nothing, right.

You girls were all too kind with your compliments about my scrapbook room. That makes me feel good that you all like it. I'm a nice girl who shares, so I'd be willing to have scrapping buddies. :o) To answer the question about my twirly rack, it's just a spice rack I got at Sam's Club a while back. They don't have them anymore. I've had other people ask me about it and I found them several on ebay. I just checked and there aren't any right now, but Sam's Club and Costco usually always come out with a cute one that would work for you. To answer the other question about the "store" in my closet. It's not really a store since I don't sell stuff. In my old scraproom I had installed peg board and pegs to hang up and organize some of my supplies. It made it much easier to find what I was looking for..plus it was fun to look at, so I plan to do that in this closet too. I'll share pictures when I do it.

Now onto Chad. I haven't heard from my boy since the afternoon of March 28th. At that point he was in a town in Afghanistan. He said they were getting their ammo to load their guns before they boarded the plane to head to Farrah, which is where his base is. That is NOT the thing a mom wants to hear...let alone being the last thing I heard from him. We have an 11 and 1/2 hours time difference. I keep hoping and praying that he will check in so that we know he is safe and got to his base. My stomach hurts more with every day that passes. I don't know if that's normal procedure, but I don't think knowing he is okay is too much to ask.

His address there is:

Chad George

PRT - FARAH

APO AE 09354

I'm sure he would love any mail, whether it's letters, cards, or care packages. I would suggest sending mail priority because otherwise it takes forever. Please keep him and the other soldiers in your prayers. Thanks dear friends and family!

New scrapbook room

Buttons...tons of buttons!

These photos are in no particular order because it's late and I'm too tired to put them in a way that makes better sense, so bare with me...you'll get the general idea. I do however think it looks even better in person. I totally can't believe blogger let me upload all these pictures...so cool!
close up of my embellishment rack labels
my desk area...a view from the closet
cute key hole ribbon storage
twirly embellishment rack
the two little bookcases that I built. taken from my desk chair. That's the closet door. I have 2 windows now. I love all the natural light.
jars of markers and thread...they look pretty in jars
baskets full of reorganized wood mount stamps. I still need to make label tags for these. Notice my jar is FULL of candy cane kisses. I love the Americana paint can Heather made me.
a view from the door
flower jars and more ribbon...love them!

paint daubers and cardstock...love them too
my name above the door
fun stuff on the bookcase
Making memories shimmers glitters...you can see some of the quickutz as well...love them too...okay, so I love everything.
Barn pictures that Ellen took. I finally framed them. I SO love these!


every scraproom should have candy and mine has lots. These baskets have more stamps, ink, embossing powders, etc. Bottom shelf is idea magazines. Love my lamp and the heart that Andi made me is hanging on it. My rooster bell is on the wall to ring after each layout is completed. We all need to feel a sense of accomplishment, right?!
cute wood plaques with vinyl quotes
left side of bookcase. behind the licence plate is a file box that has my acrylic stamps in them...idea courtesy of Amy.
right side of bookcase
country cute shelf



12X12 pattern paper and some 12X12 cardstock. I will admit to using more Chatterbox paper than any other. I love it so much!
Standing under the TV
rack, tote, ott light, sewing machine to which I only sew on paper and an occasional costume.
jars of ribbon sorted by color, brads and eyelets
bookcase...it holds so many beautiful fun things.
I moved my cute outhouse cabinet to the bathroom because I plan to decorate it in an outhouse theme. For those of you who don't know me well, you can see that I really love barns and all things country. They give me comfort and make my room warm and inviting. I still haven't set up my "store" in the closet because Mark needs to bring home the peg board for me. This room is such a great size. I even have room to set up a 6 foot table in here to have friends over to scrap with me...providing I can get anyone to drive out here to see me. Okay...there you have it. like it? love it? hate it? not so much? :o)

Long time no see

Look who just moved in with me last night! They were really squished where they were and we have plenty of room here. I know Brittany will miss her family, but she is looking forward to being able to spread out. We moved Marks office into the master bedroom to make room for them. I have missed baby Mark so much! Actually I haven't even seen him in a month. He sure has grown up a lot. Last night he didn't even remember me, but this morning he is in a better mood and we are having a great time together while Brek and Brittany set up beds and stuff. We set up new ground rules this time so living together won't so stressful. I think they will like the new ward out here since it's FULL of young families just like theirs. I'm OLD in this ward...seriously! That will take some getting use to. My next blog post will be my scrapbook room photos. :o)

Happy mail

Do you know how happy I was this morning to discover that happy mail does indeed come clear out to the little town of Maricopa. I got a little teary eyed to find 3 packages sitting on my front porch. All 3 were sent to me for different reasons. Heather made me this adorable Americana altered paint can just because she knew I've been going through a lot and could use some cheering up. I love it and will display it proudly.Then I opened the box from Missy. She sent me a motorcycle chick Jolee's that I have never seen before, a cute little calendar, and some chocolate just to celebrate spring. How sweet is that?!

Then I opened a box from Amy. Inside was thin mint cookies (which I have already started eating...I couldn't help myself), and a beautifully wrapped package you would have thought a professional had wrapped. I of course had to take a picture before I tore into it. To my surprise she sent me that amazing chipboard pack she had talked about on her blog (that I did not win), a making memories letter "J" to alter, all nestled around my most favorite candy cane kisses! This package was for my birthday. All 3 of these sweet girls gave me cards with thoughtful messages inside. Now who could possibly have a bad day after all that? Not me! My day is going to be great. Getting ready to clean the kitchen with a smile on my face. Tonight I'm feeding dinner to our good friend Nick and his 3 boys, then I'm taking pictures of all of them with their dog so they can have some pictures before all his boys are off to college and missions. Wish me luck!

Thank you so much sweet friends. Happy mail really does make you happy. Love you girls!

I really do plan to catch up with everyone. My site meter count has dropped since I've been so busy and I totally understand why. I know I've been a bad blogging buddy and promise to do better once I have essential things done to make everyday living around here a little easier. There is still so much to unpack. I will be posting pictures of my scraproom as soon as Mark mounts my TV on the wall. I really love this room.