kitchen and stuff

I guess it's time to share another room of my house. I really like this kitchen. I serve buffet style alot so the big island help with that. I know most people like their counter tops clear of clutter, but I don't. I like them full of things I use most often and with cute things that are there just to make me happy. There is good and bad clutter. In my mind this is good clutter. These pictures were taken 2 days ago, so obviously it's not that clean anymore. It gets dirty quick around here. Mark usually cooks breakfast for the boys, then Brittany cooked breakfast for her and Brek. Plus I brought home groceries last night and not quite everything got put away. Speaking of groceries, Brek and Brittany came home last night and said they found an apartment and are moving out tomorrow. They are so excited! I had agreed that when they moved out I would buy their first groceries since those are the most expensive to get because you need all the staples. I'm kind of sad about them leaving...especially so soon. I know they need to be on their own so they can grow and learn. I will so miss seeing my baby guy everyday....sigh... Do you see my problem? Notice how the water in my shower doesn't spray out with an invigorating force...it merely falls out because gravity tells it it has to. I hate my shower. I hate everything about it. It makes me crazy that it takes forever to get shampoo out of my hair and soap off my body, but I also can't stand the fact that it's a tiny square glass cubical. I can see my self in the mirror while I shower (gross), there is nowhere to prop my foot to shave my legs and I have to squeegee the walls before I get out so that we don't get water stains. For me showers are anything but enjoyable. I've decided to take matters into my own hands. I've bought a new shower head and plan on installing it. I was tempted to get something that resembled the elephant shower head from that Seinfeld episode where they had installed low flow shower heads in the whole building and everyone had flat crappy hair, but I didn't. I got something more practical and it better work. Should I actually get this thing up and working I'll let you know. :o)

Graduation season is here. I made 26 announcements for our friends Nick's son. I went over last week and took pictures of him, got them done on Monday and delivered them yesterday. Isn't he a cute boy?! Next I'm making Kyle's, then Sandy's then possibly some for my cousin's son Nic. I had to do Kirk's first because he graduates the week before Kyle and Sandy. I decided that since I have to make so many that I would do a simple long single panel that would be faster for me to assembly line and would still be cute enough. The others will be the same basic design, but in their school colors, plus I have to squeeze in information about the party here the following night. My friend Cathy made the most darling ones for her son. They look like the graduation cap. I love how it turned out...really cute!

I have LOTS to do this mothers day weekend before my whole family comes over for dinner Sunday night...lots more than I'd like to do, but sometimes we just don't have a choice, huh?!

Can we talk?

While I was in town today running errands at Home Depot and Sam's Club I decided to fill up my suburban...which mind you, I still had a half a tank, but I don't like it to get low. It still took $70.00 just to top it off! How crazy is that?! I saw this little car a few weeks ago and had to laugh as I took a picture of it. With gas prices they way they are, don't you wish we could just wind up our cars like the little toy ones and completely cut out the big oil companies who are raking us over the coals and doing all the ridiculous price gouging?! As I was filling up with gas Mark called me and asked if it was dusty where I was and I told him no, we had blue skies. Then I turned around and saw the big wall of dust rolling across town. Usually when these things come through I'm safe and sound at home, but me and Kyle had to drive straight into it. In between the city and my town we have to drive through 16 miles of desert to get home. While we were on that stretch of highway it was so thick and dark, I could only see the tail lights of the car in front of me. We thought it was pretty cool, but other drivers disagreed and there were several accidents on that highway. I'm glad we got home safely and although it was very cool to see, I prefer to be home when these things come through town.
Summer is here in Arizona and it's already hotter that heck, so I thought I'd share this little find with you. I'm finally found the perfect swimsuit for less than perfect bodies and I'm going to buy it from kneeshorts.com. For one, it's reasonably priced at $39.99 and because it's supportive and modest. Let's just be painfully honest here. I've given birth to 5 children, I cook and eat like Paula Deen, and don't exercise enough and it shows. There is no stinkin' way I'm going to prance around in a suit with my cheeks hanging out. I don't know about any of you other "fluffy" sized women, but the cellulite ripples are not only on my hiney...they roll right on down the legs as well. I don't care who you are...that's just UGLY! We won't even talk about tummies except if it's chunky like mine...cover it up! For the love of all things good and decent, please don't run around with it all hanging out for the world to see. That's all I've got to say about that. Now I can go to the water parks with my boys and not be completely embarrassed...well except for the fact that I have glowing white legs that resemble a plucked chicken, but that's nothing tan in a can can't fix, right?!

P.S. Thank you Andi and Susie Q for sending me the link to help Cole with his magazine report. It was a huge hit at school and he says he really likes you girls. That's a two thumbs up from a happy 10 year old boy!

I'm shutting down my computer for the night. It's faking sick and running slower than tar going up hill on a cold winters day...yada yada yada...It better be running speedy quick in the morning.

National SB day layouts

My sister Coleen and friend Jen came over to scrapbook with me on Saturday. Oh my heck was it hard to find my creative mojo. Plus I ran out of time last week to prepare in advance like I planned to so I only got 3 layouts done since I spent a good chunk of time printing pictures and being stumped on layout design. This first one is our family photos we took December 31'st before Chad left. I really love these pictures. I have a cute little family. Coleen finished her album for her mother in law and Jen got some very cute layouts done of her son Preston.
This layout is from the day Chad left for Fort Bragg. I still cry when I look at those pictures and think of that day. I don't think I will send this layout to him, because I don't want him to be sad or make it harder on him, but I will save it for his book so he has it. By the way....Terri, he sent me a message and said he received your care package. He wanted me to thank you so much for everything. He loves happy mail!This last layout was from Thanksgiving last year at my in-laws house. It was such a nice day, but Cole was home sick with the flu so Mark stayed home with him. So sad! I really struggled with this layout because I couldn't figure out how to get 16 pictures to look good on one layout. By the time I was done I liked it.
Me and Coleen. She's going to shoot me for posting these pictures since she had no make up on, but I think she always looks pretty.
Jen and Coleen...I set up a 6 foot table in here for the girls to use and there was still room to walk around to get to supplies. It worked out great.


Cole had the camera and kept taking pictures of us. Not very flattering, but he thought he was funny getting close ups of us. He even got a close up of my eye and Coleen was naughty and let a little finger birdy fly. Yep! He caught that on film too. Shame on her. :o)
We went to lunch at a mexican food restaurant here in Maricopa called Penascos. The food was good, but the service was beyond terrible. I knew we were in trouble when it took the waitress 10 minute to take my order alone...plus she wrote a one page novel in full detail and still got it wrong. I am a boring eater and ordered a taco tostada combo with no veggies, double beans no rice and a side of sour cream. I specifically said not even any lettuce on the plate to make it pretty. My food came out a tostada, rice, beans and lettuce garnish, then she brought me out a taco separately then a side of beans. I never got the sour cream. I ate half my food before she brought out Jen's food. She asked for extra lettuce and I had more than her. Coleen's food came out several minutes later. I am a slow eater so we still finished at the same time, but the whole experience was a joke. So many dumb things happened, that we couldn't help but laugh about it. We should have just gone to taco bell because we lost precious scrapping time. :o)
Thank you all so much for your compliments on my reorganized closet and your sweet words about my scraproom being published. You are all so sweet and I'm very excited about it.
Well it's now 1:25 in the morning and I NEED to go to bed!

winner...and scraproom closet

"What do you mean I can only pick ONE winner? I want them ALL to win!" "Okay....I pick VALERIE...and she tastes good too!"

Oh, thank you baby Mark for your help with the drawing since all the big boys were gone and thank you to all of you girls who showed me that you do indeed know how to comment. It was so nice to see so many new faces as well as my familiar friends. I loved reading all of them. It's pretty fun so I hope you all keep it up! Congratulations Valerie...enjoy your new ribbon. I will get it in the mail on Monday. :o)

I pulled dang near everything out of my scrapbook room closet today. In the process I made the BIGGEST mess in my scraproom. At one point I was so full of regret as I thought to myself "what were you thinking" There wasn't even room to walk. I went through a bunch of boxes, built a bookcase and cut and installed peg board. Then I hung up my supplies for my personal little "store" and loaded back in as much stuff as would fit.

It's not perfect, but it's way more organized. I know what I have and where to find it, so I love it! Plus now my scraproom is spotless and ready to make some creative messes tomorrow for National scrapbook day. I'm so excited, yet very tired. I better get some good sleep tonight. I'm pooped!

***Very exciting news!***

MY scrapbook room is going to be published in a book called Organized Spaces for Papercrafters. How cool is THAT?! I've never submitted layouts for publising because I do that for fun and for my family, plus I'm not quite good enough for that, but my scrapbook room is something I LOVE and have put a lot of thought and organization into, so I am beyond honored to be asked to do this. I still need to send her the pictures. Will do that this weekend. The book is due out in September. :o)

giveaway...boxes...dinner

I got these two little making memories boxes on clearance at Target several months ago. Today I finally embellished them. I put my new bazzill bling blossoms in the bottom one and haven't decided what to put in the top one yet, but they sure are cute! I put the little apple crate on top just because I liked it. Looks pretty darn cute on my little bookcase.

If you're looking for a quick and easy meal to make for dinner I tried this recipe of Paula Deen's tonight. It's called mexican chicken. Here is the recipe if you want to try it. The only thing I did different is add one more can of cream of chicken because I like it really creamy and it asked for 1 can of diced tomatoes. I accidental put in a can of tomatoes with mild green chili's. It worked out okay and just gave it more of a mexican flavor. I wouldn't put this on the top of my list for most favorite recipes, but it was good and fast. As you all know I'm so dang excited about National Scrapbook Day this coming Saturday, so I decided to share my excitement with all of you by having a giveaway. I ALMOST didn't part with this because it's really a great thing and I like it very much, so surely lots of you would enjoy it too. This little beauty comes with 40 spools of ribbon. Each spool has 4 yards with a grand total of 480 feet of pretty ribbon. Now that is ALOT of ribbon by golly! Even if you don't scrapbook, this ribbon can be used for many other things. If you would like to be in the drawing, just leave me a comment and I will have a boy choose a winner on Thursday night...and YES! lurkers are always welcome to comment on my blog anytime! It's all so pretty...you know you want it! :o)

Good luck ladies!

P.S. I got the pink purse and matching wallet at park and swap in East Mesa on Baseline and Signal Butte. They were very affordable! I don't buy expensive purses.

P.S.S. Did you know that you can click on the individual pictures in my slide thingies on my side bar and see them full size? I didn't until today...so stinking cool!

Weekend stuff

This weekend we celebrated my nephew Kaden's 6th birthday. We all went to Rockin' R Ranch for dinner and the show.
Me and my honey
The entertainment was pretty good. It's nice to hear music that is almost forgotten. These guys were very talented.
Kaden got to go up on stage and so did his grandparents (on Eric's side) because it was their anniversary. Kaden is on the far right and Lavern and Raymond are on the far left. The inside pictures are dark...sorry!
When you go there you, before dinner you can pan for gold, go on a hayride, watch the medicine show, shop in the cute little stores, target shoot, etc. Then you eat a real cowboy dinner that's pretty good. After dinner they have the show, then you go outside for a old west gunfight. It's kind of expensive at $25 per person, but I tried thinking of it as dinner and a movie, so that the price didn't hurt so bad. Sweet Telah purse tagged me and I'm suppose to show you my purse. So here you have it...my cute pink purse and the inside too. Contents are my pink wallet, a pink comb, my pink cell phone, 3 pens, sun glasses, a cute little notebook Amy made me, a pink making memories zipper bag that I keep lipstick, chap stick, lip gloss and eye drops in. I also have Excedrin tension headache, ibuprofen, and for some reason I still have penicillin in there from my tooth ache. Apparently I didn't take the whole prescription...oops! Do people ever really finish the whole bottle? So are any of you willing to show me your purse? :o)
Look at these beautiful candles! I got these in the mail this weekend from Cindi. I was the very lucky winner on her blog. How generous is this prize?! I got strawberry shortcake, apple pie ala mode, snicker doodle, americana and icing. They all smell wonderful and I love them! Thank you so much Sweet Cindi!

National Scrapbook Day is this Saturday May 5th, so of course I HAVE to scrap! Isn't it a law or something?! I plan on having my sisters over and I think one other girl. We are going to scrapbook ALL day. I'm so excited! I'm thinking that this week I will print some pictures and get somewhat of an idea of how many layouts I want to work on so that I'm more productive on Saturday. I'll make some yummy treats and get a BIG pepsi to keep me going. So do any of you have scrapping plans this weekend? Share your plans with me. I want to hear all about it.

Tagged

I've been tagged by Amy and Vida. Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to blog about their seven things and post the rules as well . At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog. I have done a couple of these in the past so I'm really running out of things to tell you since my life is an open book...or maybe I just can't think of new things. I'll probably think of great things tomorrow, but for now here's what I came up with.

1. Chad had this dog tag made for me when I went to see him just before he left for Afghanistan. It's really hard to see it in the picture, but he looks very handsome. He had it inscribed on the back. It says "Mom, Forever grateful for your guidance and protection. I love you! Your loving son. Chad" This little dog tag is very special to me. I've worn it every single day and I will continue to wear until he returns home.

2.I collect salt and pepper shakers, barns, birdhouses, roosters, bears, and all things rustic country cute.

3. I read all magazines back to front. Not sure why, but I do.

4. Three things that get on my nerves to the point of making my heart race with anxiety is loud gum chewing-popping...the sound just grosses me out. 2 is snoring (even though I snore myself) When I was young I would put a pile of stuff next to my bed so I could throw shoes at my sisters when they would snore. That way I didn't have to get out of bed...mean girl, huh?! The 3rd is music that is so loud you can feel it. You know...that BOOM BOOM from the car next to you with the idiot teenage driver who clearly must have lost his hearing.

5. I LOVE to plan and throw parties. Big ones, small ones...it doesn't matter. I love the whole process, from planning the menu, buying the groceries, making food, invitations, setting up, decorating, party favors, games, visiting with friends and family, EVERYTHING...okay, not everything. I don't care much for the clean up, but the rest is great!

6. I really enjoy my alone time. I need it. Even when I was little I would create little forts and hideouts so that I would have a place to go and just be alone with my thoughts. Don't get me wrong, I am very social and love to be with people, but I think it's good for me to have my ME time too.

7. When I was little my bishop nicknamed me Jose' Manaise. Not like mayonnaise...it sounds more like "man eyes". Don't know why, but my dad still calls me that some times..as well as Jo-Jo. My grandma gave each of us girls nicknames. My sisters got cute little names like Precious, Teeny Tiny, Jewels, Grandma's Sweetheart. I got Cricket... you read that right. CRICKET! Yep...I'm a bug! What's up with that?!:o)

Now I need to tag 7 people. I'm a bit behind on my blog reading so I don't know whose already been tagged, so I will choose Elisha, Nikki, Valerie, Melissa, Briana, Wendy, & Tiara. I have a HUGE list of blogs I read and I really hate leaving people out, so anyone else that would like to do it, I would LOVE to hear your answers. If you decide to do it, tell me that you are in the comments so I can go to your blog and read your answers. It's fun getting to know you all better.

Before I go, I have to mention that American Idol this week was wonderful...until the end. Am I the only one who thinks that was VERY mean to do to Jordin Sparks? She is so great and I believe she could win. I think they did it to her for the biggest shock value. Ticked me off though....Okay, done venting. Those of you that don't give a flying leap about AI, just ignore this whole last paragraph. :o)

bad bad blogger

Whose suppose to update this thing anyways?...oh! that's right...ME! Where have I been? I really don't have much to blog about right now. Just been busy working on Mount Washmore. Got 5 BIG loads done yesterday and cleaned the kitchen twice. Working on my closet. This house gets out of control pretty darn quick! I did cover my big letter "J" by sewing together Chatterbox scraps from the Lake Powell layout. I was going to junk it up with some other stuff, but for now just beautiful paper. Not sure why the pictures are blurry...sorry about that. It looks much better in person. I hung it just above my computer...I like it there. I did open and install the QK silhouette, but haven't had the time nor been brave enough to play with it. Hopefully soon!
I made banana cream supreme and what they call better than sex cake. It really needs a new name, because I'm not fond of that one. I wouldn't say it's better, but it is REALLY good! Just bake a boxed devils food cake as directed, poke holes with the end of a wooden spoon while it is still warm, pour a can of sweetened condensed milk and a jar of caramel ice cream topping over the top. Refrigerate overnight. Next day spread cool whip over the top and chop up 6 heath candy bars to sprinkle on the top. I did 1/2 the cake with chopped up butterfingers because Mark doesn't like heath bars. So easy and seriously sinfully good.

Have you ever typed your name followed by the words "needs" in the google search? This is totally silly, but remember that I have nothing to blog about.

This is what I discovered Jolene needs....

...to be saved...I don't think so...I'm good.

...a boyfriend...yikes! I think Mark would disagree.

...a hat like yours...I don't really wear too many hats, but I'm sure yours is lovely.

...to chill...okay, I can chill for a little bit.

...to gain weight...LOL! I don't think so, but I did eat cake for breakfast...not conducive to losing weight.

...to turn down the screechiness...am I screechy, really?

...a wardrobe overhaul...I AGREE!

...money...well duh..If I had money I'd have the wardrobe overhaul!!!

...to eat properly...you mean cake for breakfast is a bad thing?

...to be grand champion...well I am competitive, but that sounds like a dog competition.

...exactly 40 pounds of potatoes...Love me some taters...lots and lots of taters!

...to learn to hold my liquor...PLEASE! I've never even had a drink. I think one would knock me out.

...a daughter...that ship has sailed. I will settle for daughter in laws and hopefully grand daughters.

....to re-organize that...I'll get right on that. Love to organize!

...a new hair do...oh yes, please!

...her girlfriends emotional, moral and physical support....I SO DO!

....to get every square inch of her butt kicked...actually it said the A word. Can't we all just get along? Violence scares the heck out of me and I really don't want a butt kickin'.

...to be done already....it really did say that. I'm outta here! :o)

Vendor fair fun

I had so much fun shopping the vendor fair even though I was by myself and I was there for a short time...only because I ran out of money very quickly. Mark was generous and gave me all his money from cash jobs. I didn't even look at half of the booths. I've been so many years in a row, that I pretty much know what I'm looking for before I get there. As you all know I have a weakness for flowers so I had to get the bazzill bling blossoms. I also got the Autumn Leaves build a flower acrylic stamp set, an acrylic block, Technique Tuesday chipboard circles and circle frames, basic grey file set to file chipboard and stuff, way pretty charms from imaginisce, very cute ribbon, a ginormous letter "J" to alter, and a t-shirt that says "You better be nice or I will crop you out of my scrapbooks". I did get ONE more thing, but you'll have to wait a minute to see it.After I was done I met Mark for lunch at Grandma's Kitchen in downtown Mesa. Really yummy! I love her dishes...totally reminds me of grandma's dishes. Ya'll know Mark doesn't cooperate for pictures. It's way too fun for him to be a goofball instead. Perhaps he doesn't know that I'm posting his goofiness here...hmmmm.Yep...he's still being a dork. :o) You know how to get an instant face lift and look like you dropped 15 pounds? Hold the camera a little higher. Whala! Fat girl...skinny girl..no double chin... just like that! :o)

I bet you're curious what that last thing I got was, huh?!

look below

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I KNOW! Oh my gosh! The Quickutz Silhouette! I have such guilt and I'm scared to open the box. I haven't spent money on an anything fun in a long time because I'm on a shopping diet. Now that I got this out of my system, the diet is back on. This little baby can do so such fun things. I'm excited to learn how to use it...once I'm brave enough to open it. I did get an awesome deal on it and we are considering this my belated birthday present since I was out of town for my birthday and didn't get anything then. If any of you have this little beauty and have some helpful hints to share I would really appreciate it.

A few of the things in the first picture I got at Scrapbooks Etc. While I was there I ran into Tena Sprenger. We talked and caught up on each others lives for a little while. It was so nice to see her. I just love her! She was there to pull some paper aside for one of her classes before all the crazy convention shoppers bought it up.

Q&A

* The font I used for the journaling on the last layout is CK journaling.

* The pictures on the sides I did using a program called Micrografx windows draw. I clicked insert object, then clicked picture file. Once it's on the page I can click and drag to whatever size I want. I just eyeball it and put them close together if I want it to look like a strip. Those were about 2"X3". All the pictures from these layouts were printed on one page. I can put a bunch of different size pictures on one page if I use this program as apposed to my regular program where I have to do all of the same size and they have to be "normal" sizes. Did that make any sense?

* Cole is doing better. My heart still aches. It's both the physical stuff and the emotional. This is a small town with big town traffic, but not a lot of stuff here. I'm really enjoying trying to make this house feel homey. Right now the windows are open and it is beautiful outside...until the wind direction changes, then I smell the dairy cows and the smelly stuff that comes out of cows. I think Mark likes that smell. We are pretty close to the train tracks and I really do love to hear the trains. It's not too loud. You can hear them if the windows are open. Emotionally, I miss my friends and my house. I feel like I'm a Mesa girl trapped in Maricopa looking through the glass but can't get in. Just a kind of lonely feeling. I'm really trying to adjust and fit in here. It's just going to take some time. I'm the kind of girl who needs to feel needed...know what I mean?

Lake Powell layout

Sorry I haven't updated...one word...cramps...enough said!

Mark is out riding with his biker dude friends tonight. He's been working so hard lately, he really loves his riding time when he can get it. While he's gone the good mom that I am threw easy peasy pot pies in the oven and decided to make another 2 page layout for Chad's album. (I only do 2 page layouts) I love the colors of this one....so pretty! I caved and used my favorite Chatterbox paper again....but in my defense those pictures were crying out for some chatterbox. It's simple because Chad cares more about pictures than the frilly stuff so I just ran a quick zigzag stitch along the edges, used colored photo turns, brads, paper corners, stapled on ribbon and used the Emily QK font for Lake Powell.

Tomorrow (Friday) is the CK scrapbook convention in Mesa, so I'm heading to town to soak up all the beauty in the vendor fair. I've been so busy with the move I haven't even stepped foot in a scrapbook store for a few months. I'm starting to go through some serious withdrawals. I use to go to Scrapbooks Etc a couple times a week. I was lucky enough to live just down the street from it. Oh how I miss that store and all the sweet ladies who work there. I will be stopping by there as well. Seeing all the pretty new things will get my creative juices flowing. I can hardly wait! I'm thinking I will take my little camera. Full review on my next blog post.

Leah's and Briana's recent blog posts named MY blog as one of their top 5 favorite blogs. Words cannot express what an honor that is to me. I'm still amazed that people read it let alone consider it a favorite....very humbling and touching. I'm suppose to pick my top 5 blogs, but not tonight...very soon. It's HARD!