Gettin' Crafty...

Okay I'm getting the itch to make all sorts of things! Don't you love surfing blogs to find the "must-makes"??

Here's Deirdre's "Jenny" purse.












Anniversary cards using
CTMH Silhouette paper collection













Cute teacher gift!









and Easter decorations... but I better hurry, since Easter's so early this year!

Separation Anxiety Pains.

1. Josh, missing me. This kid is making it rough on me! Josh keeps freaking out in the babysitting room of the gym - - so after a few minutes of him crying, the lady comes to get me, ending my workout short. Yesterday? 20 minutes. Today? TEN MINUTES! Sheesh! Like it's not hard enough as it is to get motivated, dressed, load the kids up and drive all the way to the gym??? He's been a little stressed every time I've left him at friends' houses lately too - how do I get him over this? I REFUSE to have a momma's boy! Sigh.

2. Allison, missing Karen. The little girl that lives two doors down from us is moving away this weekend. My girls play with her every single day, for hours. She's sweet, helpful... and respects us and our rules. Allison woke up sobbing in the middle of the night last night, hysterical that her... best... friend... was... lea...ving...in... three... daaaaaaaayyyyssssss. Double sigh.

3. Me, missing an entertainment center. Methinks we got a bit in a hurry with this whole process, and now we're without an entertainment center for at least a month. Who knew it would sell so soon?? Triple sigh.

Can you write zoo too?

Stairs

This is Josh's favorite place to be. He likes this vantage point, apparently. I don't like mine. Intake of breath.Keep him focused, looking up, not down...
Whew. Now that's a better view.

School Stuff.

I am typing away at the moment as Allison is reading books to Amanda in bed. Happy sigh. She loves to read and write! I'm thrilled! There have been some unfortunate events in her teacher's life this school year, which many parents I know have complained about and criticized the school for not "replacing" her. This makes me sad, because

1) the circumstances were completely out of her control, and
2) I don't believe the kindergarten class has suffered a BIT with her absence, and the excess of substitutes this year, and
3) she loves these kids, and hates every day she's been gone. She's back tomorrow. Yippee!

SImple fact is, the curriculum is fantastic, the pace has been good, the school and its staff are organized, the kids are behaving well for a teacher they adore, and they are absorbing the material wonderfully.

There was a gun scare about a month ago at the school - some 7th grader brought a rusty handgun to campus. No ammunition, no harm done - but the student was immediately expelled, charges brought against him, and every other student who knew about it and didn't instantly report it was suspended for like 2 weeks. Impressive display of "no tolerance" in my book!

Yep, this school is definitely a keeper. Now if only Manda's birthday was in AUGUST instead of September... darn! She'll be waiting another year to wear a cute little uniform and go to Allison's school. In the meantime, my darling friend Janna is continuing her preschool, which I'm sure will be even bigger and better than it was this year, and will lead wonderfully into kindergarten.

Thank you, Mrs. President.

I had a dream last night that the first lady — not sure if it was Laura Bush or not, but I think so — came to my house (except I think it was the house I grew up in, not the one I live in now), along with the president. Mr. Pres left early with Secret Service because he was on his phone and then WAITED IN THE LIMO for her as we discussed scrapbooking, of all things. I showed her all of the cool things about Close To My Heart products and acrylic stamps. She was thrilled, and told me she was definitely coming to ladies night out next time (Did she think we stamp there? I should have clarified.) I woke up with a desire to do a card party! Do you think if I invite Laura she'd come? I DID send her home with a catalog, you know!

What's the craziest dream you've had lately?

Won't you be my neighbor?

The house across the street from us is in foreclosure. It's like 2100 square feet, I believe, and has four bedrooms. $141,000. Apparently the bank is taking a HUGE loss on it. Can you believe it? This does wonders for OUR property value, don't you think??!! Sheesh! I'm sure the curry smell will come out with a good carpet cleaning and coat of paint... which I'll totally help you with!

Rough Night.

I think Josh has been hanging around Finn too much, and he's been a bad influence! We were up for HOURS last night feeding, changing, getting thrown up on, rocking, getting thrown up on again, changing... NOT sick, NOT coughing, NO fever... What the?? For a kid that's been sleeping through the night for SIX MONTHS, this is just wrong, wrong WRONG! I am wiped out today! I am thankful, however, that Josh saved most of it to spew all over Nick, and not in his bed, my bed, on the floor, or in my hair... which would have required much more effort to clean up!

It's FINISHED! ...wanna buy it??

About two years in process, this project was. Painting the entertainment center, that is. Now it's done. Disassembled, sanded, primed, painted, painted again, partly reassembled, moved inside, moved upstairs, moved downstairs. Lost hardware. Found hardware. Assembled a little more. Doors painted. Hinges, doors, new knobs = finally all on. Whew. Now I can list it on Craig's list and hopefully get RID of the dang thing. Finally.

Boy toys? What are those?

Poor kid. Has to play with a necklace 'cause that's all we've got around here. At least it's blue...

Tired of looking at hearts?

Yeah, me too!

Happy Valentines Day.

See Jackie? I told you they looked good before I covered them with Saran wrap. Don't try this at home, folks. Or if you do, and if you insist on taking them to somebody. walk very, very carefully.

My little pixies

showing off their new haircuts. They ended up a little shorter than I'd imagined, but that's okay - maybe we'll have a little less drama when it comes to doing hair every day.

It's the year of Stephenie Meyer, apparently.

What I want for Mother's Day.Stephenie Meyer's new book, The Host, is scheduled to release on May 6th.
Also - the fourth in the Twilight series, "Breaking Dawn" releases on Saturday, August 2nd. Get a babysitter lined up for my children please!
And Oh.My.Goodness. have you seen who's playing Edward in the movie?? It's Cedric Diggory! BRILLIANT! Since we're penciling in dates on our calendars, Twilight the movie opens on December 12th, so for my birthday, I'll be going to that.

Can I get fries with that?

Amanda informed us yesterday that there are two kinds of "boogers".

Which would those be, you ask?

"Nose Boogers and Cheese Boogers."

Thanks for the clarification, my dear!

Grand Central freeze

I'd love to do one of these on my next NYC trip. Check out improveverywhere videos on Youtube.

Smarty-Pants.

What Josh is doing at 8 months and 1 week:
Josh figured out how to crawl up the stairs on Thursday, and yesterday, he went all the way up by himself for the first time. Heaven help us! The descending-lessons have begun, though he thinks it's the funniest thing ever to be pulled back down the stairs, and laughs the whole time.

Conversation with Allison.

A - "Mom, how do you get eyes in the back of your head?"

Me - "What do you mean? I only have these eyes."

A - "Karen (neighbor) said that Moms have eyes in the back of their heads so they know what's going on."

OH, THOSE eyes. Yes, yes...

A hanging present...

is waiting at our stairs for Daddy when he returns home tonight. I have been forbidden to touch it. Sweet girls. I wish they liked ME this much.

Shoeless Joe Jackson.

What Josh is doing at 8 months:
Pulling himself up onto everything.
Doing his little "growl". When I imitate it, it makes me cough. I don't know how he does it all day long.
Getting ticked when you walk out of a room and leave him alone.
Getting mauled/carried around by his sisters. Cracking up at them the whole time.
Crawling like crazy.
Finding every scrap of paper or crumb on the floor and eating it. Almost like a Roomba, but with more drool.
Being adored like no other baby ever has been.

I've been tagged.

Okay Bryn, you wanted it, so here you go. 7 random and/or weird things about myself, pass it along, include links to your tags at the bottom:

1. I have a keyboard in my head. When I talk, or listen to other people talk, I imagine the keys on that keyboard ticking away...

2. I am not a gadget person, and I HATE getting things I have to figure out, read a manual on, etc. Any gift that I, or my children, receive, better just "work," or else it was a waste of money. For example:
• The fancy "Amazing Amanda" doll from 2 years ago was given a bath and got ruined before we ever took the time to learn how to train her.
• I have much guilt over the digital picture frame we gave as a gift last year because I never figured out the online uploading thing.
• We have 3 remotes because I don't want to figure out how to set the universal one.
• I have yet to learn how to use my camera, and I don't know how, or care, to do half the things on my computer.
• I don't own an Ipod, and never plan to. I can barely text message.
• I have procrastinated getting a new TV partly because I'm so overwhelmed by the whole pixels/contrast/up-converting/blu-ray/chip/plasma vs. LCD/cables/HDTV thing.

3. I think I look ridiculous in big sunglasses. I am more than happy in my little $10 wire-frame ones from Target. Actually, I think most people look ridiculous in big sunglasses.
4. I would rather listen to talk radio than to music.

5. I would rather have money in the bank than just about anything you could buy me.

6. I favor practicality over style, though I would love to be nominated for "What Not To Wear" to get a set of my own rules from Stacy & Clinton.
7. I don't see the point of: pets, lipstick, DVD players in trucks, wind, flies, or leaf blowers.

Thrilling, wasn't it? I tag Janna, Maren, Amanda, Summer, Emily, Raynie and Starr.

Super Tuesday.

I will be home all day tomorrow (well, between 9:15am and 4:00pm, that is). If you'd like to drop your children off so you can go vote, I'm more than happy to watch them. Unless you're going to vote for McCain. Then you can just stay home.

Quotes from the weekend...

Manda, while in Best Buy — "Mom, we can't get Blu-ray because I want to be able to watch Mick Jr."

Allison — "What's a Superbowls?"
Me - "It's a big football game that's going to be played tomorrow."
Allison, with scrunched up, horrified face — "ON SUNDAY??!!??!!? WHYYYY?!!????"

In the name of love...

The only thing that would have made it better? Turning up the volume 10 notches so you could FEEL the music and leave with your ears ringing. Still, it was excellent. I could have watched it for 3 more hours.
Go see it at IMAX now!

The Creative Process

Why is it that the best ideas come between midnight and 2am?? Or is that just when they SEEM like good ideas because I'm so tired? Ha!

I'm feeling triumphant today, mostly because 1) I'M NOT SICK ANYMORE! I FINALLY BEAT IT! and 2) I finished Dove's newsletter in just a couple of hours and 3) I had a copywriting job this week that seemed pretty daunting at first because I am SO SO SO out of practice at writing, but I finally banged it out this morning and I'm pretty relieved and happy with the results. Hopefully the client will be too. We'll see in a couple of weeks, I guess, at toscanoliving.com!

Can I just say how much I LOVE when projects like this fall into my lap and that people will pay me to work in my pjs? Granted, I spent the last two days without showering in the same set of clothes (did I just admit that?) and Manda played a whole lot on the computer this week, but I really do enjoy my work. It completely makes me feel alive, like I'm really a functioning human who has something more to offer than cleaning a kitchen floor!