Idol.

Serously, America? You got it WRONG. Just like you did when you sent Chris Daughtry home way too early. Man, am I gonna have to start voting?

My fonts

are all screwy in my blog dashboard, and in all my emails... how do I fix it? I can increase or decrease font SIZE, but I can't figure out how to change the font back to something normal! Help!

The weekend.

On Friday evening, A and I raced to her practice for the school talent show with her classmates. It's going to be adorable! (That is, if I can find two "summery" "beachy" outfits before Wednesday's auditions...) If you want to attend and see the spectacle, the performance will be on May 14th!

Daddy took J and M to a spaghetti dinner camp fundraiser for the young women that night, and came home with candy for everyone (surprise!) plus some service deals offered by some of the girls. My kids will be babysat, and my car should get washed next week too. I'm going to push for vacuuming and windows as well...

Saturday morning we woke up to A vomiting, over, and over, and over again. Don't know what the heck it was, but MAN, am I grateful for an 8-year-old who can at least make it to a sink before she spews. Not one bit on any carpet to clean up, nor any bedding to wash. Woohoo! She spent the entire day SO weak, laying around, sleeping and watching TV. Which meant the rest of us kind of laid around lazy and did nothing as well all day. This kind of blew my plans for an afternoon of errands, but I did get to the library to pick up my holds. I spent most of the day reading "Confessions of a Shopaholic" - - and BTW I TOTALLY recommend it! Yes, it is different from the movie, enough to keep you guessing until the end. Yes, I read the whole thing yesterday. I've told you reading is a BAD HABIT for me! (Thank goodness the library didn't have any Nicholas Sparks books in stock)

I'm taking a break from picking up bullets, and have hidden the nerf guns away, for a while, at least.

N went and rented Alvin & the Chipmunks the Squeakquel - and all of us actually sat through it and watched it last night. Daddy hardly ever watches kid movies with us, so it was fun. Both J and M were up dancing in front of the TV by the end. My favorite was the Chippettes dancing to "Single Ladies".

A woke up this morning completely over whatever bug she had, so I proceeded to throw her talk together for primary. Her subject was "Jesus Christ restored the gospel through Joseph Smith" and she used an object lesson with a glass of water representing the "fullness" of the gospel. It was pretty good - and if the microphone had been working and she hadn't been talking at 90 miles a minute, it would have been even better. Thankfully sharing time completely reinforced all her points, and her "full" water glass lesson.

Also this morning I realized I hadn't started a scrapbook project I was asked to do for the young men - it's been percolating in my head for the last couple of days, so I dove in this morning and scrapped right through sacrament meeting until it was finished. It turned out pretty good, for a collection of crumpled up, handwritten notes on notebook paper and pretty crappy pictures. I used a Close To My Heart 9x9 "Memory Showcase" that I've had laying around for years, (oh man, I should have taken pictures, but I was already late to church) and it was the perfect size for the project. I love that it's done and off my to-do list, and I think everyone really liked it! It desperately needed ribbon all over it, but I didn't want to make it too girly. I got to use a bunch of my "boy" accents and boy scout-looking paper. Honestly, it amazes me sometimes what I can put together from my stash!

I read the book "Fantastic Mr. Fox" after church today. I wanted to read it before we saw the movie - and now I don't know that we really need to see the movie... are all of his books like that? All I could think of was illegal immigrants digging and tunneling into our country and stealing our food, too...

Today is the very very last day of my fitness challenge. 12 weeks of this craziness has lost me almost 15 pounds, and put me into some good habits, but honestly I'm blogging to keep myself from breaking, and making something yummy in the kitchen. Tomorrow, let there be cake!

Stuff going on.

J alternating between telling me "NOOOoooooooooo!" and running away, or completely being sweet and saying "Shore Mom!"

Finally putting posts and products and projects up on my design blog - shelliedesign.blogspot.com. Check it out!

M thankfully falling asleep in front of the tv two nights in a row this week, and then completely on her own last night, without any drama or threats to run away.

Fitness challenge ending in just three days! Yippee - I get to have a treat next week!

J and I have been going over animal sounds while driving in the car all week. He makes about the cutest monkey sound you'll ever hear! "Muh-tee say ooo ooo eee eee ah ah!"

A practicing for her school talent show performance. Should be super cute, with her gymnastics tricks, plus 5 other kids from her class dancing to "Surfin' Safari, and don't forget the homemade surfboards...

Spending lots of gas visiting friends in NE Mesa. (!)

Finally painting M's nightstand that Papa made her months ago. Thankfully paint hides lots of woodworking sins, and junk piled on top of a nightstand will hide a lot of painting sins as well!

Eating way too many "wah-bees" this week - that's "strawberries", in case you don't speak 2-year-old. Note to self: Too many "wah-bees" eaten during the day causes a certain 2-year-old to throw up in the middle of the night.

Picking out black and white fabric for new valances and curtains and pillows in the family room - finally! Can't wait to get rid of the red and yellow plaid!

Cleaning out my tupperware-lid drawer. How is it that the lids seem to multiply, while all the containers disappear? I've probably got 20 extra lids...

So totally into the show "Fringe" - anybody else? Let's discuss this alternate universe, shall we? Who's trying to cross to this side, you think? Could it be "Walternate" ?

Oops, apparently being late to pick up kids from school. Again!

a letter.

Dear Fitness Challenge,

My, how you've changed my life, these last 10 weeks! More than 65 times I've exercised. Countless calories burned. No desserts - I was able to survive Valentines Day, the churros at Disneyland, and even all those cute little pastel foil-wrapped candy bars at Easter. NO SODA, for heaven's sake! No eating has taken place after 7:30pm. Scripture reading has been DAILY for 2 1/2 months now (I should get a trophy just for that one!) Plus countless other challenges achieved, miles run, and nutritional information learned.
Stick with me, my friend - can I call you my friend? You've been good to me thus far, and I sure think about you a lot. Of course, you haven't taken as many pounds from me as I've offered you, but at least there's been enough for friends to start noticing. I thank you for that!
Please give my regards to situps, pushups, fiber and water bottles. They have all become much more familiar to me over the last ten weeks as well. Fruit is becoming one of my closest confidants - who knew we could get along so well?
Just wanted to drop you a line and tell you I'm still hanging in there, and I appreciate all you've done for me. Apparently you were just the right motivation I needed to start making some changes around here.

Thanks again,
Me

Chore Placemats.

I found this idea several months ago, and we finally got around to actually making them last night. The girls drew self portraits, and picked out their own papers and letter stickers. We embellished a bit, stuck it all on a backing of posterboard, and covered the whole thing with clear Contact paper. Finished size is about 18" by 12".
I love how each of the placements reflect each girl's personality so well. On either side are listed their "Morning" and "Evening" lists of chores. These are a little more elaborate than I'd originally planned, but they turned out super cute and my kids liked picking out their own stuff. (It's not often I let them have free reign with my "good" scrapbook papers and rub-ons and such!) These will stay on our kitchen table and be reminders for all they're supposed to accomplish. We'll see if they work... M seems to respond to lists, and checking things off, way better than her older sister. I think I'll make one for J too, but find clipart pictures of his chores, versus typing up a list.

Back in Business.

Camera arrived today in working order again. Woohoo! This boy has been alternating between sweetheart and stinker the last couple of weeks. Oh, how I adore him though! I love that we can mostly communicate with eachother now. This is due in part to him talking a lot more, and me learning a whole lot more of his language, I think.I love that he says things like "Sure" when you ask him a question. I love that he calls me "Ma". I love that he always wants to sit on my lap when I'm on the computer.
Random things on my mind and to-do list this week: vinyl projects - look how fabulously this one turned out. I LOVE IT! School Talent show. Ugh, I'm going to have to create, or re-create, all of the logos from our sponsors for the t-shirts.
Swim lessons. Swim Team. Gymnastics Camp. California Trip. So much to plan, fit in the schedule, and try to figure out how to pay for...
Exercise, exercise, exercise - six days a week, going on 10 weeks now... I feel like I should have lost SO much more weight by now. Sigh... Two steps forward, one step back...

Dream Job.

If age, nor ability, nor feasibility were factors at all, what would yours be? If I get at least 20 responses, I'll share with you mine. Or you can try and guess.