So here's the gripe......

Last week there was an article in the Herald and Review about how kid's birthday parties have gotten out of control. A woman in Minnesota has formed a group that advocates eliminating these kind of parties. Yesterday, a gentelman in our area wrote a letter to the editor agreeing with the article and saying "kids don't care about themes, etc." Well, he has never met my kids. They (especially) Parker LOVE their theme parties and I love putting them together. Now I realize that some people go completely overboard by doing things like hiring entertainment, extravagant goody bags, and so on, but I have a feeling that the Minnesota mom would not like my parties either. I have always told everyone that my kids parties may look expensive, but my only real investment is my time. It was worth every hour of my time to see the fun Parker and his friends had with the pirate ships I made. It is worth the $20.00 I spent on camo hats to see how much fun Parker and his friends had being "soldiers". And the time I am going to spend painting a cardboard box and turning into a castle will be sooooo worth it when Jack sees it for the first time. I don't understand how anyone can be angry about OTHER people having over-the-top birthday parties. If you don't like it, don't have one for your kid. If your kid get's upset, well, they will have to deal with it. My kids get upset all the time when they can't have things that I don't want them to have, but guess what, I deal with it and they are learning that they can't have everything they want. Let me give you an example: I do not allow my kids to play on the play area at the mall or McDonald's (unless we are with a group of kids who are allowed to play on them) but I don't plan on starting a group to protest mother's who do let their kids play on these things. (reasons to not like the play areas: 1. YUCKY! 2. too much time 3. too many mean kids 4. too many parents that don't pay attention to their mean kid who is harassing my kid)

So, the bottom line is: if you don't like fancy birthday parties, don't have one for your kid but don't make me and my kids feel bad because we LOVE them and plan on having them until the kids get sick of them. Up next--Jack's castle party!!!!!!!!!!!

This and That

See, I actually followed through on my promise and made a birthday page about Macie. Yeah PINK! For any scrapbookers out there, here are some thoughts for you. Scrapbooking can be pretty expensive. When you figure the cost of paper, embellishments, adhesives, etc. But I simply cannot afford to spend a lot of money on scrapbooking. My solution? I make almost all of my own embellishments. Of course I buy them too, but I try to buy things that I know I can use on lots of pages, like: ribbon, brads, eyelets. On this page, I made all of my doo-dads. I made the tag, cut out the letters from a stencil, used a punch for the flowers and circles and made my own photo corners. You can't tell from the scan, but the "girl" is stamped acrylic paint covered in glitter and the centers for the flowers and on the sides of "Macie" are rhinestones (not scrapbook rhinestones, the super cheap kind from the jewelry aisle) The point of all this is that you don't have to spend anything but time to do all this stuff. And, yes, time is very valuable too, but I spent it doing something I LOVE to do, so it is worth it!
So, you might wonder, if I was busy making all these doo-dads, how did the house-cleaning go? Well, my kitchen sink looks great which is the first step towards a clean house according to the flylady She gives a day-to-day method to get in control of your house. I have tried this before and given up, but I'm going to try again. The two main reasons I never manage to clean are Parker and Jack, so yesterday I removed the problems from the house--we went to the mall! They were BOTH angels. They both held my hands the whole time (obviously Jack ran off frequently but he never threw a fit when I retrieved him!) Our purpose in being there was to make a return and look at the pets (not to buy, just to give them a pet "fix".) So, if I had actually wanted to shop, I'm sure it would have been a different story but because I didn't have any expectations, it was a very pleasant trip. Isn't it awful that I am so surprised when my kids behave!?
I am going to make another post later today so be sure to check back. I have something to gripe about.

NO PETS ALLOWED!

I have had this paper forever and could never seem to find a use for it. To me, it has a kind of "retro" bowling type look to it. I think it worked perfectly. Well, maybe not perfectly, but I am very pleased! I even managed to add some "bling" to a mostly boy page. If you are wondering why this layout is pretty much about Macie's birthday but there is only one little picture of her, that's because I am going to do a layout just about her next.

I added a counter to the bottom of my blog so I can see how many people actually visit. Keep in mind that probably 80% of that number is from me because I look all the time to see if anyone has left a comment. Needless to say, I am usually disappointed. :-( That's o.k. I just do this because it's fun!

I have one big goal this week--A CLEAN HOUSE! It's out of control!!!!!!!

To my scrapbooking friends, Hobby Lobby has a good sale on paper this week, 12x12:5/$1 and 8 1/2x11:8/$1 This is when I like to stock up on lots and lots of cardstock. My advice is to buy lots of the colors you like best because you will find yourself using these all the time. (At least I do!) I go through a huge amount of green paper because I love GREEN!

At this very moment Parker is hanging on me begging for a kitten. Thanks Handy Manny. (He and the tools got a kitten today.) (P.S. If you watch Handy Manny--you probably know that Wilmer Valderama does his voice. All I can ever think when I watch that show is that he dated that slutty Lindsey Lohan. Well, she seems slutty to me. I don't know why. Maybe she's a nice girl. Sorry Lindsey. Anyway, Handy Manny must have a wild side. Does Kelly know he dated Lindsey!?) Parker is saying, "please, please, please, please, please, please......................" If you know me, you know that Parker can talk me into just about anything, so......................THERE IS NO WAY, NO HOW, NOT EVER ARE WE GETTING A CAT (OR THE DOG THAT JACK IS WANTING!) please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please......................................................................................................................Make it stop!!!!!!

I HATE American Idol

First of all, this is my blog and I am allowed to say whatever I want. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with watching American Idol. So, if you are the type of person who is going to get pissy because I don't like American Idol, then stop reading now.


I just want to spark a controversy. (Of course, if no one reads my blog, then it really isn't very controversial, is it!?) Anyway, I really do hate American Idol. I am not a music person at all. In fact, I can't tell you the last CD I bought. Oh yeah, I can. It was the Laurie Berkner Band (children's music) But I don't really think American Idol is about music. It's about people being willing to completely humilate themselves just to appear on television. Unfortunately, Travis does watch it (well, he stops momentarily while he flips stations because he never watches anything for more than a few minutes before he flips the channel) so I do have the misfortune of hearing and seeing some of the show. I honestly don't get it. I also hate talk shows, I REALLY hate awards shows and any type of show where people are judged. These people are just embarrassing themselves. I did see the first time Carrie Underwood appeared and I will admit that it is kind of neat to know that she eventually won, but could I sit through months of watching idiots just to say that I saw her when she was just a lowly contestant--NO WAY!!! Oddly enough, I got sort of hooked on that show on MTV about the high school football team called "Two-A-Days" I just loved watching the drama of high school and remembering how everything seem so important. I sure wish the biggest thing I had to worry about now was winning the football game and who I'm going to homecoming with! Oh for the good old days! Anyway, back to American Idol. If anyone would like to explain why people love it, please let me know because I JUST DON'T GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My ongoing battle with saving digital pictures

This scan of Stella's birthday did not turn out very well because of those lumpy buttons. I just love pink pages. I still can't believe I did a pink page about Jack. Parker would have a stroke if I made a pink page about him. Maybe I should just do it and see what happens.

I am sooooo frustrated with my digital picture storage system. For over 2 years, I wasn't really sure how to back up my pictures onto discs so I just used the "Back-Up and Restore" feature on our system. However, there was no semblence of order to how it saved the pictures. It would also put several copies of some pictures onto the disc. Luckily, about 6 months ago I figured out how to save in a more orderly and efficient way--or at least I thought I did. As I mentioned, I have been going back through the digital images because I want to print 3 years worth of pictures. In doing this, I found random pictures that were not showing up on the memory discs. I have no idea why but I'm betting that it was human error, not the computer. Anyway, I think I have managed to fix it, but it just takes FOREVER and I feel like I keep starting the same process over and over and over. Eventually I will get this done and I will have hard copy photo albums to look at whenever I please. I will still scrapbook many, many pictures of course, but I want to start focusing on emotions instead of events. Of course most events have a lot of emotions involved so they go hand-in-hand as far as I'm concerned.

Sara and the Terrible, Horrible, Awful, No-Good, Very Bad Day

I am going through 3 years worth of digital pictures and trying to get organized so I am hoping to do a lot of "catch-up" type layouts in the near future. I haven't done Jack's 1st or 2nd birthday and his 3rd birthday is just a few weeks away. Oops! I am soooo into stars right now on my layouts. I love these star sequins. They were super cheap (25 cents for 50 stars!) and they just seem perfect for boys. Who knew? Boys and sequins--hopefully this is the only time I am talking about my boys and sequins in the same sentence!!!!!!
Yesterday was the day from hell! Parker through a HUGE, HORRIBLE, UGLY fit as I drug him (literally) into school. He kicked me and screamed that he hated me, etc. I have no idea what sets him off. Thank goodness these scenes are only occasional events. After I forcibly removed Parker from me, Jack and I drove to Hobby Lobby (and yes, I was crying). When we got to Hobby Lobby Jack started screaming and saying that he wasn't getting out. So we left. No point in dragging another screaming kid around. So, I went home grouchy and sad and feeling like a terrible mother. After I picked Parker up from school (of course he recovered quickly and had a good day) I stopped at Krekel's and got a double cheeseburger and fries. Now I'm FAT, grouchy and sad and still a lousy mother. Well, I've gotten over the grouchiness and sadness and feeling sorry for myself, but I'm sure that cheeseburger is showing up on my butt already! Luckily, my saintly parents watched the boys for a few hours today while I ran to Hobby Lobby. I also got lunch from Panera (something I NEVER do with my kids) and picked some stuff up at Walmart. So far, not an awful day. However, I must do some cleaning so Travis thinks I actually do something while I'm home. (Other than the daily ritual of laundry, dishes, picking up toys, taking care of children stuff that doesn't seem to count.)

Sometimes it's hard to remember, but.......

There are lots of things I love about Jack and these are just a few of them that I wrote down off the top of my head. I am always complaining about how difficult he is (and he is) but he's also very sweet and special and I love him like crazy!

How does she do it?????

There is a scrapbooking icon named Heidi Swapp whom I just adore. She has a blog that I read religously and I always love to hear what she has going on. She has her own line of scrapbook products which are awesome. Anyway, she has four kids--her youngest is 5 months old and she is expecting her 5th--in 6 months. I am just fascinated by how she seems to be able to do EVERYTHING! I mean, I can't even seem to manage my small house and 2 kids. She has 4 kids, a huge house and a business that requires tons of attention. She works out and they always seem to be going on family trips. Wow. She really is an inspiration to me. I realize that I don't know everything that goes on in this woman's life but it doesn't matter--she's still cool. Maybe tomorrow, I will try to me more like her and do some laundry AND make a scrapbook page. It's always good to start small.

Clean Room--For Now

I have been obsessing about my house today so I thought I would post a picture of my living room. The boys are at my parents so I cleaned this room. I will have to post a picture later after they come home. It won't take long for it to be destroyed. I am still working on this room. I want to add some color to the mantle and I need something for the wall next to the armoire but overall, I am very pleased with how the new furniture has changed the feel of this room. Now, for the rest of the house! I have been chatting with my friend Dawn about remodeling and she has me all fired up to DO IT. I mean knock down walls and get new cabinets and make BIG changes. We will see. Like I always tell people--I am a great "idea" person and not a great "action" person.
As for cleaning--is it bad that I feel like I needed to get out a rake to gather all the toys that were on the floor? And just in case you were wondering, all the crap from the living room is just sitting in other rooms now. That's how I clean--just move junk from one room to the next. Where is that discipline I was talking about????????? ;-)

18 Years and Counting

I've already posted these photos, but now they are in scrapbook form. I love this layout because it is so grown-up. 99% of the time I am doing "kid" pages, so it was a nice change of pace to do an adult page--about me. Actually, I should probably do more pages about the things that I am interested in. Whether it's tomorrow or 60 years from now, I want my sons to know about me. I suppose it should be obvious to them that the most important thing to me is THEM! But I do have a few other interests too (although it's sometimes hard to remember that!) Sometimes I start to feel that scrapbooking is silly and a waste of time--couldn't I accomplish the same thing by putting the photos in an album and jotting down a quick caption? Well, I read a blog entry by a woman who said that when she was in her 40's, her mother brought her an old, raggedy box. She didn't know what it was and when she opened it, she was very sad. It was her lifetime in pictures and mementos, just shoved carelessly into a box. Things were bent and stained--ruined. She had always had issues with her mother, but this was tangible proof that her mother just really didn't care that much. OUCH! I don't think this means that you have to scrapbook to show that you care about your family--it's just a fun, crafty-art way to do it and it sort of forces you to journal about the moment but you should do SOMETHING! My dad keeps all our treasures in a lovely wood box. My boys love to look through it and see stuff about me and Tracy. My mom used to be great about putting pictures in albums. She doesn't do that anymore, but she does keep them together and somewhat organized. So, scrapbooking--or better yet, preserving, is important. At least that's what I keep telling myself as I buy more and more and more paper!

I can't make up my mind!

So, if you visit my blog on any type of regular basis, you must surely have noticed that I keep changing the colors of the layout. Well, it's like a toy for me. I like to play with it and I have not yet found the "perfect" color combo for me. I have a somewhat limited pallet to choose from so this cannot go on indefinitely. So, now I'm thinking that maybe simple is best and let's try a white background for a while. I want to figure out how to make a banner and how to add links. That will surely impress the 2 or 3 people who actually read my ramblings about nothing! ;-)
As for the DISCIPLINE, well, I'm working on it. It's one of those "baby step" type deals. I can't go from being completely undisciplined and unstructured to being Martha Stewart overnight, right!? I wouldn't say that Martha is my inspiration but she does seem like an extremely disciplined person doesn't she? (Except maybe for that very undisciplined and ugly insider-trading mess!)

DISCIPLINE

Well, with one week of the new year gone already, I haven't kept even one of my resolutions. Wow. That's sad. However, there is no time like the present to start over. I will not be sharing my resolutions, but if you know me, you can probably guess what at least a few of them are. On a blog that I visit everyday, the author encouraged readers to choose a single word that would define their upcoming year. Last year, her word was "play" and this year it is "peace." I gave this some thought and decided that I am going to embrace this idea and I have chosen a word. It's DISCIPLINE. That probably seems a little strange but I feel like I need discipline in almost every aspect of my life--food, organization, children, marriage, relationships, exercise, etc...... Since Parker's birth, my life has had no real time table or structure. I really like this, but now that kindergarten is 8 months away (GULP) I think it is high time to add some structure to all our lives. Oddly enough, Jack is the only person in our family with any type of regular schedule. He gets up around 7:00, naps at 1:30, goes to bed around 9:00. Of course, any time that he isn't sleeping he is wrecking my somewhat lame attempts at any kind of structure. MANIAC!!!!! Well, Parker has invited a friend over tomorrow so I must attempt to clean my house so that he doesn't go home and tell his mom that Parker's house is really messy! (This has happened to me before.)

Christmas Cookies--Cheater Style

Wooly Worm

For some reason, my scanner does not really scan colors very well. My layouts always look lighter at the bottom than the top. So, use your imagination and pretend that the color is the same on the whole page. As I was doing this page, I thought, they weren't even all that impressed by the wooly worm, so why am I doing a page about it? But, I love the picture of Jack and the wooly worm was part of a very enjoyable day. I loved wooly worms when I was a kid. Why weren't my kids interested? In fact, I told Jack that it was a wooly worm and he said, "It's a caterpillar." I guess I should have journaled about that, huh!?

By the way, I got the idea for this layout (the way the pics and papers are laid out anyway) from Ali Edwards book about patterned paper. LOVE IT (the book, I mean!)