Tackle it Tuesday #12

Well, better late than never - as I'm just squeaking this in before Tuesday is over!!

I've been very slack on posting tackles this summer. Not that I haven't been doing any, just not consistent with posting and taking pictures and such. I need to get back on track, as posting them here really motivates me!

Here's my latest tackle. I did a "mini makeover" of my scrap space. This is my dining area that I share with my scrap space. The scrap stuff is definitely taking over, and I'm rapidly running out of room. So, I keep trying to reorganize and make the best use of the space. I keep thinking of ways to maximize the space, and as I do, everything gets organized all over again. Which isn't a bad thing!

I forgot to take actual before shots. I found a couple I had posted before - they are not the best, but you get the idea.





I picked up a few more plastic drawer sets to give me a little more storage. But then I decided to cover the fronts of some of the drawers to "hide" the stuff inside. I think it makes it look much more neat & clean. I added a couple of the drawers to the bottom shelf of the cabinet, which really helped me maximize the vertical space in there. (There was way to much wasted space there before!)

Then my wonderful hubby made the shelves for me. I picked up the little containers at the Dollar Tree. There's one for each letter of the alphabet, which holds embellishments and stamps of the corresponding letter. The last three hold numbers and punctuation.

Then I had the idea to attach the clothespins to display current layouts, or cards and samples.

My initial plan was to paint the shelves white, but I kind of like them natural, so I'm still undecided.




I am very pleased for now. Until I have the need to expand again!!

Now I'm heading to bed. I know for my nightowlish ways, it is early yet, but I'm extra tired tonight!

For more tackles, be sure to visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

First Letter Meme

I'm not very good at doing Meme's, and REALLY bad at doing the ones I've been tagged for. (Insert embarrassed face)
But I saw this one over at Lori's the other day, and it looked like fun. It was, except it made me have to think a little more than I thought I'd have to. Anyway, thought I'd play along.


Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They do not have to be favorites, but they MUST be real places, names, things…NOTHING made up!

Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same 1st initial.

You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.


If you can’t think of anything, skip it.

Have fun!


Your Name: Jennifer


1. Famous Singer/Band: Janet Jackson
2. 4 letter word: Jump
3. Street: Juniper Ct.
4. Color: Jet Black
5. Gifts/Presents: Jewelry
6. Vehicle: Jeep
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Jamaica T-shirt
8. Boy Name: Jason
9. Girl Name: Jessica
10. Movie Title: Just My Luck
11. Drink: Java Juice
12. Occupation: Jet Pilot
13. Celebrity: Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Anniston, Jennifer Garner
14. Magazine: Jack and Jill (A REAL (kids) magazine - I googled it!)
15. U.S. City: Jacksonville
16. Pro Sports Teams: New York Jets; Utah Jazz
18. Reason for Being Late for Work: was in a Jam (actually thought of a great one here, but it might be a bit PI, and I didn't want to offend anyone!)
19. Something You Throw Away: Juice containers (empty!)& Junk food wrappers. ;0)
20. Things You Shout: Just Stop!
21. Cartoon Character: The Jetsons

Some of these were fun and easy - some, not so much! Thank you, my friend Google!!
If you play, be sure to let me know so I can come see your answers!

My Boy

Today was a good day.

In spite of the fact that my tummy didn't want me to have a good day. Oh no. It was determined to ruin my day.

But I did the unthinkable.

I hit the bottle.

The pink bottle, that is.

You know...that bottle called Pepto Bismal.

I realize that may not be a big deal for most people. But I am not most people.

I can't STAND the stuff! AT.ALL!

And today I took a dose. That means my tummy was being very rebellious!

Guess What?

The Pepto won!!!

But that's not what's really on my mind. As the title of this post is not "My Tummy".

No, I want to talk about the day with my son today.

I have to admit something that is very difficult for me, as a mom to admit - as I'm sure it would be for any mom.

I love my son with ALL my heart. But, for the past few years, we have really butted heads...a lot. And I hate that...desperately.

It rips my heart out, actually.

I long to have a relationship with him that is happy and sweet where we always get along.

I know...I know...that is extremely rare, if it even exists. I understand that there are ups and downs in every mom/son relationship.

But I want it to be happy more of the time than not.

He's 13 - I don't have many years left to influence him. I want him to be able to look back on his teen years and smile, not be sad or angry with me over them. I don't want him to say things like, "I wish my mom had...." Or, "I wish my mom hadn't".

And again, I know...there is no way everything can be perfect. But I really want him to have many more good and happy memories than bad.

I certainly don't want the only thing he remembers about his teen years is that mom was on his case or yelling at him all the time! Even if it's not all warm fuzzies, I want there to be some!

Why do we clash? I'm not really sure. It could be that he and I are too much alike. It could be that I just don't "get" boys. Maybe I'm too controlling. Then again, maybe it's a combination of those. Or something else. I'm not totally sure.

What I am sure of, is I can't do this without God. And I'm praying God will help me get a handle on the situation and help me make the most of these years.

Thankfully, I have an INCREDIBLE husband, who helps keep me in check, so I don't totally destroy our son's life! And he does his best to help me "get" CJ. I am so thankful of God's plan to have a mom and a dad to raise children. I know sometimes circumstances get in the way of that, and single parents are left to do it. I honestly don't know how they manage though! I wouldn't have a CLUE how to raise this boy without the help and encouragement of my husband.

Anyway...about today.

In the mornings, it is always my goal to have a good day. To listen to my son, and talk to him. To be calm with him, and try to keep my emotions and feelings under control. Not to let him to get to me. To choose my battles wisely. Many days, that doesn't last past breakfast. And definitely not past lunch time.

But today was going quite well. We did make it until after lunch. Nice, kind, soft words were being spoken. It was quite pleasant.

I needed to run a couple of errands. I don't always take him with me when I need to run out for just a little while, because...well, there will be no conflict between us if he stays home. And I will be much calmer the rest of the day if he wasn't asking me for this, that and the other, and doing all the things he does to push my buttons while we are out. But today was going so well, I was more than happy that he tag along.

Now, I didn't say the day was perfect...I said it was good. When were were getting into the car, I was buckling Ruthi into her car seat, when I heard CJ say something like "oops". He had unbuckled the seat belt that holds her car seat in, and then acted as if it were an accident.

I knew better.

There was no reason for him to have even touched that - and it couldn't have been done accidentally.

Yes, I'll admit...I got upset with him, and I even raised my voice yelled at him a little.

The thing is, once that thing gets unbuckled, it is EXTREMELY difficult to her her seat tight enough again. My husband can do it, but he even has some difficulty with it. It's nearly impossible for me. And I was NOT happy with the fact that I couldn't get tight enough for my satisfaction. I realized we weren't going far, and in reality, it would be ok. If we were to be in a rollover, it may possibly not be tight enough, but in a collision, she would be fine. I explained to him the importance of the seat being tight, and how difficult it is to get it tight. And how him messing around with something like that is not alright.

I don't believe he will ever unbuckle that seat again!

Yes, I yelled. But then I got over it and let it go. I have been known to bring things back up to him later, but I'm trying not to do that. So I said my peace, and I dropped it.

And everything was good again. We had a pleasant little outing. He was very well behaved. And I enjoyed the time we spent together running errands, and enjoying frappucinos from Starbucks.

We got home and I suggested he cut the grass since it appeared we would have a dry day today, and this was a good chance to get it done before it got wet again.

He was out there with the lawnmower for a few minutes. Then he came into the house with a big attitude. I asked him what was wrong, and he says something about the lawnmower being broken. I questioned him about details, and he got a bigger attitude and said, "It's just broke!"

I remained surprisingly calm. I told him that was strike one, as he wouldn't have spoken to his father in that tone. (We have a 3-strikes you're out [in trouble with dad] rule.) I proceeded to talk calmly to him. I asked him questions like, "Will it crank?" "Will it roll?" and "Will it cut?" to which he answered yes to all. And I infered that if it could do those three things, then it couldn't really be broken.

He just had more attitude. I don't think he liked my calm, rational questions! So I asked him if he wanted to show me what he was talking about. He said yes.

But when I got up to go to the door, he looked a little surprised. Apparently he thought I was bluffing, and that I would drop the issue and go about my business. Wrong!

So we went outside, he cranked it, and I began to run it across the grass. It was working. However, the grass was clogging a bit in the thingy that it blows out of. Thingy...that's the correct term, right?

I told him that the grass right there was probably still too wet, and it would continue to clog, and he'd just have to clean it out. He then claimed, "Well, it ALWAYS does that!" To which I replied, "Then what's the problem? There's no difference."

Obviously, he wasn't really in the mood for the job. I told him to cut the grass that was in the sun, as it would be drier and probably wouldn't clog. I went back inside.

I was feeling pretty good about the way I had handled the situation - calmly and not making a big deal out of it.

Then...

The good part happened.

He came in a little while later and said to me, "Mom, I owe you an apology...I shouldn't have talked to you the way I did. I'm sorry."

Talk about warm fuzzies...I was feeling them...right after I picked my jaw up off the floor. I could hardly believe what I was hearing! Oh the joy I felt!

Hubby is at the station today. When he called to say goodnight, I recounted the situation to him. He could hardly believe it. He asked me if CJ had EVER apologized on his own, without being prodded to do so by him. And no, I don't think he ever had.

This was monumental! It got me to thinking. Maybe it was because, instead of yelling at him or blowing him off, I TALKED to him and remained CALM. I actually handled the entire situation much like Chip would have - and he even agreed. I was quite proud, not only of the way I handled myself, but of my son - what a huge thing this was!

You know, just yesterday, I was feeling quite crabby, and very much on edge. Call it PMS, that's what I'm blaming it on. And I knew I was on edge...and irritable. I had snapped at CJ for something - I don't even remember what now. But I knew I was wrong. Later, I asked hubby if it was my crabby day. (He keeps up better than I do -lol!) He asked why, and I told him what had happened, and we decided it was close enough, that this was indeed the culprit. At least I was aware, and could do something about it, and try to be less crabby the rest of the day!

When CJ came in later, I apologized to him. I told him that I was on edge, and that I was sorry that he had been on the receiving end, and that me snapping at him the way I did should not have happened.

Did I set an example yesterday, by apologizing when I knew I was wrong? Did that influence him at all with his decision to aplogize to me today? I'd like to think maybe it did.

Today wasn't perfect - but it was a VERY good day! Would it have been even better if I'd not gotten upset with him over the car seat? Sure...But I'll take more days like today.

I'm not perfect. I never will be. And when I make mistakes, I try to apologize. I find myself apologizing frequently to my son - I'm definitely not above that (though I'd like to not need to do this as often.) But I'm working to be a better mom. I want a better relationship with my son. I want him to actually want to be around me...at least sometimes!

I want more days like today. And I know they are coming!

With God's help.

And my husband's!

Menu Plan Monday #12

I didn't do a plan last week, as we were gone most of the week. When we came home, I used a couple of the meals that I had not gotten to from the previous week's plan.

My oven is still not working - mostly because I haven't put a high priority on this. I wanted Chip to work on another project for me before we left for our little vacation, that was a higher priority. I'm not really missing it yet - I don't mind planning meals where I don't need it - keeps the house cooler! But it will be fixed soon.

Anyway, onto this week:

Monday - Lasagna Sandwiches ~ maybe a Salad

Tuesday - Beer Battered Fish and Chips ~ Cole Slaw ~ Hush puppies

Wednesday - Better-Than-Arby's Roast Beef Sandwiches ~ Tater Tots

Thursday - Breakfast for Dinner

Friday - Dinner at a friend's house for a birthday cookout. I will be making pasta salad and a birthday cake.

Saturday - Zesty Pork Chops and Grilled Vegetables ~ Grilled New Potatoes

Sunday - Leftovers

For more menu ideas, be sure to visit Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Another Contest!

5 Minutes for Mom is at it again - with an AWESOME giveaway!


How would you like to win THIS:



An Insignia® 37″ Flat-Panel LCD HDTV!!! This incredible prize is valued at $799.99 and is courtesy of Best Buy.






Well, out of the 500+ contests that were going on at Rocks in My Dryer, and I didn't win even one (though I didn't enter ALL of them!) I figured maybe it's my turn and I'll win this? Wishful thinking? Probably....but some one's going to win!

Want a chance? Go leave a comment at 5 Minutes for Mom and link up on your blog. No blog? No worries...you can still enter by leaving a comment!

And The Winner Is.....

First, I just have to say WOW!! I'm still blown away that 214 people signed up for my giveaway! WOW! I had NO IDEA that many people would be interested....Thank you!!

And, for any of you checking back, please be sure to check out my craft blog to see some other things I make.

As I said, I'm trying to get this going as a buisness, and I'm still working out the details. My goal is to be doing custom orders for all types of cards and/or invitations for all occasions. If you are interested in a set of monogrammed cards like the ones I'm giving away (many styles and colors available), please leave me a comment or send me an email! I'll be posting more samples on my craft blog in the coming weeks and days.

Thank you to ALL who signed up, and now to why you came...

The winner is.....commenter #204 - Christine!! I used the random number generator to pick the winner.

Congratulations Christine! Send me an email with your address info. and which letter you'd like on your monogrammed cards, and I'll get them out to you early next week!

Tasty Thursday #13

Hosted by Trista at The Pumkin Patch.

Sandwich Edition

I tried these last week, and they were SO good! Hubby usually does anything that goes on the grill, but he was busy, so I did it. And I did it right! (Grill cooking makes me nervous!) I placed the cheese on the chicken as soon as I pulled the chicken off the grill, so it was nice and melty.

Grilled Mozza Chicken Sandwiches

1/2 cup sliced onions
1/2 cup green pepper strips
1 Tbsp. oil
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
1/3 cup Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce
4 Mozzarella Cheese slices
4 kaiser rolls, split, grilled (or any sandwich roll/hamburger bun)

Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Cook and stir onions and peppers in hot oil in large skillet on medium heat 5 min. or until tender; cover. Set aside; keep warm.

Grill chicken 8 minutes; turn over. Brush with barbecue sauce. Grill an additional 7 to 9 minutes or until chicken is cooked through (170 degrees), turning occasionally and brushing with the remaining barbecue sauce.

Fill rolls with chicken; top with cheese slices, onions and peppers.

Makes 4 servings, 1 sandwich each

Recipe from: Kraft Food & Family/Summer 2007

Just Checkin' In

I am totally enjoying our little mini vacation. As much as I've missed going to the beach this year, all these little mini trips to the lake have been really nice.

The weather has been wonderful and we've been enjoying swimming in the lake, hanging on the boat and swimming in the pool at the hotel. It has been very relaxing.

But what is it about vacations that makes us me think I can eat all the junkfood I want, and it really won't matter? I have had some super major munchies!

But at least Ruthi is eating well. We ate at the hotel restaraunt yesterday and today for lunch. Seems I have a very interesting 2 year old when it comes to eating.

She wouldn't touch the macaroni and cheese.
She wouldn't touch the mashed potatoes and gravy.
She wouldn't touch the meatloaf.

She nibbled at the chicken.

But...

She ate green peas.
She ate green beans.
She ate turnip greens.

LOTS of green beans and turnip greens.

Is this at all odd for a 2 year old? I'm not complaining.....I'm just saying!

Today she also ate some canteloupe and honeydew.

I was a good girl and ate my greens too, but I also ate lots of fried squash...YUM! And well, there was all the chocolate!

Anyway...

We will take one last trip out to the lake in the morning before heading home. I will miss the relaxing, but at the same time, it will be good to be home!

I just checked my giveaway post, and I have to say I was TOTALLY BLOWN AWAY!! I really expected to have maybe 15 or so comments - but so far, there are 129!!! I really can't believe that many people want my cards!

I told my hubby, and he rolled his eyes and basically said, "Duh!" and then, "What have I been telling you?" He said if I had been listening to him all along that I could be making some money already! So it's definitely time to get serious with this!

Anyway, I now know how Barb felt when she did a little giveaway a couple weeks ago - the feeling of knowing that only 1 person can win! It makes me want to be able to give away lots more!

And from the looks of things, I need to get around to some blogs and enter me some contests!!

But I'm off for now...probably should get some sleep...or pack...or read a few blogs!

Good night all!

It's Giveaway Time!!!

Today is the BIG day!!! I am out of town, but thanks to my wonderful husband - I can make my announcement! He's letting me use his coveted laptop. This is a very big deal, as this is usually hands off to me! LOL! He's worried I'll clog it up or mess it up in some way - because apparently I'm the reason my computer runs so slow! But I promised him I wouldn't - so I'm crossing my fingers that this thing doesn't decide to malfunction, because I sure don't want to be the last one to have used it if it messes up! Anyway - Thank you my wonderful husband for letting me use it!!!

And now to what you came here for! What am I giving away?

Well, I thought about it, and since one of the suggestions was to give something away that was significant to our blog. My other blog is my craft blog, which is a huge part of me - so I'm giving away something I've made.

So, what is it?

It is a set of 10 handmade cards. I am actually starting a card & gift business, so I thought this would be a decent giveaway.



You will receive:
1 - Birthday card
1 - Thank You card
1 - Thinking of You card
1 - Sympathy card
1 - "Happy Everything" card
And
A set of 5 monogrammed note cards - ready for your monogram to be added


Note the sample monogram card - you will not receive this one. You will receive the other 5, and I will add your monogram before I ship them.

You will receive all 10 cards plus envelopes. The insides are blank so you may add your own sentiment. Except for the Sympathy card - there is a stamped sentiment on the inside, and you can still add a personal message.

I hope you find this a giveway you'd like to receive!
All you have to do to enter this giveaway is leave a comment and tell me what state you live in. (Saw that idea on another blog and liked it - thanks Lori!)

Ok - so that's it. When you leave a comment, make sure I have a way to contact you!

You do not have to have a blog to enter and win!!!

OK, I think that's it! Be sure to visit Rocks in My Dryer for LOTS more giveaways!(I just checked, and there are alreay 245 other bloggers giving something away!!)

Leaving Again!

After church in the morning, we will be headed out to the lake again. We will return on Wednesday.

Hopefully, I'll have computer access on Monday so I can announce my giveaway! If not, I may have no choice but to wait until Wednesday to announce it. But lets just keep our fingers crossed that I'll be able to post!

And, as much as I know we still need some serious rain, I'm really hoping that over the next few days it holds off! I really want to fully enjoy what may be our last lake trip for the summer. The forecast is saying scattered T-storms and precip is 30%, but I'm hoping anyway!!!

Anyway - have a great Sunday and hopefully I'll be here long enough to post on Monday!!

4th of July Catch Up

OK, I know I said I'd have pictures up by the weekend - but that just didn't happen. I've just been busy with other stuff. And I took so many pics that I had to choose, edit and upload! I'm so loving these slide shows from Slide.com, because it really does save me time. When I have a lot of pictures, this is much faster than uploading, cutting and pasting code, one by one!!

Several of my pictures came out dark and I had to crop and edit a couple photos, seeing Ruthi hasn't quite learned the art of having her photo made like a lady! There's one where her dress probably looks a little funny, because I had to clone it to cover her up a little bit!

Anyway - we had a blast. We spent the 4th with my parents along with several other family members. We had tons of food and lots of conversation!

After everyone else left, we pulled out the fireworks. It wasn't dark yet when we started, but it did get dark before we finished. I think Ruthi really enjoyed watching, and I know CJ enjoyed lighting most of them!

Ruthi had a cute 4th of July outfit, but unfortunately she had her first accident since we started potty training. We were in a different location, lots going on, and Mommy was in the house (she was outside with Daddy) and I think either it just happened so fast, or she just wasn't sure what to do. So we had to change her out of her cute outfit - but she did great the rest of the week - no more accidents!

My Brother got Ruthi a swimming pool. He said he figured she might already have one, so he thought Nana and Poppy could keep it at their house for her to play in. That was a great idea, and exactly what we did. She enjoyed it while we were there, and will have it when she goes back! (He brought gifts for all of us - Thank you Chris!!!)

OK, so that covers this group of pics (There are 20 of them!!!) I'll work on some more later.

A Very Bloggy Giveaway

Shannon over at Rocks In My Dryer is hosting a carnival called "Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway". And I'm going to play along - this should be fun!

You can read the details here.

But the basic idea is this:

(From Shannon's Blog): You can hold a drawing at your blog for whatever you want. It doesn't have to be big, or expensive, or even new. It can be something you made. Or something you found on sale. Or something you've used (a book, maybe?) and want to pass on to others. A purse? Jewelry? A gift card? The ideas are endless. If you're feeling extra creative, choose an item that is significant to your own blog. For example, I plan to give away something embroidery-related, since I've been writing about it lately.

So I have chosen what I will be giving away. This will be announced on Monday, July 23, and all the other participants will be making their announcements as well.
We will link up at Shannon's so everyone can play along and have a chance to win something!

You will be able to leave a comment anytime after I post my giveaway until Friday, July 27. I will do a random drawing from the comments and will announce a winner.

If you want to hold a giveaway, please check out the guidelines on Shannon's blog.

(From Shannon): Obviously, you have to be a blogger to host a giveaway at your site (business owners, you're welcome to participate, but you must have a specific site to link to for announcing the contest and a way to hold a drawing), BUT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A BLOGGER TO WIN.

Menu Plan Monday #11

Back on my game this week. I didn't plan a menu last week because we were still gone for the first couple of days. The rest of the week was just a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of week. And I discovered, I really don't like doing that! It's SO much easier having a plan!

First, I need to say that I tried Trista's Butterfinger Pie and it was delicious! Not to mention, it couldn't be any easier to prepare! Easy and yummy - a great combination!

Right before we left for our little vacation, I discovered the electric starter in my gas oven has gone out. I didn't even realize I had an electric starter until I went to light the pilot light and realized that wasn't possible. So, not knowing for sure what day it would be fixed, I planned my menu for this week with meals I wouldn't need the oven. No big deal really, as it's too hot to turn it on anyway!

So here's the plan:

Monday: Tacos

Tuesday: Carbonara, Salad, Bread

Wednesday: Club Quesadillas

Thursday: Mozzarella Chicken Sandwiches (Chicken on the grill)

Friday: Cube Steak, Potatoes, Turnip Greens, Rolls

Saturday: Pizza on the grill (or hot dogs if it's raining)

Sunday: Hot Dogs (or pizza if it rained on Saturday)

Hubby is planning to cook one meal this week (he wants cube steak night - that was his request), and that will need to be a night he hasn't had a full day. So the days may get mixed up a bit, but that's ok - at least I know I have something planned for each night - and that is a good thing!

For more menu ideas, be sure to visit Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

I'm Back!

It feels good to be home. I LOVE getting away, but I love coming home too!

I actually got home yesterday, but I've been quite busy. I had tons of unpacking to do - not only everything we took, but everything we acquired while we were gone!

Then there was laundry, and just getting everything put away. Whew!

And of course there were things that really just couldn't wait any longer - you know, like going out to spend my birthday money! So I decided to take a trip in a direction I usually try to stay away from. It's only about 30 minutes away, but it's very congested, and I LOATHE the traffic in that town! But, I had learned - while we were gone - of a great scrapbook store that I just had to visit! So off I went - traffic and all.

How did I learn about it? A billboard an hour and a half away! Can you believe that? I thought that was pretty funny. I told the owner how I found her store and that though we thought it was odd to see that so far away, that it got me there.

And when I left, I think she was happy I had found her store too!

While I was in there, I heard talking of another new store nearby. We finally have an Archiver's in the area! I was very excited, as I had heard all about this store from other online scrapping buddies. So I had to run check it out. Now I feel "in the know"! Although, until I start receiving coupons from the newsletters from Archiver's, I won't be visiting too often, as they were a little pricey for me! I don't like to pay full price if I know I can get it for less!

So, I had a wonderful shopping spree and got all kinds of new goodies for my birthday. Including the one thing I've been drooling over for a while now...a Cuttlebug. I'm so happy!!! I'll post pictures later, because I'm sure you non-scrappers are totally lost now!

Oh - I have to tell a little funny. Before I left to go to the store yesterday, I was talking (out loud) to myself. (Yes, I do this a lot!) I said something about needing to get my Cuttlebug (I don't remember by exact words).

Ruthi overheard me and very quickly said, "Here I am Mommy". She thought I said Cuddle-bug. I tell her all the time she is my little cuddle bug! And when you say one, it sounds exactly like the other - so she assumed I was talking about her. Too cute!

Well, I'm getting back into the swing of things around here, but there are quite a few things I still need to get done so I can relax.

Tomorrow, I will be helping my neighbor's daughter make invitations for her 13th birthday party. It will be pretty much an all day thing, as I will be taking her to pick out the things she needs for making them in the morning, and we plan to have all 30 of them complete by around 5:00 tomorrow evening.

Then I need to work on some things myself, but I'll post some pictures and tell a bit about our few days away as soon as possible. Hopefully I can at least get the pictures off my camera to my computer tomorrow. And then we'll see if I get a chance to do anything with them. If not, I should have some up by Friday - or at least before the weekend is over!

WOW - I intended for this to be a super quick post just to say I'm back and I'll have pictures up soon, and look at it now!

Of course, those of you who know me in real life are probably not surprised at all - as you know just how much I talk! And probably most of you bloggy friends have figured that out by now too!

Which reminds me of one more thing before I go. LOL.

On the 4th, when we were at my parents' house - I was really enjoying myself, chatting with all the family.

I walked into the room where my dear hubby was, and he says to me, "You are the life of the party, huh?" He was totally referring to all the talking I was doing.

I said, "Hey, I'm having ADULT conversation!"

He laughed. He knew I was enjoying myself, and totally in my element. And he knows I need that adult conversation! So I get in as much as possible when I can.

There are days, when I can't get in touch with a live adult to talk to. And that's why I love the blog world - It may not be live, but it's adult conversation to me! And you other moms out there know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. So THANKS to all of you for conversing with me!

Gettin' outta Dodge

Ok, so not exactly Dodge, but outta here anyway.

We are leaving the house in the morning and won't be home for 8 days!

We will be heading to my parents' house in the morning for a big ol' party....sorta.

We will be celebrating the 4th of July, my birthday and Father's Day all in one. My Mom is expecting a houseful of people and lots of good food.

I am taking Vidalia Onion Pie, Tortellini Pasta Salad, 3-Bean Salad and Butterfinger Pie! I have everything done, except the Vidalia onion pie which I will just need to pop in the oven in the morning while I'm getting ready, and I'll keep it nice and hot in one of my casserole carriers.

We will spend the night with my parents and then head to the boat on Thursday morning. We will be spending at least Thursday and Friday on the boat with the kids.

And if all goes well, the kids will go to the grandparents (Ruthi with my parents and CJ with Hubby's parents) and Hubby and I will have Friday and Saturday night to ourselves. Then we will hook back up with the kids on Sunday. Sunday night we will be back with my parents.

Then the kids and I will spend Mon-Wed at my parents' house. Chip has training classes during the day not too far from them and he will probably be staying on campus for those days.

Wednesday afternoon, I will pick him up and we will head back home.

So it's kind of a mini vacation, and I am very much looking forward to being away.

So, I won't be around the rest of this week. By Monday, however, I'll probably be suffering from withdrawls. And thankfully, my Dad recently got a high-speed connection, so can you guess I'll be doing? Oh yeah, playing catch up!!! And because my computer seems to be so bogged down these days, it's running slow - but Daddy's computer is lightening-fast! So I'm going can do LOTS of catching up!

Well, I still have a few things to do, and probably should try to get some sleep, so I'm signing off.

See ya'll next week!

Tackle it Tuesday #11

I didn't post a tackle last week, because I didn't finish what I was working on. I'm doing a mini makeover of my scrap space. However, it's still not complete, as my dear hubby is making me a couple of shelves and they aren't finished yet. And they won't be until probably the end of next week, as we are going out of town.

I did, however, just complete the makeover of my blog! I still have a teeny bit of tweaking to to here and there, but for the most part it is done!! Woo!

For today's tackle I'm trying to get ready to go out of town! We leave tomorrow morning for 7 days, and I haven't even begun packing!

So, today is a list:

1. Pack (the biggie!)
2. Last load of laundry
3. Finish preparing food to take to my parents tomorrow for 4th of July "shindig".
4. Finish cleaning house
5. Go to post office
6. Go to store to pick up a couple of forgotten things
7. Pack the car
8. Try to get some sleep!

The packing will be my biggest task. Everything for 4 people for 7 days including toys to occupy 2.5 yr. old and oh so many other things!

I will probably be so busy, I won't even think about taking pictures, plus - they'd probably be a little boring!

However, everything on this list will get completed except maybe for the sleep part!

For more tackles, be sure to visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

So, What do you Think?

The changes are made! At least the big ones anyway. I may still tweak things here and there.

I have to say THANK YOU LINDA of RS DESIGNS for my new header. I am so very pleased with it! Not to mention she was so incredibly helpful with the rest - answering my gazillion-and-one questions! She was so pleasant to work with.

If you are looking for a new look, I HIGHLY recommend her! She's awesome!

The very few of you who have me in your bloglines or google reader should have noticed by now that my blog name changed - hope I didn't confuse you and you wonder what happened! That happened to me when I blog in my bloglines changed - I couldn't figure out at first who the new name belonged to. Hopefully you all are smarter than me!

And for those even fewer of you that have me in your blogroll, would you mind changing your link to match my new name? I'd really appreciate it!

So, what do you think of the new look? I have to say I'm quite pleased with it. I really wanted something a little more unique and a shorter, catchier name! I think I achieved that.

I used colors from the owl image to choose the colors for my blog. If you don't know about colr.org, you should check it out. You download an image of your choice and it will pull the colors from it and give you the color codes. So cool! It was a lot of fun to play with.

Anyway, I'm glad to get out of the cookie-cutter template (although my actual template is still a fairly common one), and have something a little different, that hopefully stands out a little more. You know, a little more memorable!

Feel free to give me any suggestions to make this even better - I'm love constructive criticism - well, as long as you're nice!

Almost Time!

I just saw a preview of my new header, and she's making one change on it and it will be ready!! WOOOOOO!

All will be revealed either later today or tomorrow. I'm excited about my makeover!

Menu Plan Monday #10

Last week ended up having lots of changes, so I actually only ended up preparing 2 of the planned meals.

I made the Skillet-Fried Mozzarella Sticks and they were AWESOME!! A big hit with the family and into our favorites file!

This week is a short week. Wednesday we will leave and go south to my parents to celebrate 4th of July, my birthday and Father's Day - because my Dad was out of the country on FD. My mom is expecting a full house, so it should be loads of fun.

Then we are heading to the lake for a few days for some relaxing. And if all works out, on Saturday and Sunday, the kids will be with grandparents, and hubby and I will have a night or two alone!

So, for this week - SUPER SIMPLE!

Monday - BLT's (didn't have them last week)

Tuesday - hubby will be at work, so I think the kids and I will have pizza.

I will be making a Vidalia Onion Pie to take to my parents' and probably something else, but not sure what yet. And I may make Trista's Butterfinger Pie to take.

And no more cooking for me for the week!

For more menu ideas, be sure to visit Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

About our Day...

This morning started differently than I had planned. I set my alarm last night to go off at 6 this morning to get ready for Church. I don't like to be rushed - we leave at 8:30, and I really need 2 and a half hours to get myself and Ruthi ready and double check CJ and make sure he's put together properly. And I don't want to have to do it all in a hurry.

Well, the alarm went off, and I hit snooze. Or at least that's what I thought. I don't know what happened, but it did not go back off 8 minutes later as it should have.

At 7:37 Ruthi came in and crawled in the bed. That woke me up. I looked at the clock in panic! I said to myself that there was no way we could make it on time. And heaven forbid we show up...late!

Hubby wasn't home from work yet, and normally I would have turned over, said oh well, and gone back to sleep.

BUT, I had recently made a personal commitment to stop making excuses and get back to going to church on a regular basis.

Since Ruthi's been here, and I'm no longer actively in children's ministry (for a while), it's been far too easy just not to go. I mean, before I was expected to be there - people were counting on me, and very rarely did I miss. And now, who would miss me? It's not a big deal, right?

Well, God was missing me. And without that commitment, I wasn't spending much time with time with Him during the week either. So I knew I needed to make a new commitment to be at church as a fresh start. And my kids need to be there too.

OK, back to this morning. So I start to turn over. Then I think, this is exactly what satan wants - for me to stay at home in bed and keep my kids and me from getting our spirits fed.

So I jumped up and got in the shower. I don't think I've ever taken a shower so quickly before!

Believe it or not, in 50 minutes, at 8:30...we walked out the door and made it to church on time. And so glad we did!

We had a special speaker this morning, and he was AWESOME! Funny as ever, with an incredible message. His name is David George. I was going to put the link to his message this morning, but it's not up yet. I'll try to remember to add it when it's there, so you can watch if you'd like.

Anyway, we had a great service and I'm so glad I didn't roll back over!

We grabbed some lunch and went home. CJ still wanted to take me to Starbucks, so once Ruthi was down for a nap, he and I headed out. We had to make stops at Blockbuster and Home Depot first, but then we made it to our destination.

And we had Raspberry Mocha Frappucino's. OH the yummy goodness!!!! And some sort of cookie bar that I can't remember the name now, but it was pretty good too.

We started to head home when Chip called and suggested CJ and I catch a movie while we were out since we hadn't done that in a while. So I made u-turn and headed back to town.

We ended up seeing Ratatouille and indulged in popcorn and White Cherry Icee's! Yep, I splurged big time today! But the movie...it was SO CUTE! I highly recommend it!

When we left, it was 6:00 and I figured Chip and Ruthi were getting hungry by now. So I called, and he wanted Checkers. And well, I couldn't say no to that, even though I had my heart on going home and cooking! Ok, not really. So we ate our fat-laden champ burgers and fully-loaded fries. And it was a good day!

And now I have so many things to do by Tuesday night, as will be heading out on Wednesday morning for a few days. So many things need to be done that will cut into my blogging and scrapping time! *Sigh* Guess I should get busy!

Good night!