Time flies!

Wow--time really does fly, as they say (whoever THEY is--this time, THEY is right (are right...?)

I've neglected my blog (sorry blog!) Better my blog, I suppose than my children, my husband, or my house (though I think my house was starting to feel like my blog...) Still, I spent a good hour last night running around my house with cleaning products in hand, splashing them on things and wiping it off. I do believe that 4pm on a Sunday is the best time to clean a house, so you go into the workweek with a clean house that you don't get to mess up because you are at work. So, my house is sitting empty and "clean" right now as I write this at work (shhhh).

What have I been up to? Well, let's see. I have been able to work on some FUN projects, such as the baby shower invitations for Michelle, and some favors and a diaper cake for Wendy's shower. I haven't done much for myself in the way of scrapbooking, but that's always the way it goes--though I never thought of myself as one who puts others first--turns out I AM one of those people! (the horror of not acting spoiled!)

Tori and I took in High School Musical THREE on the big screen. It was entertaining--but the best part was the screams from the little tweens down in the front row who clearly wanted to be Gabriella in EVERY scene with Troy--and wanted to be his basketball jersey during that one scene...whew! Good thing he's really an adult (21) and I can have my fantasies, too... :)

We had Halloween. The kids had a good time Trick or Treating, and so did I. We got a good haul--Mike's eating most of it, thank goodness! I have not been tempted very often, another thank goodness! Tori started out the night as Sleeping Beauty in a blue gown, instead of the pink. She was stunning, in my opinion--way too grown up looking! Anyway, as we went door to door begging, people would ask her if she was Cinderella, because of the BLUE. She would correct them, and then come back to me waiting on the sidewalk and comment that people kept saying she was CINDERELLA! After our 15th house or so, while crossing the street to go back down the other side, she said, "From now on, I'm just going to be Cinderella, SO much easier!" I don't know why, but this comment struck me as so mature, and so forgiving and so easygoing, when usually, I think Tori is stubborn and dramatic. Just goes to show me, she's really going to have me running in circles when she's old enough to use her powers for evil...

I never talk about Nick. He's just awesome and cute and loves me (he has to tell me he loves me at least 20 times a day.) Sometimes, I just say, "I'm so glad SOMEONE does!" He says, "No, you are supposed to say, 'I love you, too!', or 'YAY!'" Not that he doesn't try to throw tantrums, or refuse to take medicine when he really needs it, or that he's perfect and doesn't hit or scream--he does all of that! BUT, he's sweet with me, so I forgive him pretty easily. (now I'm frantically trying to scrub the word "SUCKER" from my forehead yet again!)

So, I'm going to post some pictures of things that I've made, or maybe something from Halloween--you never know what will be in my pictures--could be one of me--HAHAH! NOT.

OK, blog, I promise not to neglect you again (but if the next post's title is "Happy New Year" it's not my fault--I blame the economy!)

Baby shower invitations for Michelle's shower:

Diaper Cake for Wendy's shower:

Been a while...

I haven't had much FUN stuff to post about lately. This has been a heck-ish summer, and I am certainly looking forward to FALL! Only a few more days until official fall, and cooler days, more brisk mornings (you mean I have to put CLOTHES on (other than undies) to make breakfast?) I totally welcome wearing layers again--though, I've put on a few "layers" this summer already that need to be shed...sigh, curse you Starbucks and your Pumpkin Spice syrup and your zucchini walnut muffins of death! Why must you tempt me every morning? (slurp slurp...)

Anyway, the FUN of the summer has died down, and now the only thing left to do is find a few more places for Grandma's mementos, and sell the rest at the Estate Sale on Saturday. Then, the FUN of trying to sell her house begins for Mom--hopefully the location, location, location of the house--right next to shopping in the 55 and older zone will appeal to some nice elderly couple with out bringing the asking price down for some person who thinks flipping the old house would be a good idea--ahem, it STILL has to be sold to someone oer 55, though that's getting younger every day! Heck, that's only 20 years for me! GASP! :)

So, my list of complaints has gotten longer, even though the drama is over for now. Mainly, I'm complaining about my weight. Something I could TRY to control, but I've been completely unmotivated. "It's too..." hot, late, early, busy, kids need me, I'm sad, I'm depressed--my personal favorite of late, "My grandma died, I need comfort food..." UM, who always told me, EVERY time I saw her, "You look thinner!" God bless her! I should try to really look thinner for real--you never know when I might see her next! :)

Speaking of God--I need to find a book called, "Catholicism for Dummies." If I'm going to get myself out of bed on Sunday mornings for the 8:30 mass, without coffee first, I'm going to need to know what to do, and say--I can't believe how almost NO ONE in the congregation takes out the books to read the words to the "poems"--LOL--I know they aren't poems (they don't RHYME!) that they recite every week--even the little kids know the entire thing--and those suckers are LONG! Of course, I'm already a bad Catholic... yesterday my kids were screwing around--lying on the floor next to the thingy you kneel on, and I told them to get up and sit nicely. Then, one of them (they pointed fingers across at each other) pushed that kneely thingy down and it banged onto the floor, and I said, "DAMMIT!" Yeah, I swore in church... ouch. Anyway, I don't need a book for that--just something that explains it all... Also, I'm not keen on voting for Prop 8 ("protecting" marriage...so...hmmm...already have those two strikes against me.) I'll have to pray for some understanding... Maybe if you pray, you can pray for me, too... :)

Hmmm...

I just realized, as I looked at my blog, that the circles to the sides look like olives, with pimentos...which, ironically, is the same thing I was talking about with my DearBFF Michelle yesterday when discussing what she is calling her tiny little embryo while he/she is in the oven! She said that she read that it's about the size of a little raspberry, or a green olive... I think calling it the little raspberry is CUTE, but that a little green olive is odd...but, she pointed out that Olive could be a potential NAME, as a boy could be Oliver, or a girl, Olivia... calling a child Raspberry is something only a celebrity would do... Anyway, the colors and the "olives" on the sides of my blog are dedicated to Michelle, and her tiny, whatever she decides to call it, because I am FREAKING OUT about this baby already... (but not until after her OB appointment today...of course!)

Changed me up to PRETTY! :)

I found on MelissaAllore's blog (http://www.disneydreamerdesigns.blogspot.com/) a link to The Cutest Blog on the Block--which has FREE backgrounds for blogs. I LOVED this one, so I thought I'd try it out. :) Let me know what you think! I might try a rename for the blog, since I'm not really trying to EAT desserty anymore...haha! :)
http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/background.php?id=326

I've been tagged!! :)

Silly AshleeM, my HawaiianBFF tagged me, so now I get to answer questions, and then tag some other unsuspecting bloggers! :) How did she know I check my blog for comments CONSTANTLY? LOL! :) OK, here's the deal:

The rules of the game: Each player answers the questions themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answers.
Ten years ago: Was 1998...Um...I was working at a job...where was that...before my kids it's all a blur. I guess I was at Good Guys selling electronics, and Mike and I were dating on and off...WOW. Things have changed in 10 years!
Five things on today's to do list: 1. Post a SQUID on the MB (it's my designated week...) 2. Go to Starbucks. 3. Will NOT buy lunch, will bring... 4. Straighten the house, in-laws are finally gone, and i get my house back! 5. WORK ON MY DARN APPETIZER SWAP THAT'S DUE on the 20th!! (Emily=Slacker!)
Snacks I enjoy: Snacks I do NOT enjoy -- raw sushi, raw tomatoes, tentacles of any kind. Anything else I love to eat. :) (especially peanut butter cups...)
Places I have lived: San Diego, Escondido, San Diego, Montana, San Diego, La Mesa. :)
I'm going to tag: Oh boy... Let me think!
Ted, AKA Sir-Craft-A-Lot http://www.sircraftalot.com/ because he's the reason I'm DOING my blog more often now, and he's funny, and a great writer. I'd like to see his answers to these questions, though he might already have answered them! :)
Nicole, aka Red1der1 http://red1der1.blogspot.com/ because I decided today that I like her style on her blog. :)
Melissa, aka ScrappingMelissa http://scrappingmelissa.blogspot.com/ because she's awesome and stuff, even though she's been MIA on the MB lately. :) She inspires me. :)

That's enough RIGHT? :)

Photo Posting, and a Project, all in one!

This is a project for Tori's party. I made a CD for each child attending, and a holder for the CDs. I stamped the CD with Stazon ink, and colored them with Sharpies! :) FUN! iTunes has a cool feature that allows you to print a mosaic of the album covers if you burn a song on a CD with the cover information available...I LOVE how it turned out!
(I also just played a little with how to place photos in this post, and have discovered that you can move the pictures around once they are uploaded...)

Hannah Montana Party "stuff!"

I made a few things for Tori's party that I thought turned out pretty cool!

The first is the invitation. It was a guitar that I made on the Cricut Design Studio. I cut them out, stamped them, glittered them with Stickles glitter glue, and then strung them with silver embroidery floss (and covered the ends with "Skittles" plastic beads.) I really liked the look of them! :) The second item was a "Backstage Pass" to Tori's party. It was really a nametag for the kids to wear around their necks! I found $1 rolls of ribbon at Michael's, and sewed them to make lanyards, and then hung the passes on the lanyards and Sharpied the names on them. :)

This is my baby, singing into my scissors with her backstage pass! :) She's SIX! I can't believe it! :)

Oh great...

Looks like I'm going to be linked-to, so I'd better keep myself interesting! :)

Ted, AKA Sir-Scrap-A-Lot (Cricut MB) is going to link to my blog on his blog. It's like we are holding virtual hands now, which might make Softbrn (Cricut MB) jealous, but that's OK, a little competition can be healthy (plus, Mike would probably fight for me...right?) :)

So, I am VOWING to myself today that I will post SOMETHING once a week. Which means I either have to MAKE something once a week, or pull up something old! haha! :) For now, I will post a picture of something I made a couple of weeks ago!

This is a menu and cards directing people at a party my boss threw for her 80 year-old Mother- in-Law. She's not fond of her MIL, but she knew I could make something pretty that would make it look like she cared! (she's a CRACK UP, really, I really like working for her!) :) Anyway, I let her take credit, but she said she would tell EVERYONE I made them, but she would also say how awesome she was for hiring me! I thought they turned out cute!

I LOVE COSTCO...

Can I just say that I LOVE Costco, and always will? OK, so the reason today is not a great reason, in fact, I feel like I got away with something...

Long story: When the kids get their school pictures taken by a professional photographer, I will admit, here on my blog that no one will ever read (or turn me in to the copyright police), that I scan the 8x10 into the computer, and then I will BUY the page of 2-5x7's and turn the rest in! HONESTLY, professional photography is a RACKET sometimes! You only get one or two poses, and they mess up your kid's hair right before the picture, and they make sure that their smile is the worst possible smile--so, unless you are at a photo shoot with a TON of options, you get a pretty crappy photo! ANYHOO, I scanned Nick's photo from school, and "stupidly" though I've done it before with great success, uploaded the photo to Costco and ordered 2 5x7's and some wallets--$.39 each sheet--SO much better than $12.50 a sheet! (come ON!) Anyway, I went to pick them up, and the guy told me that the brand name was in the corner of my scan (whoopsie) and that I had to have the brand name company sign a waiver for my silly scanned photo... Well, I just didn't take them with me (well, the guy took them OUT of my envelope and wouldn't sell them to me...sad...)
ANYWAY, (I told you this was long) today I went to pick up another bunch of photos for work. I told the girl that I sent in both 4x6's and 5x7's. I paid at the photo counter without incident for the two envelopes. My brain said, "One envelope for 4x6's and one for 5x7's." Then, I get to my office, open the first envelope, and there, in an otherwise unmarked envelope were my 2 5x7's and my sheet of 4 wallets!!!!!! Thanks to the Costco guy who just stuck them in an envelope and then in the "to be picked up later" box, and then thanks to the girl who didn't know that I had tried to get away with something last time I was there! I now have a cute pic of my son (that I was just going to print on crappy computer paper) all nice and glossy! YAY! (and a wallet for Noni, who keeps saying she doesn't have him in her wallet!) :)
I LOVE COSTCO! :)

YAY! UPDATE!

OK--"WE" won the dream wedding! Well, NormaAnne and Henry won the wedding, we just get the satisfaction of backing the right "horse" so to speak! YAY US! :) It was fun, but tiring to vote all day for a week! Not sure why obsessions like this are so easy to get sucked into--maybe it's that "everybody's doing it" mentality! Anyway, I hope they have a WONDERFUL wedding! :)

VOTE, because it's FUN to kick someone else's butt!

http://photocontest.freedom.com/cbs12/dream-wedding/profile.php?itemid=65

OK, this has become sort of (sort of is SUCH an understatement) an obsession (mission, goal, deathmatch, ass-whoopin') on the Cricut MB--so much so that now there are PRIZES for sharing this obsession with anyone who happens to read our blogs! So, I'm up for anything, and I've been voting since I got to work (and once while I was being lectured at at home when using the computer to review family finances with DH...(Emily is a BAD girl...)) Anyway, PLEASE VOTE EVERY 12 minutes for Norma Anne and Henry, so that they can have the most wonderful wedding ever! (I hear that we are all invited on the free honeymoon if they win--this could be a rumor, but I'm pretty sure they are already booking our flights--because the prices will be going up any second now!) In case you missed it above, here's the link again! :)

http://photocontest.freedom.com/cbs12/dream-wedding/profile.php?itemid=65

I thought I slept last night...

But I guess I didn't! Maybe it's the silence in the office today, or maybe it's the muscle relaxer that I took for my sore neck (well, the HALF of muscle relaxer...) but, I just woke up with my face imprinted on my arm for what must have been a good ten minute crash! Actually, when I woke up, I felt surprisingly refreshed! I must remember to power nap whenever possible--if someone comes in the doors, they make noise, so I should be OK, RIGHT?
I type this as I am listening to the hustle and bustle of the budget keepers as they whisper about whose contracts they are renewing for another year, and whose they are going to NOT renew... I've been given a cheerful "Thumbs Up!" from one of them, but I'm still nervous--stupid California education budget! Anyway, how could they get rid of me? I'm always here when they need me--even when I am sleeping, at least I am here! :)
Happy Weekend--TGIF never meant more to me than right now--15 minutes before I bust outta here! :)

eBay--Tedious...is it worth it?

So, I put some stuff up for sale on eBay today--kid's clothes--Gymboree, used, size 5...
I put it all at $.99, and didn't even up the shipping so I would make a REAL profit! LOL! I honestly kept saying to myself that it's NOT worth it--none of it will sell for much, and then there are all the new fees and whatnot... BUT, maybe I will make enough for a new Cricut cartridge, and, isn't that what life is all about? (well, MY life anyway...) :)

In other news, apparently Thursday is Tori's birthday at school (I thought it was next month!--ah, summer birthday week...) Now I have to find something to give each child in her class as a "gift" as taking cupcakes is frowned upon! Hey, MY kid isn't Obese! (her mother is, but I'm working on it, OKAY?...ahem...) I don't mainline her with sweets--this is a kid who LOVES her carrots and broccoli, and even green beans and good things like shrimp and steak and pasta! Last night she ate half of my Black Angus Prime Rib!
Which leads me to think that I should make her dinner in the portion size that I normally eat, and let her eat what she can from it, and THEN, I eat her leftovers, rather than what I do now--make her a plate in kid size, and then if she doesn't finish, I toss it all (into my mouth...) If I do the opposite, that would mean I would lose weight, RIGHT? I think this idea has a shot--I might write a book about it...or just blog my results for someone else to capitalize upon...

Should I keep a journal, or just post things here?

Since I probably won't ever share this blog publicly--and unless someone comes along and finds me because I put some random string of words together, and they Google those SPECIFIC words, "dog fish noodle eleven," I could probably keep my journal here... provided I don't use specifics which would set Mike off on some other kind of "internet safety" rant which has previously kept me from posting pictures of myself and the kids...well, I did have us up on the Cricut message board, but he saw it and flipped, so I went back to my old avatar (Jiminy Cricut...) ANYWAY, this weekend had a good story attached to it--not necessarily a GOOD story, but it was funny, ROFLMAO funny, as my legs went to jell-o when it happened, so I did, literally roll on the floor and laugh my ass off...(well, I still have my ass, darnit, but you know what I mean...) Jenny opened a bottle of "sparkling wine" that was corked like a champagne bottle, and when the little cage was off the cork, and my face was oh, about 5 inches or less away from it, I saw it move the tiniest bit, and then KAPOW! out it shot from the bottle. Jenny was pretty close to it, too, and we both jumped away like it was an explosion! And then, in our typical "Billmire" way, we started to laugh, Mom, Jenny and I, in nervousness, and it was pretty danged funny! I am sure Mom saw our faces when it happened, so that's where the laughter started...I think... Anyway, I wish we had had a camera on ourselves, it would have been fun to watch again in slo-motion! :)
Happy Monday to all my fans who have now googled "dog fish noodle eleven." :)

SUNDAY!

Well, it's Sunday! This has been a REALLY busy weekend! The kids are watching Spongebob... I am on the computer. I washed my car before it got really hot outside! We woke up early to take Mike to the airport. Tori cried--I think Nick thinks he's just going to play golf as usual... We'll see how this week goes. I might need a vacation from Mike's vacation! :)

Projects

Projects

Looky! I added a slideshow of some of my scrapbooking projects, and our Teacher Appreciation project, the Gingerbread Man book! ENJOY!

First post--could it be the last?

Well, it's my first post on my very own blog. How do ya like me NOW? :)
I don't know if anyone really wants to read any of my ramblings, but, you never know, I could say something really profound, and wouldn't it be just like me to let it go unnoticed? (no, I tell everyone EVERY funny thing I've said--I'm desperate for attention! Did I just say that?)
I'm a hardcore user of the :), and sometimes the ;P, but mostly I'm a :) girl, and I'll write an entire e-mail and have to go back and remove the :)'s they just seem to be part of my punctuation!
Anyway, enjoy my blog. I'm really just playing around with fonts and colors, so don't be surprised if you come back (oh, please come back!) if it looks completely different--OR, it will look the same, because I haven't got a CLUE how to change some things! :) (<<--look! There it is again!)