steph's stuff

Spring Break or Spring Work?

 

Credits can be found here.

This week is crazy. It's Spring Break for the kids - this week AND next. Why, oh why, do they need two weeks?!

So far, yesterday was crazy. Fights, yelling, slamming doors, whining, begging for sweets, and all of that before noon. It's really not a break. It's really just work.

Today, we are getting out of the house. Lots of errands - all designed to keep them busy and not bored. Because tomorrow is going to be house-cleaning day. And I'm going to have to gear up for more yelling, slamming of doors, whining, and general kid-craziness.

However, when it's all said and done and MY whining is done, I'm still so grateful that I'm able to be home with them. :)

Weekend excitement

 

Well, whew. That was quite the weekend!

Our weekends usually look like this: Friday night: Family Movie Night with pizza and a movie and couch snuggles; Saturday: clean house, do laundry, play outside, eat more pizza, go to bed; Sunday: read the paper, go grocery shopping, get all kids ready for a week of school, eat dinner, go to bed. Total hum-drum weekend and that's how we like it. We're homebodies and having a weekend of just being home together is what we like.

This weekend was a bit different:

Friday night: Family Movie Night AT the movies to see "Monsters vs. Aliens 3D." It was okay, but not my favorite kids' movie, by the way. And I hate 3D - I never get to pay attention to what's going on because I'm too busy concentrating on what's coming out at me from the screen.

Saturday: Tom went to work all day, I ended up spending four hours working on assignments, the dog got sick, and then Tom and I went out to a business dinner with his firm.

Sunday: Tom was Mr. Mom all day so I could get some work done. I packed up all my stuff and headed out to the scrapping store so I could get assignments done faster. I got 13 assignments done in 4 hours!!! While I was there, I got a text message with a picture attatched to it from Tom. It was a picture of a firetruck at our neighbors' house. I called home right away and he said that they were okay, he had their four kids, and it was probably a chimney fire. A bit later, Emily called from a friends' house saying that she "wasn't allowed to have snacks between meals" at their house. Ummmm...my daughter has diabetes issues - she needs to eat. So, I called Tom and he went to bring her home. I ran to the grocery store, got a few things for dinner and came home. Just as we were cleaning up, we simultaneously heard a pounding on the door and sirens. Running to the window, I saw our neighbors running out of the house with their kids AGAIN and running into our yard. It was their oldest daughter at our door. They had a SECOND fire. Hours later, they were able to get into a hotel for the night and we all went to bed.

Whew. I need a weekend to recover from my weekend. LOL! The good news is that everyone is okay and the insurance will fix their house for them. Right now, the firemen are saying that the two fires are completely unrelated. But, I just can't imagine that?! So, we'll see what the fire inspectors say today. Meanwhile, I just want to go back to bed. Oh, and did I mention that it's Spring Break so the kids are home for two weeks? I may just take up drinking.

maybe, just maybe...

 

Sawyer might be figuring out who's boss. :) Knock on wood.

We took him to a dog trainer last weekend and realized all the silly mistakes we were making and, one week later, he's really behaving a lot better. And I tend to catch him like this - still and peaceful - a little bit more often. He's starting to understand that we won't play with him if he misbehaves.

We'll go back next weekend for one more session and I'm looking forward to it. I'm really enjoying him more and I think he's happier, too.

Although he doesn't know that he only has one month left until he can get some......uh.......ahem......little male bits removed. He probably wouldn't be happy if he knew that we had scheduled that. LOL!

unbelievable cruelty

Well, this post is going to be dramatically different than I expected. I am absolutely sick and incredibly saddened this morning by something I witnessed after dropping the kids off.

Our weather is starting to get a bit warmer and, with the warmer air, we are seeing more and more birds, ducks, and geese in the area. It's very common around here to find families of geese making their homes in the ponds around office buildings or in creek beds along the edges of the woods. And it's also very common to see pairs of ducks in the same areas and in neighborhoods. Many of us know where the feathery families tend to settle and often find ourselves braking while they cross the roads.

This morning, a pair of mallards were downtown. And, as they are likely to do, they stepped off the sidewalk and started to cross the road. It was a four-lane road and everyone on both sides stopped and made way for them. I can't imagine why or what would compel a person to do this, but apparently the woman driving the car in the lane next to me suddenly decided that she was not going to wait any longer. One minute she was sitting there in her car with the rest of the lanes and the next minute, she took off and ran over the male mallard.

I gasped, then screamed, and then sat there in horror, along with a bunch of other people in their cars, while she took off and the poor male duck struggled for life. The female duck had been ahead of him and she stopped in the middle of the road and looked back at him. It was one of those moments that I'll never forget. She just stood there watching him and then very slowly continued on her path to the other side of the street. Eventually, once she was safe, the other cars slowly started to move again. The male duck was still by then and I had no choice but to continue onto home.

What could have possibly compelled the woman to do what she did? Was she late for work? Was she just in a bad mood? Did she get an emergency call? Or is it possible that she just didn't care? I don't know the answer but I don't think I've ever witnessed such intentional cruelty before and I can't help but be shocked that someone could possibly be that cruel.

I don't even know what the point is of this post. Except that I'm devastated by what happened and can't stop being shocked.

In Loving Memory

 

One of the hardest parts of leaving ScrapSupply was having to leave a fabulous group of friends on the Design Team. We'll always be friends, but there's something special about working with someone every day. Tania is one of those friends. And a couple of years ago, Tania went through one of life's heartbreaks. Her mom died very unexpectedly and very young and it was totally heartbreaking for their entire family.

True to Tania's loving personality, she has turned that experience into one that you can be a part of. She is now teaching a class at Get It Scrapped called In Loving Memory. Here's a class description:

In Loving Memory by Tania Willis
April 9 - May 7
During this 5-week course (one session per week) Tania will help spur you on to create an album dedicated to a loved one you have lost, all the while encouraging you to be gentle on yourself through the process. She will provide prompts and challenges to help you get your thoughts in order and onto the page, as well as suggestions for selecting photos and how to overcome the dilema of not having many photos at all. In addition, page sketches will be offered and a variety of embellishment techniques will be taught along the way. There's no better way than to complete a treasured project than in the company of a supportive teacher who is on her own journey of remembrance after losing her mom very suddenly and unexpectedly the summer of 2007. “It’s scrapbooking as a healing therapy, not just art.”

Registration is now open here and, if you've ever lost a loved one and have struggled with how to capture those memories, this class is the one for you.

And if you have any questions about the class, Tania has some answers for you here.

Eating the tops of the trees

   

Once again, this layout has nothing to do with this post. But, it's cute, my boys (furry and human) are cute and I needed a picture. That's how my brain works.

All supplies from Designer Digitals: Easy Living Paper Pack; Get Happy Solids paper pack; Nashua paper pack; Golden Bay kit; Anyday Kit; Star Pieces Elements and Brushes No 01; Word Label Strips

One of the rules we have in our house is that you have to try everything we put on your plate. Every time we put it on your plate. Our thinking has always been that if you have 5 bites of green beans once/week, at some point in your life, you will like the green beans. And, so far, we haven't been wrong. We started this with each kid around the ages of 3-4 and by the time they were each 6, both girls were eating most every vegetable we put in front of them. Obviously, it's not foolproof. There are some things that they just don't like and I don't think they ever will no matter how many bites they have of them. But it seems to have worked with veggies.

So, Andrew is almost 6 and I've been keeping my eye on him lately and he's doing better with his veggies. Less complaining, less gagging (fake or otherwise) and eating a wider variety of foods. But, last night was the milestone that I was waiting for. He ate broccoli without complaining. When I pointed it out to him, he said, "Yeah, but I only eat the tops of the trees. I like that part." And we all loved that. And so I complimented him on how well he was eating the tops and he said, "I know. 2009 is a good year for me." LOL!

I have the best chicken

 

All supplies from Designer Digitals: Speed Byte Layered Template No. 129 by Pattie Knox (coming soon!!!); Get Happy paper pack by Jesse Edwards; Get Happy Solids paper pack by Jesse Edwards; Holly Christmas paper pack by Jesse Edwards; Word Label Strips by Katie Pertiet

On the same day that Elizabeth had her seizure, Emily's first major play debuted. It marked the end of a very intense 6 weeks for all of us. It was the annual 5th & 6th grade play. In order to let the younger kids learn the ropes, most of the acting roles and major directing and managing jobs go to the 6th graders while the 5th graders have the supporting roles and jobs. Emily, as one of the younger 5th graders, was honored to be given the role of understudy for the entire cast and assistant stage manager. She lived and breathed this play for 6 weeks - 5 days/week. (And it was our first experience with leaving a kid after school and not picking her up until dinner time. Wow - such a strange feeling!)

As the understudy for the entire cast, Emily put in a TON of work. And she despaired of anyone ever getting sick. She was born for the stage, as she tells us. Ah, drama is the life! But, finally someone dropped out! She was beyond thrilled. Until she found out that it was the boy who played the chicken. Yep, the chicken. She was horrified, but she did a great job.

And, I have to say that she was the best chicken ever! :)

budgets

I hate budgets. I hate dealing with bills and deadlines and all that financial stuff. But, when we divided up chores once we had kids, it became my job because I'm more organized than dh, not to mention that dh's method of balancing the checkbook entailed spending until his debit card was rejected.

I spent about 3 hours today putting together finances and projecting ahead for the rest of the year and it became apparent very early into the process that I need to be more organized. I need to get more specific with categories and keep better track of where our money goes.

So, I'd love some suggestions. What do you do? Do you use a spreadsheet system? Do you have a budget that you stick to or do you just track the money after it's spent? I can track where all of our money goes for free through our bank's online system, so that makes it easy to track categories AFTER it has been spent. But what about before? Do you give yourself money each month for a clothing allowance or eating out? How about the old-fashioned envelope system for each category?

Ideas, links and suggestions welcome!

My dog is smarter than I am.

 

Sawyer is going to be the death of me. Totally outsmarts me all the freakin' time. And yesterday was the icing on the cake.

He's four-and-a-half months old. He probably weighs around 40 pounds, so he's not quite halfway to his adult size. But, he's still big!!!

Anyway, we were getting so frustrated with his nipping and general craziness that we went to a dog trainer yesterday at our local PetSmart. I had been dreading the entire trip. I could just picture it - him howling the whole 25-minute drive there and back. He HATES the car like you would not believe. He's missing some sort of dog gene on that issue, for sure. And he cries, whines, and howls the entire time he's in the car. So, I had that to look forward to.

And then anytime you put him into a new situation, he goes crazy. Doesn't listen to any of our commands, nips, jumps, and on and on. And the trainer had said to make sure that we all came. So, factor in 3 kids, a husband who's basically a kid, and one crazy puppy - combined with the drive there and back - and I was soooo not looking forward to this day.

In total exasperation with him that morning, I even joked, "You wait. We're gonna get there and he's going to be perfectly behaved and the trainer's going to think I'm an idiot."

Well ... guess what happened?

Yep, the PERFECT FREAKIN' DOG the whole time we were there! ARGH!!! Even in the car, he laid down on the seat and never let out a sound. Dh was laughing hysterically at me the whole way there because I was saying, "OMG. See? He's gonna make me look like an idiot! I am so mad at him for behaving so well!"

And while we were there, he sat at the trainer's feet looking angelically up at him. When the trainer wanted to see how he nips the kids, he called the kids up to Sawyer. And what did Sawyer do???? He licked them. He NEVER licks them. ARGH!

So, basically, the trainer concluded that I'm letting Sawyer know that he's overwhelming me and so Sawyer is taking advantage of me. Basically, I need to go all Dog Whisperer on him and let him know that I'm the pack leader.

And, on the way out, the trainer said with true admiration, "He's a great dog! Fast learner and really smart!"

I went off Weight Watchers and indulged in some chocolate after that.

black + color = happiness

 

How about a scrappy post? Okay? Okay! (one of my dh's little sayings that we all laugh about all the time - as in, "Hey kids. Go clean your rooms. Okay? Okay!")

Last weekend when I decided to run away and go scrapping, I didn't want to take too much with me. I hadn't played with paper without an assignment in probably two years, so I also simply didn't know what to take with me. And, heck, I was going to a scrapbooking store, so I knew I could always go shopping once I got there. :grin:

So, all I packed was some black, white, and kraft cardstock, some adhesive, photos, a corner rounder, and a very small pile of patterned paper. Well, once I got to the store, I had to walk around and see what was new. :)

And I found myself attracted to very bright colors. Which is NOT me. I'm a clean and simple scrapper and I tend to stick with muted colors, with some red or white thrown in. But, I kept seeing these amazing jewel colors just jumping out at me.

 

I just couldn't resist! And paired with black cardstock? To die for!!! I didn't lose my love for simple, graphic layouts. See the photo grid below? And the word stickers? Totally still me.

 

But, wow, bright colors and black are just really floating my boat right now. :)

   

And thanks so very much for all the comments about Libby over this past week. I can't tell you how much they mean to me. I have to keep so much of this inside myself so that Libby doesn't see. And it also helps to get it out here so that I have a place to let it all go. So, thank you. :)

P.S. Emily's cast was taken off today and all is well. Except that she threw a lovely pre-teen tantrum at the doctor's office and is now grounded. :p