So proud of myself!

My LSS (that's "Local Scrapbook Store" for those who don't know scrapspeak) had a challenge every day for the month of June. If you completed 10 layouts you could get a coupon and if you completed all 30 by July 7 your name goes in a drawing for the grand prize.

Today I finished my 30th layout. I am so proud of myself. For one thing, I was gone for an entire week in the middle of the month. And then I had to really stretch myself with these layouts.

Whether I win the grand prize or not, I will feel I have won b/c I have all these lo's to put in my albums.

YES! We made the paper!

Woohoo! This image was printed in today's paper, with a caption explaining the mural that DH has been working on for months. The mural is at the girls' elementary school. It features a teacher and 6 students, along with 27 famous Oklahomans. (That's gymnast Shannon Miller with the Olympic medal.) Of course DH couldn't resist including our own girls in the mural, and here Sarah is pointing to her portrait.

I e-mailed the pictures to the paper on a whim. I love that our paper publishes pictures taken by proud wives & moms!

This made my weekend

I came home Saturday afternoon to a Birthday/Mother's Day party, a flashing tiara, a decorated kitchen, a fresh baked cake, and (later) silly string. (Hey, you can't have a party without games.) Really, I have the BEST family. I am so lucky! And hey, my 10yo DD is getting to be a pretty good photographer, isn't she?

Tonight's Verse

Has anyone seen my May CK?
I've lost my May CK.
I needed it to scrap today.
Where is that May CK?


I was going to post a picture but it looked too much like the real me, so I decided not to...

Has Anyone Seen...

As I was looking for yet another scrapbooking tool that I'd misplaced, I was inspired:

Has anyone seen my punch, my punch,
Has anyone seen my punch?
I had it here before I ate lunch.
Has anyone seen my punch?

Has anyone seen my pen, my pen,
Has anyone seen my pen?
I had it here; I don’t know when.
Has anyone seen my pen?

Has anyone seen my book, my book,
Has anyone seen my book?
It was right in this little nook.
Has anyone seen my book?

Has anyone seen my blade, my blade,
Has anyone seen my blade,
I must have forgotten where it was laid.
Has anyone seen my blade?

Has anyone seen my chalk, my chalk,
Has anyone seen my chalk?
It was right here before my walk.
Has anyone seen my chalk?

Has anyone seen my ink, my ink,
Has anyone seen my ink?
What’s it doing in the sink?
Has anyone seen my ink?

Has anyone seen my die, my die,
Has anyone seen my die?
If I don’t find it, I will cry.
Has anyone seen my die?

Has anyone seen my brain, my brain,
Has anyone seen my brain?
It must have gone right down the drain.
Has anyone seen my brain?

Wed night ramblings

#1-It was confirmed today that Mattie has a very minor, very slight hearing loss. Her results were on the low end of normal, and a couple were borderline, if I understand correctly. (DH is the one who took her, so I'm basing this on what he told me plus the report.) We have to wait for the dr to call us back, and he is out the rest of the week. (He did some initial testing and examined her and then ordered the test she had today.)
#2-I've been looking around and my house, and debating some rearranging. MAJOR rearranging. In the past few years my scrap stuff has taken a bigger and bigger portion of the living room. It's not very pretty to look at. I don't know how I would be able to get my stash down to a size that could be easily hidden in a closet or under the pc table. But I'm thinking about that. (Then I could donate my paper rack to the Scrap House my sister & I have been joking about. Hmmm, maybe I could store some of my stuff there. Too bad gas is so expensive...)
I also looked at my kitchen. We have an ant issue and we had ants all over the kitchen table. I had a vinyl tablecloth on it so I just sprayed it and then wrapped the ants up in it and tossed it. My table is so pretty. The reason I keep the vinyl tablecloth is that the table is such a "central" place for us, and I did not want the kids to scuff it up and get playdoh on it and stuff. So I end up hiding it and that is too bad b/c it really is a pretty little table. (It is only about a year old; one of the newest pieces of furniture I have.)
My house, while nothing to show off, is very functional. I love it this way. But sometimes I want pretty. I feel like in order to have pretty I am going to have to give up practical and useable. Is there an affordable way to have both?
Joy

Warm Fuzzies

Today I was reminded about just how much I love my little girl. We took a walk at the park today, she entertaining me with stories about school, stopping to pet every dog, to chase a squirrel, racing me, playing tag. A lady called her "a perceptive little girl" after a brief conversation, and we had to talk about what that meant.

And I swear she walked 3 miles to my 1.5. She reminded me of the old Family Circus cartoons showing the funny paths that the kids would take to do something simple.

Anyway, I just got the warm fuzzies as I realized, again, how much I love this little girl, and how lucky I am to be her mom.

Blogging about a blog?

I am a huge fan of Stacy Julian. How excited I was to find her blog today! Here is the link:

http://stacysbigpicture.typepad.com/

I also found out she is teaching an online class on her Big Picture concept, and I'm thinking I might ask for that for Mother's Day/my birthday.

Gotta go scrap now while I'm inspired.

There came a man who was sent from God...

...his name was John. (I John 1:6)

I normally have an unwritten "rule" that I don't post about my work here. But today I am making an exception.

There was a man who was a leader. He was a leader in his workplace. He was a leader in his community. He was a leader in his church and in his family.

He was a man who cared. He cared about his work. He cared about his community. He cared about children and education.

He cared about me. I know, because every time I saw him he said hello to me. He asked about my children. He was important. I was nobody. But he treated me like I was somebody.

I went out to eat one night, and had to wait a few minutes for my reservation. I picked up a magazine about local people and events. There was an article about a couple who gave of themselves by volunteering in the schools, in Boy Scouts, and countless other community and civic organizations. It was about John and his wife. I showed the article to my husband. "They are not exaggerating," I said. I was really proud to know him, to work with him.

John Rex died this week, and he will be greatly missed. He was the President of the company I work for. And he was so much more. His legacy will live on. May I, and those who knew him, uphold his memory by doing likewise.

In loving memory, John Rex, 1933-2006

Me

Last night I was reading a scrapbooking book and trying to get motivated to do a layout. One suggestion was to interview your children. So I asked Mattie, "What is your mom's favorite thing to do?" And she replied, "Watch something funny that I did."

I asked Sarah, "What does your mom do when you're not around?" She said, "I don't know; I'm not around."

I asked each of them how tall I was. Mattie said, "I can't measure you," and Sarah said, "5 feet 9." (Of course Sarah thinks that *she* is 4'11". I think she misheard her teacher and she is really 4'7". I'm 5'2-1/2", and I hang on to that half!)

Mattie thinks my favorite food is spaghetti and meatballs, and Sarah thinks it is broccoli. Interesting that they each picked something they don't like!

They both know I "do math" at work.

As far as cartoon characters, Mattie said I was most like the mom on Rolie Polie Olie, and Sarah says I'm like the mom on the Cat in the Hat.

So there you have it, from the experts. :-)

It's been way too long

But I feel like posting tonight. Don't really have much to say, so I'll just post a picture of my sweet girl. Don't know how long she'll have this toothless grin, but I have to say, I love it so much!

Peter and the Wolf

Our local orchestra was doing a performance of "Peter and the Wolf" today. It was sort of short notice, as I only found out yesterday, but we attended today.

It was great. There was an hour prior to the concert with activities such as storytelling, making puppets, hearing the conductor speak about the various instruments, and Mattie's favorite, trying out the instruments. Along with the music, there were folks from Ballet Oklahoma who acted out the story.

I guess I've always thought of concerts as stuffy, and not much fun (unless I was performing--love that!) but this was just the opposite. I have long loved the story of "Peter and the Wolf" and it was wonderful to share it with Mattie today.

We couldn't take pictures during the concert, of course, but here is Mattie next to the Civic Center Music Hall Buffalo out front, and another of her trying out the French Horn. (Couldn't get a front shot.)


What a great day!

RAIN!!!!!

I don't know how long it has been, officially, since we had a measureable rainfall. All I know is that for the last month, Oklahoma has had so many fires that many counties have been declared disaster areas. All I know is we are "behind" in our rainfall by 12 inches or more.

Most years I don't like the grey, wet but not snowy, cool miserable weather we have in January.

Today is different. Today I welcome the rain. Today I appreciate the beauty of the grey skies meeting the parched brown landscape. Today, I hope it will rain a little more, a little longer.

Today I thank God for the rain.

Ah, Friday night...

There is something about Friday night. The girls are watching Princess Diaries II. DH is eating dinner. I'm surfing. There is something about Friday night...

Tonight's task is to learn to post a pic. So here is Mattie, showing off the space where a tooth used to live.

Cool! It worked!

Hmm, what else can I learn tonight? I'd better get dinner for the girls first.

Gotta post!

My Christian Scrapping Friends may come check me out! I feel almost the same as when I have 30 minutes to prepare my home for company. What can I post that's both meaningful and interesting to read? I'm not that great of a writer. Think of something, quick!

OK, Sarah made the Superintendent's Honor Roll this quarter! That's straight A's! I'm so proud of her! Woohoo!

Mattie was so cute tonight--she had to play in her Pooh costume. Don't ask me why. Don't ask me to post a photo b/c I haven't figured out how.

DH is home (he was gone for a week) and the limerence is high at my house tonight.

While I couldn't sleep

...I prayed

...I folded some laundry and put it away

...I hung up some clothes

...I watched "A Kid in King Arthur's Court"

...I cleaned out my closet

...I turned on "The Human Stain" but couldn't get into it

...I took a Tylenol PM and waited for sleep to come

...I ate another chocolate chip cookie

...I wrote a note to Sarah in case I'm sleeping late tomorrow

...I played Zuma

...I pea'd

...I blogged

I think it's finally time. Good night (or is it morning?)

Distraction

I went to call the office today. Saw I'd missed a call from Greg and called him back instead.

I went to e-mail my sister. I saw that I had a bunch of messages from my moms list, so I had to set up a new filter. I had installed some new software and rebooted my computer before I remembered about my sister again.

I poured a glass of iced tea and set it on the counter. The ice was melted by the time I remembered it.

I started the laundry. (My friends say it's never really done anyway.)

I did 3 scrapbook pages for a swap. (I need 4.)

I set out some margarine to soften so I could make chocolate chip cookies. It should be ready about now...

I never did make that phone call I was supposed to make before 4--until 6!

And that was just today...

Should I or shouldn't I ...

...Consider using a portion of my 30 days of personal time this year to stay home and clean my house? Would it do any good? Would it be clean for just a day or a week and then revert to it's normal state of disarray?

Or could I actually successfully retrain myself to actually finish the dishes before bed and hang up my clothes when I change into my pj's?

It is a ponderous question. I welcome any and all comments.

Tagged again

Do you have a favorite holiday treat?

pretty much all of it

What is your favorite family memory from your childhood? there are so many, but for now I'll go with dressing Snoopy the dog in doll clothes. He so hated that.

What time is it right now? 11:55PM (oops)

What song is on your (imaginary or real) Ipod right now? probably something from my Carrie Underwood CD

Digi-Scrapping, Paper Scrapping, or Both? Paper mostly, with the occasional digi enhancement

Coke or Pepsi? Coke, but only diet

Five things you would go out and buy right now if $10,000 fell into your lap? just off the top of my head: some new clothes for work, the Khaki QuicKutz alphabet--the whole thing, an Ipod, a scrapping armoire, some books, a tattoo for Jonna


One thing you absolutely, unequivocally LOVE about who you are.I can do math.

Name one quote, song lyric, overused sentiment, whatever , that means a lot to you, that changed or shaped the direction of your life today. "Do everything without complaining or arguing." (NOT that I live up to that.)

What's your favorite color? Blue

(Yes, Jonna, you scared me with that tattoo thing.)

I'm tagging Karin again b/c I love her so much.