My how time flies!

It's been over a year since I blogged!! So many things get in the way and I feel guilty spending so much time on this laptop. Facebook is such "instant gratification" and lets me talk with lots of people everyday. Most of my computer time is spent there.
I've been staying busy with work and watching two of the grandkids while their mom works. It's hard to keep up with everything. I have a church dinner tomorrow for our new pastor and his wife. I need to do my month end statements etc at work and I have the kids all afternoon and evening. Grocery shopping needs to be done somewhere in there too. But, like a responsible adult I took this afternoon off and went to the casino with the hubby. LOL I needed a break from diapers and sippy cups. Of course I lost and he won. But that's ok since he has been on a really big winning streak. Between the slots and scratch tickets he has won a bundle the past 5 months!!! Makes him sound like a big gambler but he really isn't.
We bought a new motor for the pulling truck since the other one blew up last September. Wow that's one expensive hobby. But, it's something our whole family enjoys together. We've already booked our rooms for state fair in August. I just hope the truck stays together this whole season. Even with the bad luck in September Larry still won total points in both of his classes that he pulls in. We got two fancy jackets at the award ceremony. Looking forward for June and the beginning of season. Not sure how much video I'll get done. I'll have to take both kids with us most of the time. Wonder how I'll keep up with Shay?
Hunter got to ride in his first bikeathon today. He told me this morning that he'd been wanting to do that for 1000 years. I told him his dream would come true this afternoon. He went 1 1/2 miles and said he thought it was lame. LOL So much for that dream.
Tomorrow is Jared's Birthday. Can't believe he is nine. They are all growing in leaps & bounds. Hunter turns 6 in a couple weeks and then Darrin will be 8 a week after that. Cole turns 7 in July, Step granddaughter Jazz will be 8 in September and Ms Shay will be 2 in October. Wonder how many more grandkids we'll have. I never thought there would be this many! But I know more will arrive in the future.
So, I've been scrapping quite a bit lately. I have all my scrappy stuff organized and it's much easier to do. I can work on things while the kids play. I wasn't too keen on sharing my scrap room with them but it actually works better. I have been using some scrap kits that I ordered online from Out on a Limb Scrapbooking. They are really reasonable and I can put them together in a flash. I got a Cricut Expression for Christmas and have used it a few times. I also bought a Gypsy at a great price on Ebay. I even bought a Sure Cuts A Lot program and have a good library started of SVG files. All of those were free. I can use any font on my computer with this program too. So many things to play with......when I retire. LOL Not enough time for them so far.
I am getting so sleepy and need to wrap up this rambling. Tomorrow is a busy day at my house!!!

I forgot

I forgot how much I enjoy posting to my blog. I let everything get else get in the way. I don't seem to have energy for anything when it's cold outside. Can't wait for spring. Just stepping outside and breathing in warm fresh air can give me a much needed boost of energy. I intend to clean and purge as soon as the last worker pulls out of the driveway and the new addition is complete. Heck I should start the purging now and be one step ahead.
We are in wedding mode around here. My oldest daughter is getting married again on April 4th. This is her fiance's first marriage so they want a traditional wedding. And she gets a wonderful honeymoon this time. (I'm jealous.) They are going to the Bahamas for a week. We are making invitations on Saturday. All my scrap supplies are stored away in the basement. Glad she has the stuff we need and I don't have to unpack boxes to find mine.
Grandsons are growing and doing good in school. Shay is 4 months old now and can "Coo" with the best of them. She reaches out and grabs things but can't always control those little hands. She's getting better each day though. It's amazing how they change in one year.
I am on the diet train yet again. When will I ever learn??? I can't eat like I want to and still fit into my clothes. I have let myself go for a year and a half and finally woke up when I realized I would be in wedding pictures! {GASP} If you know me at all you can imagine my panic because I do not like wearing dresses. I am a jeans and t-shirt gal. No Fru Fru stuff for me. I look ridiculous and I feel awkward and uncomfortable when I wear a dress. Completely out of character for me. I am in a panic about what to wear. I'm sure Randi will take me shopping and bring me thousands of things to try on. I'm getting tired just thinking about it. LOL I'm confident that she'll find something to put me in that matches her wedding pictures though. I shall suffer in silence....well maybe not. Wish me luck in this quest!!

Wii Wii Wii all the way home.

We had a great Christmas here at home with our family. Jared and Hunter spent the night a few days before the holiday. They were mesmerized with all the presents under my little tree. (I was lazy this year and only put up a small one.) I told them that they could look but not touch. A little while later Hunter passed by me with a flashlight. I watched to see what they were up to. Sure enough, they were down on the floor shinning the light on presents trying to see the names. When I started wrapping this year I discovered that I didn't have any name tags so I did them on my computer and printed them out. I plan to do this next year because it was much easier. So all the names were clearly printed on the tags for the boys to read.
On Christmas day we pass out gifts after a late lunch. Our tradition is to take turns opening a gift starting from youngest to oldest. We had a surprise "one last present" hidden in the basement for each one. We brought them out after all the others were unwrapped. I had a bought each boy a foam sled board and they were so excited.....of course we had a record temp the next day and all the snow melted fast. But they got to use them on Saturday. I wrapped a Wii for each of my girls. Michelle got a new digital camera and tripod. We gave Craig a drill that he had been wanting. I love Christmas and always spend too much. Just ask Larry and he'll agree. But, for the most part I buy practical items. Everyone always gets clothing and the boys are happy to get them. Of course they need some toys to open too. I always get in trouble from the parents. But, I just call it payback.
Larry bought me a Wii also and we have enjoyed playing. Darrin and Hunter spent the night on Saturday. They were so excited to bowl and play baseball. Now remember, Darrin is only 6 years old and he had only bowled one game on the Wii when he challenged grandpa to a game. Would you believe he rolled a 175 game!!!!! He was so happy to beat grandpa. I had went to Walmart Friday evening and bought another controller and a couple more games. I found a Monster truck 4x4 game with a free steering wheel in the sale bin. I was excited to get it for what I thought was a great price. I knew my gang would love it. Sure enough that is the boys favorite game. I also bought Carnival games which we've only tried once but doesn't seem to be a game that we enjoy. I need to explore it without any boys around so I can figure it out. I should do more research before buying anything else. The games are kind of pricey. Anyone want to share their favorite game? I got a free game with my new controller and it has fishing. I haven't tried it yet but it sounds exciting. I also hit Ebay and bought lots of fun things. Boxing gloves, guns, sports pack, and steering wheels. I wanted 2 of each item and they were listed for a good price. Anyone have a Wii Fit? I need to research some more on that because that was why I wanted a Wii.
Now that the holidays are over I need to get back to my favorite hobby. However I packed up my scrap supplies before Thanksgiving because they had taken over my dining room and I needed the space for our family dinners. I have everything in the basement and need to decide where to organize a space. I really don't like scrapping in the basement. It is a finished basement but it just seems too detatched down there. Also I need to invest in better lighting if I decide to create a space there. I'm still holding out hope for a new addition to our house this spring so I'm hesitant to do anything permanent. So for now I run up and down the stairs gathering the supplies I need to work on my latest project. Such a pain because I'm always forgetting to grab something. I even contemplated switching the boys room to the basement so I can have their small room back as my sewing/craft room. I don't think they would like that though. I'll figure something out. Scrapbox would solve a lot of my problems. Think I can convince Larry that I desperately need one???? Me neither. :( May need to dip into my own money. (Gasp) Why does it have to be so expensive???

Getting behind

Ok, so I'm falling behind on my blogging. It's been a busy few weeks. I also fought a cold bug and finally won. We had a good Thanksgiving. I've been watching Shay and Hunter for Crystal while she works. I have been staying home most of the time with the baby because our office isn't finished yet with the remodel on one wall. That's a story for another time. We have gotten a new contractor to redo/finish it and will be taking legal action against the previous contractor. But since the weather has been so cold it's not a big deal for me to stay home. I can keep my work caught up on the weekends. It's taking a little time getting used to a new schedule. I have to get up much earlier and then have Hunter ready for preschool. Grandpa takes him to school and also picks him up in the afternoon. And it's been a challenge getting used to having a baby around again. It's been 4 years since we've had one in the family. It keeps me busy but I enjoy all those toothy smiles she's been handing out. Just starting to coo a bit now. She weighs a whopping 8 pounds but she still seems to be the boss of me. LOL Oh, I'd love to give the person that invented the pacifier a piece of my mind. That evil green glob of plastic is a pain in the neck. She loses it a hundred times a day and it's my job to plug it back in. It isn't even one of those cutsie ones. It is the one she got in the hospital and the only one she likes. I went through this with my first daughter and decided the second one wasn't getting anywhere near a one!! Life was much simpler without it.

Here's a picture of my boss and her "Sass-afire". See? It's about to fall out right now. Oh well, I guess that's job security.

Weekend

It's been a pretty quiet weekend at our house. It makes for long evenings now that it gets dark so early. We did go to the grocery store Saturday and that's always a shock. I only go once or twice a month and so it seems like I spend a lot. I spent part of the week baking for Thanksgiving. I have rolls, noodles, and pumpkin bars in the freezer. I am going to do more this week since the weather is going to be rainy. We don't have much going on at the office so I get more time at home.
We went to JoAnn Fabrics today. There is a big sale on fleece. It was 50% off and I had a bonus coupon for another 10% off my total purchase. I had the cutting lines backed up for awhile! It was really busy in there. Everyone always asks me what I'm going to do with that much fleece. I ended up spending $400 and that was after a 60% savings. I love a good sale!!
We went to watch the older boys play their second basketball game tonight. It's so fun to watch them. They are learning and getting better at playing.
For some reason I have been sorting through kitchen cabinets this week. I need to purge some of the dishes and things that I never use. Why do we keep these things? I don't get this "urge to purge" very often so I need to take advantage of it. I have been asking for a craft room to be added on for that past several years. Finally got hubby to call and get someone to come and give us an estimate on building a room and they have never made it here to see what we want. Guess I will have to remind him to call them back again tomorrow. But it will probably be over our budget. If so, I will be redoing my basement instead. Talk about purging......that will be a major job!! We have been under construction at the office for the past 2 months. The contractor is sooooo slow. We are fed up with them but they were paid last December and we're stuck with them until the job is finished. (Needless to say we aren't asking them for a bid for my new craft room.) Construction is never a fun time but, I'd be willing to put up with it for a new craft room. Maybe Santa will be good to me this year!! Maybe not......

Shay's first portraits

This one was taken by me. How lucky to catch a smile!!

Hunter (4) and Shay (2 1/2 wks) had their pictures taken a couple of weeks ago. I was so happy to get a CD with all of the poses and a release to print them. I need to do that and scrap them but we all know that takes awhile to get acomplished. I still think my favorite picture of Shay is one I captured by accident. Just as I took it she gave me a big smile. She was 2 weeks old in my picture.

Way Behind

I'm way behind on posting my swaps. This should catch me up. I enjoy going back and seeing all the ones that I have done.

My recipe swaps

A couple of Card swaps

Bookmarks for a swap last month.

I promise

Note to self: I promise to update my blog this week. I have lots of swap pictures that I want to upload. I have some Halloween pics to share. I even have a story to tell. But this is all I got right now!