A "heart-sweet" moment

This week has been a sorta rough one for my sweet honey. He's working weird hours, isn't managing to get enough rest, and has had his world sorta topsy-turvy this week because our home has been turned into a scrapbooking whirlwind, and has somewhat disrupted our routines. That's not a bad thing - we got the biggest part of the project done, and on time, which is awesome. And we were SO thankful to have our sister and one of our best friends here with us for the past few days. That's been sweet. :)

But going back to the no-rest thing, he's been really helping with the little ones this week, which is wonderful. He hasn't been getting enough sleep, though. Yesterday he was so tired, he slept on the couch and we actually had people coming and going, and he never knew anyone was here... now that's tired!!

Today we all took about a 4 hour nap. That was nice. He fed the girls lunch while I carried on with the project at hand, and then they played in the office with me while he sat outside on the swing. Right now, he's sitting in on the couch, Monkey lying across his lap with her head on the armrest, and they're having a conversation. Not just a sporadic word to each other here and there, but a fully concsious, intelligent, almost grown-up conversation (well, on Monkey's part, anyway!). It makes my heart smile to hear them just enjoying each other's company like that.

The girls all think the sun rises and sets on him, and he absolutely adores each of them as well. But he doesn't often have the time or take the time to just sit down and talk with them. I believe that the snuggles and conversation will help both of them to be just a little more happy tonight.

And that's a heart-sweet moment. :)

*Smiles*

Another Share

Since I've already got PSP 9.0, I thought that it might be fun to attempt to do a digital layout using it. It's the program I use for all my photo editing anyway. It took me longer - it's a tiny bit more complicated than PSE, but it turned out well in the end. Thought I'd share my latest creation. :)

Created using PSP 9.0 & the "Refresh" digital kit from Scrapgirls.com.

I did it!!

After almost two years of wanting to attempt a digi page, I finally did it today!! I downloaded a trial version of Photoshop Elements 5.0 and installed it, then snagged a free digi kit from Scrap Girls and sat down to play. I'm SO proud of this page. It's simple, but I just had to share. PLMK what you think. :)

Software: PSE 5.0
All Digital Elements: Scrapgirls.com

Whatta week...

This hasn't been the best week for any of us by a long shot, but hey - it's the weekend again, and we've all survived!! Yipppeeee!!

Hannah has been sick all week with strep - yay. Ughhhh. The babies are STILL sick, and as of Wednesday, I've been sick. Eww.

Hannah went to the doctor and chose the hiney-shot instead of 10 days of antibiotics. The babies are getting Benedryl and acetominiphen for their allergies/fevers. Me - it's back to hitting the bottle. Nyquil, that is. I'm feeling somewhat better, but we REALLY need rain to wash the allergens down some.

Went to our favorite Mexican place for lunch today - Hannah turned 4 on Wednesday and we didn't get to celebrate with her, so we did it today since we were both feeling better. Man, it was SO hot outside when we came out of the restaurant. Went out shopping at the scrapbook store, and one of the signs we passed said it was 100 degrees out! I totally believe it. It was SO miserable, so I believe that I'll be staying in the house most of the time from now on.

It's also been a long week since Lori, Mom and Faith have been gone to CM in Lakeland. Flora did come up on Tuesday and brought Emma Grace, but she cried most of the night, so we didn't get much done. It was nice to see both of them, though.

A couple of bright notes - we got our car fixed and out of the shop on Tuesday. Yay!! It's been down since somewhere around or before Christmas. We also got the a/c fixed, so my sweetie can have a nice cool car to drive around and I'll have a vehicle again. :) We went out on a date on Tuesday night and met the nicest young man. He was our server and happens to be from London, England, so we had a great conversation. He was really encouraging us to take a trip to England, and gave me a website to check for great airfare prices. Maybe someday we'll get to go on that dream vacation. :)

I'm off to play with my new paperstickyfoldystuff. Have a fabulous rest of the weekend.

*Smiles*

A Good Day

After a rocky bedtime last night and calling Lori at midnight, really upset, I finally got to sleep early this morning. Even after she talked to me and got me calmed down, I couldn't just settle down and sleep, so I was very tired this morning. However, it was just Val and I today - Monkey's still sick and Hannah was with her Mom today. We napped, nibbled and cuddled. That's pretty much it for the whole day. It was really nice to have some alone time with her - we don't get that much.

Went to a crop tonight at the LSS in town that I haven't been to in probably around a year. Had a good turnout, which made me happy, since I'm the group leader & scheduler. I got 15 cards made. I'm trying to use up scrap paper and also make cards for various occasions so when I need a card for something, I'll have it ready to just pull and give.

Last night's dinner was a hit. Someone even went back 2 or 3 times for more cabbage, and I've been informed that it's a MUST make-again dish. :) It was really yummy. I'll try to post the recipe later in the weekend. Love it when I find or make a new recipe that turns out to be well liked.

Tomorrow (or should I say today), I'm off to yet another crop for some sister time. Looking forward to it, even though I'll have to leave for a bit to go to Hannah's birthday party. It's ok, though. Hopefully I'll be able to get lots more cards created while I'm there.

So you all be good and have a fantabulous weekend....

*Smiles*

Scrappin' & Yappin'!

I got up early this morning and went out to water my plants before 7:30am! I waited on the babies, but they never came. Seems Monkey is sick. So it was just Hannah and I for the morning.

Since she was doing her own thing, I decided to put together the layout I sketched out last night. It turned out really well, and I thought I'd share it. LMK what you think...

The journaling is this blog post. I just really really loved this picture for some reason and felt it just HAD to be scrapped. :)

I had a very special phone call a little while ago. Em called me and said she'd like to come by. We haven't seen each other since Christmas - I've been so out of the loop that it never dawned on me that it's been that long. But she's coming over this afternoon, so I'm really looking forward to seeing her. :)

Lori, Mom & hopefully the girls are also planning to come over for supper tonight as well. I've got the crockpot filled with pork chops with apples, onions & cabbage. It smells awesome. I also made a wonderful tomato salad yesterday. Will try to get a picture of it and post my recipe if it's a hit tonight. Am planning to make some mac & cheese a little later this afternoon, as well as oven roasted squash & onions. Watermelon for dessert. I'm SO loving all this fresh new produce right now!! :)

I'm off to put something relatively cool on so I can sit in the swing out front while Hannah swims. Have a fabulous day!!

*Smiles*

Note To Self:

Do not update your Internet Explorer at 12am, especially when there are five critical updates to download and install. Be aware that if you do, you will be up until almost 2am, waiting on the system to go through all sorts of checks and scans before it will reboot so that you can turn it off.

And while you're waiting, be sure to have at least three complete catalogs to read, all of the junk mail from the past three days to sort through, and a layout that you need to sketch out and get together so all you have to do is print out the journaling when said computer is back up and running.

Oh, and make sure that you are really, really tired and ready for bed when you hit that "restart now" button. Grrrrrrrrr!

Yep, it's now 1:52am and I'm STILL not in bed. Oh, and I'm going to get three little girls between 7:30am and 8am tomorrow. AND the Salvation Army people are supposed to come and get all the junk out of our garage so we can walk through it again and the driver never bothered to call me as promised to schedule a pick-up time, so I have NO idea if or even when he's coming. Whaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!

So can I PLEASE get some cheese and crackers to go with my whine???

And through it all, I'm still.....

*Smiling*

Good night!! :)

For you...

Used with permission from FzyWzy

Sharing...

It's been an interesting day today. The girls are in rare form - don't know if there are storms in the forecast or if it's full moon or what, but they've been whacking each other, knocking each other down and just being kids. Val's trying to move into her "terrible twos" early. LOL

Anyway, I managed to get a few really cute photos this morning and wanted to share!

The girls love to climb on "My Pete"!

Isn't this just too cute??

My sweet Val - I just love the look on her face. :)

Val looks so sassy here! And yes, for those of you who were wondering - those are my SU! stamp blocks - the kids love them! :)

I looked over and saw that Hannah and Val were sitting in the block basket, and Monkey has her feet in and was upset that she couldn't sit in it too!! They cheesed it up for the camera. LOVE this!

From the mouth of babes....

"Sorry I knocked you in the brain." - Said by Hannah to Monkey after smacking her in the head with a wooden block. Not "head", but "brain". Guess I need to educate her on the difference! LOL

Yes, she's been punished. Stood in the corner and is now sitting in a chair, waiting for Peter to come home.

Too funny, though.

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*Smiles*

Boy, it's hot outside!

The weekend was so nice and cool - perfect weather for sitting outside. A lady came by the house this afternoon and I stood on the porch talking to her for a little while. I was SO ready to come back inside!! It's just WAY too hot for me out there!! I did enjoy some outside time early this morning with the girls, though. It's really nice to sit in the swing and watch the birds, squirrels and cars that pass by.

My herbs are loving the heat, though. My basil has doubled in size in just two weeks! I've got a craving for fresh tomato salad with feta cheese, fresh basil & balsamic vinaigrette dressing. YUM!!

We got our weekly basket from the CSA yesterday. Got some greens that need to be cooked, sweet banana peppers, garlic, onions, potatoes & squash. I'm looking forward to getting things other than green stuff in my box soon! There's nothing like a vine ripened tomato that is still warm from the sun, sliced and put between two slices of bread with plenty of light mayo, salt & freshly ground pepper. Can you tell I haven't had lunch yet? LOL

Hope we get some rain soon. We so desperately need it. The rain we got Friday was wonderful, but our area has such a huge deficit from the past few years that it's just terrible.

One last note - a dear friend of mine told me this morning that she's been diagnosed with lymphoma. The particular strain that she has is normally extremely aggressive, but somehow hers is less aggressive. She has been fitted with a port for chemo already. She desires prayer, though. So those of you who can pray, please do. Her name is Virginia. She certainly would appreciate it.

Have a fabulous day!!

*Smiles*

Fun Weekend

Yesterday, Peter, Mom, Lori and I went to the monthly crop in Helena. Got to hang out with our friends, do some scrapping and a little shopping. I spent way too much money, but that just means I'll have to scrimp somewhere else. Got a beautiful album for $15.00, which was great. All my others are full. I counted all my full albums up last week, and since October, 2003, I've completed 10 albums, so that makes me feel good. Getting those memories preserved for whoever wants to look at them, and it's relaxing.

Today, I got up when Peter got home. He brought all my stuff in from last night, and I put everything away and finished the layout I didn't have time to finish last night. I chilled out all day and enjoyed a bagel from Panera. Yummmm-O!! This evening we went to the VBS program, and Peter got to video the whole thing. Hope it turns out well.

So now I'm exhausted, and am headed off to bed. Hopefully tomorrow will just be a chill day - I plan to cook lunch, but I think it'll just be something simple, cool and light.

Hope you're having a good weekend as well.

*Smiles*

Free Root Beer Float Day!!

And who doesn't like a root beer float, especially when it's free???

Tonight, June 7, between 8pm and 12am, you can go to Sonic, push the red button and order a FREE, yes, I did say FREE root beer float.

Have fun!

FYI

We took the girls to O'Charley's today for lunch because of their "kids eat free" thing. So we get our check, and they charged us for all 3 girls' meals. Yikes!! Just wanted to give a heads up to those of you who like to take your children there to let you know they discontinued it. :(

It's so quiet

I'm sorta getting a feel for how all the mothers out there feel when they send their little one off to school. Hannah got to go to Bible school this morning, a very sweet lady stopped by to pick her up, which was wonderful. I feel a little lost without having her here - she's my little helper - but I'm sure she's having fun.

Now the other two babies are asleep and it's SO quiet in our house! Peter's at work and I'm on the computer. I can hear the radio in our room playing very faintly and the sound of myself typing, but other than that, it's absolutely still. Weird. Even when the girls are napping, there's usually some sort of sound going on.

In the meanwhile, I think I'll have some breakfast and play with my paperstickyfoldystuff. :)

Here's a photo of Val yesterday. The girls were playing with sidewalk chalk, and when she turned around, this is what we saw:



Isn't she a funny little thing??

Have a fabulous Tuesday...

*Smiles*

Yep, it's Monday!

Saturday, several of us went to Rosie's for lunch. While nibbling on my chips & salsa, I noticed a distinct grittiness. Yuck!! I managed to get the source out and upon investigating it further, realized it was part of my tooth!! Double yuck!!

I dealt with it over the weekend... no pain, no sensitivity to heat or cold, just little bits of grittiness whenever I ate. So this morning, I called my dentist's office as soon as they opened, and was able to go in right after lunch. Yay!!

I ended up having a (rather large) filling removed, and a new one put in, as well as a bunch of x-rays. The tooth has a crack in it, but they're hoping the filling will work for a while until our insurance will approve getting a crown put on.

The moral of this story: Don't eat Java jelly beans if you want your fillings to stay intact!! I've been hooked on jelly beans lately, and this is what happened. Apparently, the gumminess pulled out part of my filling....

So looks like I'm going to be abstaining from the yummy treats for a while.

Now Peter's gone to p/u dinner, and here I sit... the medication is wearing off, the feeling's coming back, and I'm wondering just how o earth I'm gonna be able to eat!

Yep... it's Monday all right!

*Smile*

Busy week

Since it's been a week since I checked in, this post might be a "little" long....

Saturday, we did.... NOTHING!! Yes, that's right. We napped, chilled out and just did absolutely nothing except bag up our Avon orders. And it was so nice to just be together and not be busy with life stuff. Sometimes we just have to do that. :)

Monday, Lori and Mom came up and we cleared out the office and set up tables in here and scrapped all day. I got 5 layouts done, which is great. The girls were here as well, they hung out and did their own thing, then Tausha came and brought Emma for supper.

Peter "worked" until around 2pm. He was put to work grilling for a lot of the group homes. When I spoke to him, he was on his 5th rotation of food on the grill and still wasn't done, and it was a big grill. He came home with a 9"x13" pan of meat that was left! The supervisors divvied out pans full to each house, and then he got one for being the cook. That was nice.

He pulled out the grill when he got home and cooked up an awesome dinner for all of us. Flora made macaroni salad and baked beans to go with, and they were soooo tasty. We had a blast just hanging out with each other.

It's been a hot and smoky week, and I've been dealing with major sinus/allergy issues because of the smoke, but I'm feeling somewhat better now. Am taking OTC Claritin and it's helping quite a bit, thank goodness.

Yesterday, Peter and I planted all our earthboxes, two other big pots with coleus and dusty miller, and repotted a peace lily and Christmas cactus. The walkway in front of our house looks so nice right now. The herbs we settled on planting are basil, oregano, parsley and thyme. He has looked all over town and we can't find a store that has chives on hand, so we'll keep looking and I'll pot them inside. :)

The girls were outside playing while we were busy - I stripped the babies to their diapers and they all three had fun playing in the water hose. They all ended up thoroughly soaked, then they played with the sidewalk chalk, and played out in the yard. They wore themselves out, so we brought them in and gave all three of them a nice shower, and fed them lunch, then it was naptime. By then, it was really nice to have about 45 minutes to just chill out and hear nothing. :)

Here's a few pictures from the past week:

Princess Emma enjoying the great outdoors

The view fom the front porch. The plant in the orange pot came inside last night. We're planning to paint the blocks so they don't look like blocks. Hopefully it'll make them look nicer.

"Wave" petunias. He thought he'd gotten two pink ones, but the one on the right is purple. I really like the colors. Hoping they'll spread out and get really full.

I got this cactus on Freecycle - one of the best groups there is! It was in a 6" pot, and I didn't realize how huge it was until we got it repotted in this 12" hanging pot. I'm really hoping it'll take off and grow now, and hopefully bloom.

And lastly, my wonderful honey - the hard worker that made all this planting possible. Actually, he did the bulk of the work while I corralled the children and "stupidvised". I did help, don't get me wrong, but he did all the heavy lifting and most of the actual planting. Thank you, Honey!!!

Hi, Y'all!

Just thought I'd update quickly to let everyone know that we're still alive around here. Life is what it is, which right now, is pretty good. :)

Lori and at least one of her children have been at our house for the past 4 evenings, and we have totally enjoyed their company. Peter and I cooked a large Southern meal last night, and we all really enjoyed that.

There's also been some paperstickyfoldystuffplaying around here, too. My desk is now cleared off and I've made 2 sets of cards last night and today. Lori is here working, hoping to scrap in a bit, and Mom's here scrapping for a while, too.

Peter brought our swingset out front and powerwashed it this morning, and he's taking some furniture out of the living room to give away. So there's more room in there. Yay!!! Now we can set up the second pack-n-play in the living room so the two babies can each have their own nap space.

Tomorrow, we want to finally get our Earth Boxes cleaned out and replanted. We're doing one with just spearmint tea, another with several different herbs and the last one with flowers. Can't wait to have fresh herbs at our fingertips. :)

Monday, Peter's planning to grill out. Yay!! We're trying to get our game plan together for who's bringing what. Hopefully we'll be able to throw down. Oh, and while he's cooking... the ladies will be SCRAPPING!!! :D

So you all be good and have a fantabulous weekend.

*Smile*

Scrapblock Is Gone!

Wow, I think my scrappy dry spell is well and truly over, which is a GOOD thing!! Last weekend we went to the Helena crop and I did six layouts in about 5 hours. Yesterday, Mom, Lori and I went to a crop at the local scrap store and I got 8 more done!

Let me just say that I'm absolutely loving the Becky Higgins Sketches books! They help me SO much, and I'm able to be much more productive instead of spazzing over the layout.

I also have been really trying to use my older products. Who's to say that just because something is a couple of years old, that we shouldn't use it? I'm tired of trying to keep up with all the latest trends, and since I've got stuff, I may as well use it.

I've also been totally rockin' the Basic Grey papers, as you can tell here. I've been "careful" with it for so long, instead of using it, and finally decided that I'll enjoy it more if I have them in books. And that was a very wise decision. :)

Finally, I got up this morning and reorganized my scrap desk and I think I've got stuff where I can actually work now. It's been a work in progress, with tweaks here and there to see what works best for me. I set up everything just the way I do when I go to crops, so I'm really hoping it'll work for me. Now, I'm off to submit a few things to Basic Grey to see if they'll publish me again.... :)

Smiles!!

My babies being ballerinas. I LOVE this layout... it makes my heart smile. I bought the quote a while back, and never found anything to use it with. It seemed to be simply perfect for this layout. If you can't read it, it simply says "a little child, a limber elf singing, dancing to itself".

Since these photos are so bright and colorful, I really like the muted tones of the papers and cardstock and the calming vibe they give this layout.

It was pure chance that the lighting was so phenomenal when I took these photos of Monkey taking a nap using her baby as a pillow. I really love the softness of these BG papers and the way they contrast the vibrance of the photos.

My first ever layout using Wild Asparagus!!!

Groovy LO using Daisy D's papers and Junkitz blossoms. I really liked the concept of using "masculine" colors for a little girl layout, and I really love the way it turned out.

A Very Special Day

Today was a wonderful day for Peter and I. For the first time in over two years, we got to see our great-nephew, Caleb. We've missed him terribly, and not being able to see him made our hearts ache. But today we got to not only see him, but we got to help him celebrate his 10th birthday. I just can't believe how big he's gotten!! He's SO tall, well spoken, articulate, and sweet. It made my heart sing to be able to hug him and let him know how much I love him. In all, I'd say we had a GREAT day...

Handsome!

Giving Caleb a long-awaited hug

Sweet family

Sk8tr Boi!

Loving siblings - aren't they SO cute?

Caleb going incognito!

My world

As I was going through my photos just now, I found this photo. It's sorta blurry, not in focus, and it doesn't make a lot of sense to the unknowing eye. However, it's a perfect snapshot documenting a small slice of my world...

• There's my laptop, that wonderful tool that helps me keep in touch with loved ones far and near, with an email being composed to someone that I care for very much.
• My Stampin' Up! book opened in front of it, ordering something that I enjoy and which inspires my creativity.
• The pen that I snitched from my sweetie, simply because it's a fine point, and I absolutely adore the way it writes.
• My letter opener, which my loving older brother made for me a few years ago while he was unable to work. I lost the finial thingie on the end, but I'm still just as proud of it now as I was when he gave it to me. :)
• My ever-present notepad (Yes, I do realize it says Viagra on it, but I got it back when I worked for Dr. Ditoro, so it's all good), which I use on a daily basis to write down important things, like my evolving lists, phone numbers, and cool websites I want to visit.
• My trackball, which save my wrists from a lot of wear and tear, since I have carpal tunnel problems.
• My yummmmmmy cinnamon roll candle in its' iron holder, which lets me burn it while it's sitting on my desk without worrying about fire.
• And in the back, my rubber stamps... the ones that I use to make fabulous cards and gifts for those that I love.

These are simply a tiny portion of the things that I use on a daily basis, but which make my life a little easier each day.

Yummmmy!

Warning: If you are hungry, you may want to eat before reading this.....

I'm absolutely loving this wonderful Spring-like weather. My windows are open today and we're just loving it. I'm going to take the girls outside in a bit and let them run until they wear themselves out. :)

Today's lunch was the first "official" garden lunch I've had. On the menu: fresh tomato sandwiches, radishes & spring onions, strawberries & a banana. Yummmm! Turns out Val loves tomato sandwiches as well. I had to hurry and eat the rest because she kept coming back for more. LOL

We got our first delivery from the CSA on Monday. I'm pretty pleased with the amount we got, considering that it is so early in the season. We got: lettuce mix, broccoli raab, radishes (all heirloom varieties), fresh garlic, green onions, oregano, collards & a dozen eggs. We've been on a weird schedule around here the past few days, so I just got a chance to clean everything up to use. The radishes & onions were part of today's lunch, and boy, were they yummy!

Although it's been a hard and fast rule that I HATE collards, my Mom should be proud of me - I have them all cleaned, cut up and in the pot cooking with some bacon. My honey said he'll eat them if I cook them, so there ya go. They don't smell anything like what I remember them smelling as a child, so I may just try a bite or two. Gotta have cornbread and hot sauce to go with, though. Oh, and some black-eyed peas...

Anyone wanna come over for supper???

12 Wonderful Years (And Counting)

Saturday is a special day for my sweet Husband and myself. We're celebrating 12 years of marriage. It doesn't seem like that long, but it does seem like my life only began when he came into it.

Fifteen years ago, my life was miserable. I was in the lowest spot I'd ever been in, the most miserable a person could be. I was beaten down, stripped of my dignity, and deserted by all those who supposedly loved me (with the exception of my Mom). Everything that meant anything to me was torn from my life, my whole world was destroyed. Then God brought a wonderful friend into my life.

He was a true friend. He held my hand when I needed a non-threatening human touch. He forced me to eat when I was afraid to. He let me talk about my woes and provided comfort as best he could. He loved me unconditionally, even when I betrayed his trust. He saw to it that I went back to school and finished my education. He even asked his sister to allow me to stay at her house when I became homeless. He was there for me every day and defended me against my enemies. He taught me that I could rise above the situation I was in and that I could become so much more than anyone thought I could.

I gradually came to trust him and on April 16, 1992, I told him that I loved him for the first time. He said he'd fallen in love with me as well. We have now been together for 15 years, and although it's been hard at times, I wouldn't take anything for my relationship with Peter. He's the most wonderful, loving, giving and hardworking person I've ever known.

Thank you for being there for me, loving me and putting up with me for these 15 years. I'm looking forward to the next 50 with you, sweetheart. I love you. :)

A Happy Scrappy Weekend

Lori, Mom and I went to a 12 hour crop for National Scrapbooking Day on Saturday. I was well medicated with Dayquil, and tried not to move around a whole lot, as I still felt really, really bad. Took my box of tissues, my medicine and Sprite Zero with me, too.

We were in an empty store that had lots of tables set up and we scrapbooked all day. I got a lot accomplished, which made me VERY happy. I did nine pages in all, which is great. Two of those, I want to submit for publication.

Lori did some running to the store for me to match up cardstock and such, which I really appreciate. Thanks, sis! The store was only yards away, but I was running a temp and got really flushed and weak when I stood up more than a few minutes. I really might not have gone, but I'd already prepaid for the day and I wasn't about to lose that money. After all was said and done, I'm really glad I went, because it gave me some much needed time with Lori and Mom. :)

Here's most of the pages I did....

It happens every time

Saturday is the big crop to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day. I have prepaid my crop fees, made big plans to spend the day with Lori and Mom and yet..... I am now SICK!!!

The girls have been snotty and snuffy the past few days and we thought it was just a cold. Well, then the babies' parents got it. And last night, I started getting stuffy. I thought it was just my sinuses from being out and about and then sleeping with the ceiling fan on.... NOT!

Today, it's been getting progressively worse. It still has something to do with my sinuses, but the congestion is moving into my throat. I felt so bad this afternoon that Peter had to finish cooking supper because I got too sick to handle standing over the stove. Now, I've got something special to do this weekend, and I can't be sick!!!

Sooooo, my sweet honey went and got some TheraFlu strips for me, and now he's gone to the store again to get some Nyquil for me. Looks like it's going to be an ukky night. Gonna slather myself with Vicks, swig some nasty green stuff and curl up under a multitude of covers to burn this congestion out. I may have a badge of honor (a fever blister) to show for my fight, but hopefully by Saturday morning, I'll feel fit as a fiddle. :)

Those of you who can pray, please pray that I'll get over this. It's at least the third time I've actually been sick this year. That's just way too much. I've got three little ones that I need to take care of, and I need to be well for all of us.

Warm weather supper

I'm so excited to see Spring has finally sprung! We're really looking forward to fresh fruits and vegetables, instead of hot house produce and frozen veggies. During the winter months, our staple fruits have been oranges, apples and bananas. Now we've been eating loads of fresh watermelon. Peter's actually found some that tastes good. Not to mention that it's berry season.... yay!! It's so easy to eat healthy when everything's so FRESH! I just *love* it!

Tonight, we had our first "official" warm weather supper. I made an old favorite - pasta salad.

The recipe is a blend of a recipe I got from a friend and my own recipe. We absolutely love it, and during the summer, we usually have it every other week. One recipe makes a pretty decent batch, and it's great for quick lunches as well.

Pasta Salad

• 1 package turkey pepperoni, each cut into fourths
• 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded & chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded & chopped
• 1/2 medium red onion, chopped
• 1 small can sliced black olives
• 1 small can mandarin oranges, drained
• 1 box tricolor rotini pasta, cooked
• 1/2 bottle fat free Italian dressing

Mix everything together, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

We had some focaccia bread that was wonderful. I added chopped black olives to the batter, and spread olive oil and sprinkled freshly grated Parmesan over it before baking. We also had oil to dip our bread into. It was soooooo good! For dessert was peach cobbler from peaches that we canned ourselves. Peter even had to take his supervisor a serving while it was still hot. Yep, the wife's trying to earn brownie points. LOL

If you've got a favorite warm weather meal, please leave me a comment and you can even include your recipe if you'd like to. I'd love to see what others are enjoying on those nice summery days.

On another note, I got an update from the CSA (consumer supported agriculture) that we decided to subscribe to this year, and we're supposed to get our first basket of produce on May 14th! Yes!!! I'm SO looking forward to having lots of organic, fresh from the field produce in our kitchen this year. I'll post photos of our basket when we get it.

I'm also hoping to be able to can some vegetable soup this year. We're trying to use up quarts of stuff that we canned the past couple of years so we can have enough jars empty. Don't really want to buy any more jars, so it looks like we're going to be eating from our pantry a lot in the next couple of months. :)

*Smile!*

Laid back weekend

It's been a blahhhh weekend here. Lots of chilling, not much else. Trying to get my sleep patterns back the way they should be. Getting mentally prepared for tomorrow. That's about it. Bedtime!

In a Scrappy kind of mood

I signed up for a card swap somewhere around 3 months ago. I just couldn't seem to get motivated, though. Tonight I finally finished. Whoooopie!! They're going into the mail tomorrow (I forgot to take pictures), and I feel like I've got a monkey off my back. Don't know why - I love playing with my paperstickyfoldystuff, but for some reason I just couldn't find my mojo. :(

Now that those are finished, I have a page all ready to be assembled, and it's one that I'm actually excited about! I'll try to be sure to share a photo of it when I'm finished.

We got a LOT of things done today that needed to be done. We shipped one package today, have two more ready to go out tomorrow, all my Avon is invoiced, just waiting on the shipment to come tomorrow. I've got his life insurance application thingie ready to turn in, got a sweet rebate form ready to mail. Needless to say, I can now see the top of my desk. Yeee haw!!

On another note, my sweet honey and I are making plans for a mini-getaway to celebrate our anniversary in a couple of weeks. I'm SO excited!! A whole weekend with my honey sounds SO wonderful. I'm thankful that he likes to work, but I miss him when his hours get so long.

So that's life at the moment.

Two major blessings this week:
1. Peter got a great review and a halfway decent raise. Makes the paycheck look much nicer. :)

2. I was putting something in the oven the other day and the lid slipped off. I thought I had enough room to just reach in and pull it back where it needed to be and I managed to get my knuckle right on the preheated element!! It hurt, but I ran cold water over it and it never even blistered. It is turning brown and scabby, but it's totally dry, and should be healed very soon. To me, that's a miracle, and I'm VERY thankful. :)

*Smile*

A Dog Day

No, not a dog day of summer, just one of those days when I feel like this....

So after at least a month of pretty good days, today has been one of THOSE days. The kind where I don't even want to be around me. Peter was a sweetheart this morning and took the two older girls to do some errands - thank you, Honey! Val and I hung out and nibbled on Jelly Belly's. The quiet was sweet (while it lasted). As much as I love the girls, there's just some days when I want to hear absolutely nothing. Hence, I've also been avoiding the computer. Ughhhh.

A huge portion of my irritability is the lack of sleep. Not just sleep, but quality sleep. I'm averaging about 5 hours a night again, and that's broken sleep. Double ughhhhhh.

My mantra today? - It will all be better tomorrow.....

Hopefully. :)