A few pics...

Since I've been a pic-posting slacker, I decided to post a few recent pictures of some things we have done! We are regular jet-setters, what, between soccer games and races. That sentence was dripping with sarcasm, by the way.

So, without further ado, the the picture show begin!!

Since I'm so behind, I'm going to start with some more recent events because they are still fresh in my memory, heh.

We just came back from a race in Victorville. The kiddos did great, and our trip was made oh-so-much better because of the fact that we had a motor home to use!!

Here is Z making a jump:



And before the race, striking a pose. What exactly is he doing in this picture?!




Here is Miss C enjoying a nice warm cup of cocoa...




...before she tears it up on the track!!!



Here is one of H, my varsity soccer player, doing some practice shots before a game. She actually plays keeper, but she was warming up with everyone else:




Thanks for looking!!! *Ü*

I know...I'm all talk.

I say I'll be a better blogger. I say I'll post every day. I say I'll come back and update.

And I don't.

I'm all talk.

This is something I'm striving to work harder at...keeping up on things and balancing my time. You've seen me post time and again about budgeting my time and attempting to get over my procrastination issues. Well, Rome wasn't built in a day, was it? This is a little harder than I thought, and I'm really working on it lately. I have a big event that I'm gearing up for in January, and I need to have EVERY aspect of my life on track.

One day at a time, right?

*Ü*

Coupons, coupons everywhere!!!

It's been awhile since I've made a trip out to Rite Aid and Smith's to do my couponing. So, since I wasn't going to the stores...I wasn't clipping out my coupons.

Today, I spent about five hours clipping my coupons and sorting them. Yes, you read that right...five hours of my life I'll never get back.

But, now they are all sorted and looking all purty in their new little binder that I crafted (read: put baseball card protectors and cardstock dividers in a binder), and I'm all ready to go!! C and I are going when I get out of the store. Why, you might ask, is C going? Well, because I can't go anywhere without C wanting to go...and she needs pants. No, you cannot buy pants at Smith's or Rite Aid. We are hitting Walmart too. Good times.

I'm hoping that I can come out of these stores with a ton of stuff without spending a ton of money. It is possible...I've done it before. Couponing, I have discovered, is not for the impatient or those short on time. When there is something good in the paper that is advertised, chances are there are other sales NOT advertised that are just as good. This is the reason that I now carry my coupons with me ANY time I set foot in the grocery store!!! Nothing like getting toothpaste for 25cents a tube!!! woohoo!! Since you need PLENTY of time to coupon, I like to go by myself. It can sometimes take me about two hours or more to go through each of the two stores. But it is oh-so-nice to be able to browse leisurely, unless I have C with me, lol, and snatch up all the deals I can get!!

I'll report my savings tomorrow!!! (How's that for a cliff hanger?!)

Welcome to Wednesday.

Today has been pretty interesting for me. Not in the fact that I have been busy, but in the fact that I have been busy. Keep up with me, people.

I got up early this morning and started on my morning "regimen." Make the bed, throw in a load of laundry on my way downstairs, start the coffee, empty the dishwasher, make sure the girls are up, load the dishwasher, wipe the counters down. All of this before 6:05 am. Once the girls are on their way, load Z up with some breakfast and switch out laundry while he eats. Set out his clothes (c'mon...he's only seven!) pick up my bathroom. Take him to the bus, come home and get myself ready for work.

So far, so good. Although it's only been one day...But it's good to have goals.

A little slow at the store today. I could have gotten in a good nap today, but I sat on the computer and wasted away more brain cells. I'm learning that I really, really need all of my brain cells because whenever I take in more/new information, something important manages to squeak out of my eardrum, and I forget things. I need a notepad with a string to tie around my neck, just like what I threaten my kids with...

I think with my new found organization (remember, this is day one), I'm going to try to eek in some scrapbooking. You know, because I don't spend enough time during the day looking at scrapbooking stuff...

I'll keep you posted on how that goes. ;)

Where's Martha??

You know, kind of like Where's Waldo??

So, so, SO much has happened in the past few months that it will make your head spin. I've been so busy that I actually forgot that I had a blog. I know...blasphemy.

I have been super busy with the store, and things are looking good. It's a slow road, but there is a destination somewhere in all of this stress. I'm doing some inner healing, and I should be back in the saddle soon.

In other news, I have been "invited" to participate in a version of "The Biggest Loser" with some people here in town. Now, is this something I should feel flattered about? The jury is still out on that one... But I'm excited to do it and cannot wait until it starts!! I actually lost two pounds last week, and told D that I need to quit losing weight right now. After the look of panic dissolved from his face, he nonchalantly asked, "Why?" Well, duh!! I need to save my weight loss for TBL!! I figger I'll gorge up and then drop it like it's hot. Sounds good in theory...Wish me luck!!!

I'm very excited for October 20th. Ask me why. Okay, I'll tell you. My BFF and I are going to Mesquite after I close the store on Saturday and we are going to eat, watch a movie, eat, watch a movie, eat, watch a movie...oh, and eat!!! We may try to squeak in a pedicure too. I'm really in need of some R&R, and my BFF is just the one to spend it with. I can't wait!!!

Thanks for sticking with me and I promise that I will have more entries. *Ü*

Layout a day: July 12, 13, and 14

Um, yeah. So I'm behind in posting my layouts, heh. I've completed them just haven't sat down and posted them here. Here we go!!

Still using my stash. Some of these look oh-so beginner for me and others I really like.

Thanks for looking!!

Layout of the day: July 11

This is SO not one of my better layouts, lol. I'm not even posting this one on 2peas. But the way I'm looking at it is, "Well. It's done." *Ü*

Thanks for looking!!

Layout a day: July 10 (and July 9!!)

So, I felt really "guilty" for not doing a layout last night, lol. Great priorities, huh?! ;)

Well, I did two tonight. I'm breezing through those old pics!!!

Layout a day: July 9

There will be no layout for today. I am going to flake and take tonight off. I need to get other parts of me back on track and will be ready with another layout tomorrow!!!

Thanks for peeking!!

*Ü*

Layout a day: July 8th

Not much I could do with this picture, but I love the flowers and am so happy I still had the card!!

The colors are not showing up very well, but it is a very pretty pink and black combo of papers.

Thanks for looking!!

Layout a day: July 7

Still using my stash and finally scrapping older pictures that I've been putting off.

I really like this one!!

American Crafts papers and metal letters
Heidi Swapp tapes and brads
Bazzill flowers
Misc buttons, ribbon, rubons
Paint
Prima flowers

So, I'm getting motivated.

I'm getting motivated to get back into my cleaning and organzing groove. I've lost it recently since I've been so busy with the store and procrastinating at my job at home. It's time to get back in touch with my inner Martha. I'm so much happier when my house is organized, and I've really been slacking. When I'm organized, I feel like scrapping, or lounging with the kids, or even getting my other job done. When the house is a wreck, I don't want to do anything. Go figure, lol.

First on the agenda: pick a room/area to clean and organize.

I *had* started on my office a few weeks ago, and I got a TON accomplished. Three bags full of shred, two bags of trash...and that was just from cleaning off my desk and credenza ! Now it is time to go back in and finish.

I want to get it done from start to finish. Here is a small list of things I need to do in there.

• Clean out desk drawer and get rid of junk
• Finish going through credenza drawers, organizing and purging as I go
• Get all appliance manuals for this house in a binder
• Go through toy/household manuals and toss old ones and file new ones
• Clean up my book shelf and buy something so that my books quit falling through, lol
• Hang up my Disney pictures (this is going to be a Disney-themed office)
• Take down remnants from when my scrap room was in there
• Make and hang some curtains for the window
• The usual cleaning: dusting, straightening up, etc.

Hopefully soon I'll be able to get my futon/bed for that room and then I'll have a nice little guest room!!

I'll post pics soon!!

Layout a day: July 6th

Here it is! I squeaked it out before the end of the day!!

Check out this scrapbooker!!

My dear friend Sharla turned me onto this *awesome* scrapbooker last night. Seriously, I want to copy all of her layouts!!

Such bright, vibrant colors. Beautiful embellishments and layout designs. She does fantastic work!!!

http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/userprofile.asp?user_id=241561

(I can't figure out how to make her name a link. I'm having a bonehead moment.)

Check her out!!

Money. The root of all evil.

It just has to be.

When you don't have it, you desperately need it. When you DO have it, everyone else wants it and then it's gone. When you get more, it goes somewhere else too.

You need it to survive. You need it to do just about anything nowadays.

It's pure evil.

If I didn't love it so much...I would hate it.

Layout a day: July 5th

Here is today's layout!

I didn't realize what a challenge this would be as I try to use my stash and use older pics in my layouts. I'm really struggling, lol.

This is a bright, simple layout of my darling son when he was three. He's all of seven now, lol.

Thanks for looking!!

We're changing the name of the store...

...to "Scrap and Sauna."

Our air conditioning went out in the store today and, lucky for us, it was ONLY 120 outside. I was a completely sopping wet fool all day long until I closed down the store early. I just could not take it any longer.

I did manage to get the class kits all ready, so that is one thing that is done.

Please, cross your fingers that the air is working tomorrow!! I'm a sissy when it comes to the heat...especially if I'm indoors!!

Layout a day: July 4th

Here is today's layout. I'm really happy that I'm staying on track after getting off to a late start!!!

This is a plain-jane layout as I'm trying to use my stash and keep on my spending freeze.

Thanks for looking!!

Happy Independence Day!!

Today, we have a whole lotta NOTHING planned!! D is working part of the day, the store is closed, and the kids are home from rec. So, each kiddo picked out a movie to watch, we're gonna junk it in front of the tv all day long and then watch the fireworks from our back yard. C is sick today (has been for a couple of days), so we want her all well before they leave for soccer camp next week, so we're staying home tonight.

Have a fantastic holiday!!

Holy carp it's been a long time!!

Where, oh where to begin??? It has been ages since I posted and I am ashamed!! So much has happened but there is no way I can get caught up now, so I will just begin with today. :)

My friends and I decided...well, my friends decided after I bullied them into doing it...to do one layout a day for the month of July. Any extras are just that, extra. But we are to commit to one layout a day, either one page or two.

Well, we got off to a fantastic start. Not.

I forgot on Sunday and almost on Monday until S called me to remind me, lol. She, by the way, had not done hers either, lol. So, then I called D...who was shopping in Vegas...and told her she needed to hurry home so she could do her daily layout. Hahaha. Then, I called and left T a message, and she was "conveniently" out of town. Uh-huh. Great starts for all of us.

I completed two layouts on Monday, to make up for Sunday, and then I did a layout today, so *I* am current (nanny-nanny-boo-boo to you all). And here they are:

More/New pics of the store!!

So, we've been really busy with the store, and everything is coming along swimmingly!! Things are coming together, and we can really see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Here are a few current pics of the progress we've made so far. I hope you enjoy them!!

D, H, and M working on the flooring:


A view from one of the inside doors. All the painting has been done, and all the new flooring is in!!




Another view of the window with the curtains against the brown wall and next to the pink slatboards:



One of the inside doors in the middle of the pink slatboard:


And here is the front of our side! Fresh paint, pink door, new sign, and new handrails (they still need to be stained):

So I think I'm getting sick.

Ugh.

I think I'm coming down with bronchitis.

Everyone has had some sort of funk these past few weeks, and luckily I avoided it. But now I think I'm coming down with something. I have shortness of breath and it makes me cough. Plus, I have wonderful drainage down the back of my throat. Ick.

So, tomorrow I'm on the phone to see if the doctor's office can squeak me in so that I can recover before our liquidation sale on Monday!!!!! I *have* to be well for that!!

Wish me luck. ;)

If I wasn't so tired, I'd be exhausted.

(copy/pasted)

Man, am I BEAT!!!! I can barely keep my freaking eyes open right now!!!

I am trying this new thing...where I get up early (for me) at 5:30, and get my "work" work done right away. Then, I get ready for the day (go through the S's, lol). Then, I run errands or do whatever in the time frame that I would be at the store (when it opens). Then, I come home and do homey stuff and then go to bed at a decent hour.

Only, I haven't made it to bed at a decent hour in two days and I'm exhausted!!!!

I forgot what it was like to work like a dawg!! I need a wife!!

I'm trying to get ready so that I can balance everything when the store finally does open...and we're getting close to that!! I also have not taken a *coughcoughnapcoughcough* in a few days, so I'm extra tired.

Gah. I better make my first million on opening day....

Where do I start?!?!

So much has happened in the past month, that it will take me a month to tell you all about it!!! But I'll save the big news for this entry.

My friend and I bought a SCRAPBOOK STORE!!!!! An actual brick and mortar store, and we couldn't be more excited for it!!!

One day, we are discussing approaching the owner about buying into the store, and the next day, we owned it, lol. The timing was PERFECT, and everything went (almost) smoothly!! The store is not huge, but once we hit the big time, we can think about moving on up. ;)

Here are a few pics of the store. There are also a few afters (not many), and I'll post them after each "before" picture.

Here we go!! Click on any picture to make it bigger!

Here is the front of the store. We are going to put up awnings over the door and the window to the right. We are actually on the side/back of another store that faces the main street. That's my partner in there, lol.



The view from inside, by the front door:



This is the view NOW, and this desk is where the blue thing is in the above picture:



Another view from the front of the store, a bit away from the front door:



Here is another view, this time from the back of the store where the desk is now:



And here is the above-pictured window NOW with our new curtains (thanks, mom!!!):



We still have a lot of work to do in the coming weeks. We are having a giant liquidation sale in March (everything MUST go!!), and then we will close again for two weeks. During that time, we will paint, re-floor, and decorate, and also restock the store and our grand opening is April 9th!!! We will begin business that morning as The Scrap Shack!!!

Wish us luck!!!

Where has the time gone?!?!

I cannot believe how long it has been since I have posted!!! Wow!!

I have some very important, big news items in the works right now, and I am busting at the seams to talk about them!!! But I have to wait until everything is done, so keep checking back!!

Today is another busy day. Lots of work to do, and lots of things to do. My organization has been on hold for awhile, so hopefully that will be up and running some time soon. ;)

Keep checking back for updates!! *Ü*

Crazy days.

Man, things sure get crazy when I have a sickie kiddo at home. Thank goodness it wasn't her "usual" illness, but C has been sick for the past few days. I'm trying to get her well because we are going to see The Cheetah Girls on Sunday!! Woo hoo!! lol... We are also staying the night at The Paris, and going to have fun being tourists for the day!

I still need to upload pics from the basketball tourney; I haven't forgotten. Just been crazy busy!! So after I work today, I'll update again. Check back later!! *Ü*

Technical difficulties...

Blogger was down most of the day for me, so I was unable to do a well thought out entry today, lol. But I'll be back tomorrow!!

Happy Monday!!

Well, not really, haha. The kids are back to school, so that means a little more peace and quiet. But other than that, it's business as usual for me. I'm really jiving on the Motivated Moms chore sheet, and very happy that I'm keeping a clean house. And a happy mommy means a happy family, right?!

Today is a short entry because I really have to crank at work today. A few days off and I really put myself behind. You'd think I'd learn by now.

So hopefully I'll have time for another entry later today!!

TTFN!!

Thank goodness for Sunday.

We are not a religious family, but I am starting to really like the "Sunday is a day of rest" concept. We have been going like crazy lately, and it's nice to try and relax today.

The tourney went FABULOUS yesterday. Our girls team won three out of three!! They played back-to-back-to-back, so they were utterly *exhausted* when they were done. We almost lost the last game (22-24), but they pulled it together. I will post some pics once I upload them.

Today's agenda is pretty relaxing. I just finished a bacon and egg breakfast, the troops are fed and full, and the kitchen is clean. Just a few topical chores to do and then I need to work for a few hours. But that is no problem either. ;)

I hope you all have an exciting and relaxing Sunday too!

Glad we didn't want to rest today...

H has made the basketball A-team (lol, for all you 80s peeps) at her school this year, and we are so VERY proud of her!! But...along with greatness comes great responsibility. Like practice for 2.5 hours EVERY SINGLE DAY. And "tournaments" in another city an hour away for the ENTIRE day.

We are heading to Alamo today for a basketball tournament. Now, when *I* think of tournament, I think of the best-of-the-best hashing it out for number one. But these kids JUST started playing again, so I'm not too sure what to expect. I only know that we have to drive for an hour, there are three games, and we won't be back until late tonight.

Wish us luck!!

Pictures will come later!!!

Busy, busy, BUSY!!!

Wow. Who knew that housework could keep a person so busy?! But I do love a clean, organized house, so I keep going until I'm satisfied...which will probably be never.

Organizing is a sort of passion of mine. I always tell D that if we were rich, I'd have every single item in our house organized, in a box, with a label, all matching. Ahh...a girl can dream, right? But the same thing always happens to me: I get in an organizing tizzy, I buy some boxes to store stuff in (I buy what the budget will allow), and then I organize. When I need more boxes (and the budget allows)....they are always gone. So. I have hodge-podge storage boxes.

I think that I need to win the lottery, collect my winnings, and spend a weekend in The Container Store. It's the organizer's Disneyland. *sigh*

I've come to a conclusion.

In my many, many diet programs I've gone through, I have come to the conclusion that there is one product I MUST have to keep my sanity.

Coffee.

I love to drink coffee in the mornings. It's not so much the get-up-and-go factor because caffeine doesn't really affect me. I can drink a huge Starbucks frappuchino and then crawl into bed, lol. I believe it is the way it makes me feel. Coffee makes me warm inside. It warms my hands. It tastes good. It's comforting, but not in the way that a cheeseburger used to comfort me. Can you relate? Am I looney?! Wait. Don't answer that.

So. I have decided that in order for me to succeed in my current program, I am going to allow myself to have a morning cup of coffee. It gets my day started, gets me warmed up, and makes me happy.

On a roll!!

Yesterday went *fabulously* well, with almost all of my little goals I set getting accomplished. I can't wait until it just becomes upkeep and not major cleaning.

Today is day two of my cleanse, and I'm feeling just a little hungry. I am down two pounds this morning though!! Yippee!! I was starving yesterday, so I did "cheat" and eat a few pieces of lunchmeat and a few carrots. Heck, I went from eating huge...to drinking, lol. Cut me some slack. ;)

I got up again at 6AM today and exercised!! Two days in a ROW!! You're witnessing history here, folks. I feel great, though, and I'm going to slowly start increasing my time by the end of the week.

D is home sick today. He's been fighting bronchitis for a week now, and working NYE on the strip didn't help him much, so he's taking a breather from everything today. I hope he doesn't throw off my groove.....;)~

What is this strange word...exercise...?

Today I began my quest to lose weight. I got up, and I exercised for ten minutes STRAIGHT!!! lol...

Adding to the exercise, my friend and I are doing Isagenix, which is a body cleanse, with a lovely side effect of weight loss. And weight loss, dear readers, is our friend.

Isagenix is a program that is designed to go after the toxins in your body. When we ingest toxins, our body does not know what to do with them, so it surrounds them with fat and stores them in your body. When you lose weight, you do not lose the toxins because your body is afraid of letting them go. The cleanse attacks those toxins, you lose those fat cells, hence the weight loss!!

I am not going to post my weight because gawd knows there aren't that many numbers, lol, but I'm excited to see some results!!

Happy New Year!!!

A great big welcome to 2007!!!

Ringing in the new year was uneventful at our house, as always. The man had to work and keep the city streets safe, and the kids and I sat around, watched movies, and put away the Christmas decor. It's nice to have my house back.

C fell asleep at...oh...11:55pm, lol. I went in and shook her up and made her come downstairs! H and Z came down, we watched the countdown on tv, the girls popped poppers, we called the man....and we were done. Happy new year everyone. Now go to bed.

Today is the first day of 2007, and I'm starting out on the right foot! Hey, there's a blogger entry, right?!

I've already downloaded my 2007 motivated moms planner, which helped me TREMENDOUSLY last year in keeping my house clean and my sanity in order. That is, it helped me when I used it, lol. But this year EVERY DAY will be used!!

I think today I will organzie my office area. Baby steps, right?! ;)

Lookout 2007....

The new ME is going to be WHAM! in your face!!!!

Stay tuned.

*Ü*

No longer a virgin...

I received my first piece of Tiffany & Co. jewelry!!

Our 11th anniversary was last week (more pics to come later), so we spent the night at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas! While we were there, we walked over to the Bellagio shops, and there was a Tiffany store! I had been mentioning that I would like a bracelt from them, and I also have a beautiful necklace in mind (hint hint, hubby!), so we went in and shopped!!

I am now the proud owner of this beautiful piece:



















A girl could get used to this!! ;)

So much to catch up on...

...and so little time.

SO much has happened since my last entry. Too much to list right at the moment.

But!!

I'll be back after some major house cleaning, and I'll spill all the sordid details. Okay, not sordid, but they're details....lol.

*Ü*

Meh. Just meh.

Feeling a little down in the dumps today. No idea why though, lol.

Meh.

Reality check.

I have come to a very serious conclusion in my life.

I have too much scrapbooking stuff.

That's right, you heard me. Too much.

I am convinced that if I were to scrapbook every day from now on, I would never need to buy any more supplies except for the occasional adhesive.

Today I decided to start "organizing" (hearty laugh) my scrap area. I found a cheaper way to go and hopefully it will turn out like I envision it. I still have a few more pieces to buy, but I'm on my way.

I put a table on top of the shelves I have now until I get a real table top, just so I can get an idea of how/where things will go. I'm hoping I didn't shoot myself in the foot by going a bit cheaper, because as I'm looking at it, I have NO IDEA where everything will go, lol.

I do know that I will need a bookcase to house my albums, and I *know* that I do not want anything sitting directly on the floor if I can help it. So, now the game of "will this fit here" begins.

Wish me luck!

Here is just a snack of what visiting guests see in my house right now. *eyeroll*

Freakin' wind

Ugh.

It is forEVER windy here. I don't mean, "Oops, my skirt blew up" windy. I mean, "Dang, my skirt is covering my HEAD" windy.

Add to the wind the fact that we are surrounded by acerages of DIRT and SAND and TUMBLEWEEDS....this makes Jane a grouchy girl. >:(

Just needed to vent.

Carry on.

I've been tagged!!

I'm so lucky to have received my first tag from the sweetest person EVAH!! TANGEE!!!

Word association. Tangee's words, my association:

Hobby scrapbooking

Fun shopping

Life family

Passion love

Mountain camping!!


I'm tagging JenK and Carrie!!

Here are my words:

Travel

Weather

Suitcase

Car

Sweater

Have fun girls!!! *Ü*

How does your garden grow?

Well. I've wanted to plant a garden in my backyard ever since we purchased this house almost two years ago. We're on an acre, so there are other things that need to be done first to begin the layout of the backyard, such as building D's workshop and setting up a pen for the (future) chickens. We also need to extend our patio and do a few other things.

In my true fashion, I have no patience and want a garden now lol.

On Tuesday, I ran down to Ace Hardware and purchased two plants: one green bell pepper plant and one tomato plant. I've had a huge (empty) planter sitting on my front patio for a long time, and now it has life!!

I hope that my non-existent green thumb decides to show up this time around!!

Salsa, anyone?!

Bid puppets, BID!!!!

Today I listed a few (read: tons) of stuff on ebay.

Since my most recent purging phase I've had two boxes of rubber stamps sitting in my office, waiting to find new homes. Today I took pictures and posted some of those puppies in the hopes that someone on the World Wide Web needs these stamps...at any cost.

Even if I made what my starting price is, that's more than they're making sitting here collecting dust, right?

Check 'em out!! Feel free to bid if the desire strikes you....

MY AUCTIONS

One more thing...

Since I had the sewing machine all dusted off and out, I whipped up a cute.....

...jeans purse!!!

There's a craft show coming up soon so I thought I would sew up a few of these and see how they do!!

I don't think this is too bad for no pattern, my first try, and breaking two needles, lol. I still need to figure out how to put a liner in it but it has possibilities!!!

Here is the purse hanging on a chair...




...and modeled by my lovely assistant...

Curtain call!!!

In my usual manner, I get a wild idea and I cannot rest until I get it done. Ask D. He'll tell you how I am with a great big eyeroll... :)

I decided that I wanted to make my own "custom" curtain top for my kitchen. I watch WAY too many decorating shows and read WAY too many decorating magazines, and then I get carried away.

Today I dusted off the ol' Sears sewing machine and went to work!! It took me a little bit of time to get it right, but I'm liking the finished product!!

The first time I put them up, I decided that the rod needed to be hung higher, much to D's dismay. This meant that he had to get up off of the couch and move it for me.

While he moved the rod higher over the window, I went back and re-sewed the curtains because they were waaaaaay too long. I now have a nice matching table runner, lol.

Here is the before. The photo is very yellow-y and you can't see it but there are cream-colored sheers above the window:



Now, here are the after pics!! Please keep in mind that I was so excited to have them up, I took photos before I finished ironing and positioning them. I also wanted a little more scallop at the bottom, but all in all I don't think they're too bad for a first timer. ;)

New habit, day 5...almost on track...

Today is day five of building my new habit. Things have been going swimmingly, and I have been less stressed about housework and cooking than I ever have. I'm already right on target for the day...and it's only 7:50 am.

I see one area where I am "falling behind," so to speak.

Work.

Since I work at home, it is far too easy to tell myself that I can work later, or that I'll work after everyone goes to bed...and that usually doesn't happen. So, now that it is a school day, I'll be working this morning!!

Why do I make everything harder than it has to be? Is it genetic? I don't think so; mom is a go-getter, so why am I NOT? I want to be a go-getter, lol.

I guess I'll just reserve myself to be a work in progress...

*Ü*

Everything's peachy...

We went to Caliente on Saturday to visit D's mom and dad, and see their new store Sunshine Creations. We had a very nice visit with them.

Earlier in the day, we went to Pioche for their labor day celebration. We walked the small town and had a great time relaxing. Here are the men taking a breather:



On our way home, we were given bag of freshly picked peaches!! The first thing I thought of was peach cobbler!! After dinner tonight, I washed and peeled some of them and we had delicious (and easy!) peach cobbler for dessert!!

Aren't you jealous?!

A family portrait...

While we were down in Havasu last weekend, I had my aunt snap a picture of my family as our group photos are few and far between since I'm always behind the camera.

I then posted it on a wonderful photography site and a friend photoshopped all of the lamps and end tables out of the background!!

Here we are:

Don't we clean up nice?! *Ü*

Let the schedules begin!!

I've said many, many, many, many.......many times that I need to get myself on a schedule. I need to prioritize my day and git'r done. Procrastination is my middle name, so the thought of scheduling makes me want to put it off, lol.

Today, I changed all of that.

I got up at 6:15. Bed got made, woke up Haley. Jumped in the shower and got dressed. I came downstairs, did a few of today's chores, then took Haley to school. Came home, took out dinner, did the rest of my chores, took Cass and Z to school. Then I started working.

This is going to be my new routine, every single day. I *have* to do this, not only for my job's sake, but for my sake. I'm tired of waiting until the last minute to do anything and everything. I'm tired of scrambling around because I'm almost out of time. I'm just tired of it.

They say it takes 21 days to form a habit. Welcome to day one.

First day of school!

Well. We knew the time was coming.

The First Day Of School.

Such a milestone. We have Haley going into 8th grade (top of the food chain at middle school), Cassidy going into 5th grade (top of the elementary food chain), and Zachary going into 1st grade (all day long).

Very traumatic day. For D and I. ;)

Here are a few photos of my lovely crew. Please keep in mind that the lighting stunk bigtime. I had to try and get photos with no trashcans (trash day), no squinting, some were half sun/half shade, and others were just blech. Without further ado...

And school would not be complete without a meltdown from my sensitive guy:




Man, I love him!!

What's the name of this blog again?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's been awhile. Sue me. :)

Life sort of got in the way *again* so some things got put on a back burner...and then the burner went out...and then everything got cold and dried up...

I digress.

So. I'm back, I'm (getting) better, I'm in the zone.

Thanks for sticking with me.

*Ü*