I've finally started on my scraproom!!

Yesterday I finally started cleaning out and organizing my scraproom. I spent hours in there moving things around, throwing things out and sorting items. I am SO excited to see the progress so far! I am no where NEAR the end, but at the rate I'm going right now, I could actually do a layout or a card this weekend!!

Now, here's where I hang my head in shame.

I didn't take any (good) before pics. I think my scrapbooking membership card should be revoked. I did, however, snap a few shots with my crappy cell phone camera, so all is not lost. I will post actual pics when I am done with the whole room!

We have measured and measured and now the process of buying cabinets and counter tops begins!!

Here is one view. My table (to the right) is actually a little cleaned off. It was stacked so high before that everything was sliding off onto the floor! So this is not quite a beginning, but not an after just yet. The table in the back, with the green containers on it, will be replaced by the cabinets and countertop. It will run from wall to wall.



And here is a view standing in my scraproom. The bookcase that you see now was in the upper left corner of the previous picture. Shelving will eventually go above the bookcase.




Now, here's something you can all help me with! I have a glass door that leads into my scraproom. I'd like to put something in vinyl on the outside of the door, but I don't want to say "Welcome." What would be good to put on the door? I'm going to hang a curtain on the inside, so the word would be what you see before opening the door to my scraproom. Let's hear your ideas!!

Happy Saturday!!

I love to meal plan...when I do it.

Does anyone else out there like to meal plan? I love to meal plan...when I actually do it. I don't know *why* I don't do it more because when I actually do it, I save money and we eat better and have more time management. When I don't meal plan, it's a free for all.

Today I jotted down a few meals that we haven't had in awhile and also ones that can be easily frozen. I'm all for making extras and freezing them...when I remember to buy extra ingredients. I also take our leftovers and freeze them so hubby has meals during his work week. But today, I actually based all the meals on their ability to be frozen.

I went to Walmart tonight and browsed around and picked up all of the ingredients for my meals. I also picked up some foil baking pans so that they can be frozen and then put right into the oven. I am planning on cooking all day tomorrow and stocking our freezer!

Here's what's on the menu:

Texas Style Spaghetti
Lasagna Soup
Chicken Enchiladas
Lasagna
Roast with gravy
Italian Chicken

I will post recipes as I go if anyone is interested!!

Procrastination doesn't pay.

I've probably posted about my procrastination several times on this blog. I'll have to go back and check. Later. (hahah!!)

I had some items that absolutely had to get out in the mail no later than today. I've known about this project for...oh...a month or more. But could I *be* prepared for once in my life?

Don't bet on it.

When you procrastinate and your deadline looms above you, you begin to run around like a chicken with its head cut off. Then, things don't always go your way. Or in this case, MY way. The items I had to get out are Christmas presents that I made for someone else to give. I can't post the pics here because, well, they are gifts. But trust me; they are REALLY cute!!

So, as I'm running around like a maniac, nothing is working right. My Cricut isn't cutting right and is tearing my letters. I find out I'm *thisclose* to running out of black vinyl, which keeps tearing in the aforementioned scenario. I can't get my pics to copy onto a DVD-R which has to be mailed with the gifts. And to top it off, my land line wasn't working.

UGH.

So, after brainstorming with my BFF, I change the blade on my Cricut. Magic. It worked. I was able to squeak out the last of my craft with the black vinyl I had left. I found some CD-Rs to copy my pics to...and I got my land line working again.

The package is in the mail, and I'm spent.

It doesn't pay to procrastinate. But apparently I never learn my lesson.

And here's another vacation picture I uploaded today. Boy, did I wish I was back on that ship today!!

Why do vacations go so fast?

Last week, my mom treated my family to a cruise as our family Christmas present this year. She went with us, as did my aunt and uncle. We left Long Beach and went to Catalina and Ensenada. When we got to Catalina, I told everyone to turn off their cell phones because I wasn't sure when the International calls/texts would go into effect since we cross international waters at some point and then when we hit Mexico.

Little did we know that about the same time we hit Catalina on our ship, another Carnival ship, the Splendor, had a fire in their engine room and lost all water and electricity. Our friends had no way of getting a hold of us, and we didn't even know about the other ship until the next day. It even turns out that we had passed the Splendor but no one knew we did (passengers) because the ship was blacked out!

When we finally got back into the LB port and turned on our phones, the texts/messages/FB alerts started coming in like crazy!! Our friends were so worried about us!! We really felt bad for not updating anyone. :(

Here are two family pictures from the cruise. I will post the rest in a little while! Still have lots of scanning to do!!

Catalina:




Ensenada:

And now for a second post! Enter this giveaway!!

And that's an order!

Now, don't get used to TWO posts in one day from me, but I had to post and let you know about this giveaway on Tatertots & Jello!! I love the puff quilts, and one of these days I'm going to try the tutorial that Honeybear Lane has posted on her blog!!

So, head on over, start drooling, and start entering!!

It is now noon...

...and I am finally getting around to writing today's entry.

I think I will call it: "An Entry About Nothing." Hey, that's kind of catchy. Wonder if I could make a show out of it...

Woke up with a migraine today. I think migraines are absolutely fitting for Monday's, don't you? I actually went to bed with it last night and didn't take any meds, thinking I could just sleep it off. I try not to take meds unless I'm absolutely dying. But, I woke up with same said headache this morning so I knew I had to take something. Some Advil Cold & Sinus, some more sleep, and I can actually function now. Still achy but much better.

Today all the kiddos went back to school. They are going to have one HECK of a week because not only did they miss last week due to the cruise, the girls begin high school soccer practice and my senior practices from 4pm to 7pm. So, she wakes up for her 7AM class, she gets out of school at 12:30, tutors two days a week, comes home and does online Spanish, goes to after school clubs twice a week, and will have soccer practice every day. I'm exhausted typing that all out. We don't know what team my freshman daughter will make yet (senior is guaranteed varsity, which is good but a little strange, IMO), but I will announce it when we find out!!

I'm already one day behind on my zone for the week. Story of my life, hahah. The good news is that I don't sleep much when hubby isn't home so I can stay up all night and work on organizing the recipes while the kiddos are sleeping. ;)

Happy Monday!!

I really do Wanna be Martha!

I've decided to get back into the organizational groove. With the holidays coming up, it's time to purge, reorganize, and prepare for a stress-free holiday season!

I think I am going to take a "zone" at a time and take a week to do each one. I know I won't get much done before Thanksgiving, but if I get ahead of myself (a girl can dream), then I will push on.

My first zone will be kitchen/dining room/hutch area.

I will empty cupboards, discard/donate unused items and get everything in working order...so that I can mess it up when I start baking. hahah.

A big part of the kitchen organization, apart from the cupboards, will be organizing my cookbook/recipes cupboard. Yes. CUPBOARD. I need to streamline it and make it easier. I'm tired of having to sort through piles and piles of papers when I want to make something. Do you know how difficult that is when you want to make SOMETHING but have no idea what you want to make?! I think I will get a binder and take some page protectors, and sort out the recipes by type. Hopefully that will make meal planning more fun...and easier.

Will post updates later! I know you will all be on pins and needles... ;P

I'm back, yet again!!

And this time I brought a giveaway!!

You HAVE to go and check out this site: http://www.foralltimeclocks.com/view-samples. These are some of the prettiest clocks I've seen in a long time! I have many ideas for them as we just got back from a cruise and took a lot of family photos!

After you check out the gorgeous samples, you HAVE to go to Tatertots&Jello and enter to win one of those gorgeous clocks!! There are several ways to enter and several chances for multiple entries, so be sure to read through and do them all!!

Now get busy!! :)

Second verse, same as the first!!

Once again, I will be dusting off my blog. Once again and again and again. As you can probably tell, I'm not really good at keeping up on things. I have a full force burst of energy...and then nothing.

Thanks for hanging on. :)

A proud mommy moment

This past Sunday, my oldest daughter left with her fellow drafting/vocational classmates to participate in the Arizona Skills USA competition in Phoenix, AZ. The school competed in several areas, and Haley and her partner competed in the Team Home Design category. Their jobs are to complete plans for a home based on specifications given to them. Haley's partner does the interior plan and the site plan, and Haley draws the front elevation and the wall section.

THEY WON FIRST PLACE!!!!!!

Here they are up on stage:



First place!!



Her partner and Haley with their medals:



I'm so proud of her that I can't even put it into words. She wasn't even going to participate in Skills USA, but her teacher saw potential in her and pushed her to do it.

Look out world. This girl is going to do great things. :)

Putting myself out there.

I decided that today I would bare it all. Now, before you all run screaming and throwing bleach in your eyes...not ME baring it all. I mean what my house looks like RIGHT NOW.

Now, I've been "sick" for about five weeks, and am finally on the mend. When I say sick, I mean that I was sick sick, but since then I haven't been able to get rid of my horrendous cough. It keeps me up at night, it keeps me down during the day, it just exhausts me.

And my kiddos have taken advantage of my lack of attention, as evidenced by my "before" pics.

So, shall we proceed?

Here is my front room, looking in from my kitchen area. If you were to come through my front door, you would see this room right away and back right out the door. I was even gracious enough to stand back far enough so you could see my messy dining table too. It's kind of dark, but if you look closely enough, you can see the piles of laundry on the couch. These were done intermittently, and my family was lucky enough that I took the clean clothes out of the dryer, much less folded them. But apparently they can't take the folded piles and put them away.



We're walking, we're walking...

Next we visit the kitchen. At one point, in the past five weeks, EVERY. SINGLE. DISH. we owned was dirty. I think my kids have forgotten that we have running water...and a dishwasher. Oh, and apparently "empty the dishwasher" means take all the clean storage containers out and leave them on the counter. I'm such a proud mom. I feel sorry for all future spouses. And your eyes do not deceive you: that is an iron on the kitchen counter.



We're walking, we're walking...

As we walk toward the family room, we quickly pass by the newest addition to our home; our back room. Notice the vacuum cleaner neatly displayed in the center of the room? My children have to walk past that vacuum cleaner each and every time they let the dogs out. God forbid they actually wrap up the cord and put it away.



Now! We've made it to the family room. Oh, the family room. Notice all of the empty dishes on the end tables? This is what happens when mom isn't right on top of them at all times. Because, after almost 17, 14, and 10 years on this planet and under my care...my kids STILL don't know that dirty dishes go in the kitchen after you're done. And yes, I allow them to eat in the family room WAY too much. That's my bad.



Turning to your right...

We have the other side of the family room, complete with a bajillion video game systems, movies scattered everywhere, doors wide open on entertainment centers, cords everywhere. And a yellow chair?



Now, I'm hoping that you haven't, but if you have clicked on these pics, you can probably see how much dust is in my house. Heck, you can probably write your name in it from where you're sitting. I am NOT duster. It's always been the very last thing on my cleaning list, and most times I just don't do it. I'm trying to change, though. Also, my carpets are filthy. Remember the vacuum cleaner a few pics up? Yeah. It's been there for a LONG time.

After a few hours of clean up this morning, this is what my house looks like now!!!












It's not completely spotless, but I would be just a little less horrified if someone dropped in unexpectedly. Still lots of dusting and windexing to do, but I'll do that later today. It's lunchtime now.

I always say that it just takes a few minutes, but I never seem to do the few minutes it takes. But like I said before...I'm trying to change. *Ü*

Be sure to have your barf bags ready...

Last night, we decided to have a "free night" for dinner. Hubby and I had eaten a late lunch so we were not hungry at all. Little man had a chicken patty and when she got home, Cass decided she wanted a frozen pizza.

I had gone grocery shopping earlier and found Tony's pizzas, the larger size, on sale. I picked up four of them.

Cass heated up the oven and proceeded to open up her pizza and get it ready to bake. As she opened the plastic wrap she said, "Um...there's a HAIR *in* the frozen cheese!!" Upon further examination, this is what we found:





Not one, but TWO hairs intertwined with the frozen cheese and pepperonis!!!!

I don't think that I have ever purchased an item at the grocery store that has had human hair in it.

I was disgusted beyond belief. I wrote "DO NOT EAT!!" on the box and stuck it back in the freezer. I will be calling the 800 number right away. Someone told me they may send me coupons to keep me as a customer. I think they lost any chance of that when I found the SECOND hair.

Lesson learned and a PSA.

Recently, a good friend of mine told me of the usefulness of baking soda. The cleaning aspect, the freshness aspect. I also discovered the money saving aspect of it as baking soda is merely 50 cents at Walmart!

In my grocery shopping excursions this weekend, I neglected to buy dishwasher soap. And, since I am a mother of three and we have five people in our family, dishes (and laundry!) are the bane of my existence. I hopped on the computer to see if anyone out in the 'net has used baking soda in their dishwasher. I mean, it cleans pans, it cleans and freshens the sink...it could do both in the dishwasher. Right??

Not wanting to overdo it, I half-filled the lidded compartment of the dishwasher with baking soda, turned it on "heavy load" and let the magic begin. Later, as I went to unload the clean dishes...I was horror-struck.

My dishes looked like this (click for closer view):



Baked on baking soda.

Let me tell you. This stuff does NOT come off. Not even after re-running the dishwasher twice. Ask me how I know.

In order to get this lovely baked on film off of my dishes, I had to SCRUB the heck out of each and every dish. Rinsing them off simply does not work. My arms ache, my back aches, I have cramps in my fingers, and my water bill is going to be sky high this month.

So, take it from this wanna-be Martha: Baking soda in the dishwasher? NOT a good thing.

Perpetual reorganization

I am forever reorganizing my scrap room. Or should I say trying to. There is a challenge on twopeasinabucket but it is way too time consuming, my room would be in disarray too long...and I am just too impatient and want it done NOW, right or wrong.

This is what it looks like now:



So, I've been going into my room a little bit here and there, grouping like items together in baskets/totes and just sorting, for the time being. Once I get shelves and cabinets up, then I can start streamlining and buying containers that fit those areas.

Until then, I'll just keep trucking along! Hopefully I'll get to a point where I can at *least* whip out a layout or card!

Trying to change

Lately I've been examining the way I dress: extra-large t shirt, husband's shorts or my sweatpants, flip flops, hair in a bun.

Not very attractive.

I'm trying to re-do the way I think about dressing, which requires some new wardrobe items. I purchased an adorable black/white skirt on ebay, which I absolutely LOVE. But I'm trying to "funk" it up a little and am looking for some fun shoes to go with it. After that...I'll look for the oh-so-important shirt to match.

Look at these shoes:



Don't they just scream "FUN!!!" I'm not sure if they would go with the skirt I bought, but I might have to find SOMEthing to go with them!!!

In the meantime, I'll continue my search for the perfect shoe!!

Wow. Where has the time gone?!

I cannot believe it's been so long since I have updated my blog! I almost forgot how to find it and sign on!

Since I am trying to make all kinds of new changes in my life, I am reopening my blog! I'm ready to dive back into it and make it my own once again.

So, look for new entries on organizing, scrapping, shopping, and life in general!!

Friendship. What a funny word.

Friendship is such a funny little word. To some, it means the world. To others, it's just a word to throw around without much meaning. It's really difficult when you realize which one you have with someone.

I'm at the age where I do not want to work for my friendships. They should come naturally, easily, and without heartache. What do you do when things come up and the "friendship" changes for you? But...only you know it has changed. The other person is completely unaware of things.

I guess you just go on as usual without making any extra effort as it will be lost anyway. My friends know who they are, and what they mean to me. I guess that's what I'll hang onto.

Bit the bullet.

So, from my previous post, I'm sure you can gather that I am itching to unpack my scrapbooking supplies. Actually, I don't think itching is a strong enough word. I finally bit the bullet and put a small shelving unit in my kitchen. It's not pretty...but here it is:


And another (darker) view:



At a later date, I'll get/make a cover for it so it's not so "in your face." But at least I can scrap!! My only problem is...I still have about four more boxes to unpack!!

Not a real entry. :)

(I am posting this, seeking for help on a scrapping booking site. Please feel free to ignore!)

Now, we had just moved in a few weeks earlier when I took these, so DON'T look at the mess!!!

Okay, this is the first room you see when you walk into my house. The front door is actually on the right side, and you can see a bit of it through the arch. Door on the left leads to garage/laundry area. I am standing in the dining area, taking the pic. I actually thought of putting a table under that little arch, but then there's the big TV. That window is a front window, so it really can't be blocked. And the length of wall left (with the tv where it is) is not big enough for a table.
.

In this pic, I am actually standing in front of the window in the previous pic. This is the dining room, with the kitchen to the left and the family room to the right (next pic). Front left is a hallway that leads to some of the bedrooms. The room straight through the dining room is an Arizona room (enclosed patio) and changes with the weather, so no scrap supplies are going in there yet. Got a quote to enclose it, but that will come MUCH later. That would be a scraproom in the future.



In this pic, I'm standing in the archway of the previous pic, looking into the family area. To the right is my daughter's room. To the left is our computer table since we lost our office, too. That pic will be next.


And here is the computer desk that is behind the small couch in the previous pic. It has to stay there due to the internet/phone/cable link.



Hope this gives you a few ideas!! Any suggestions would be great!!

I hate death.

Hay's hamster died last night. I was holding him up until the very end because I didn't want him to feel alone. We had a vet appointment for today at 11, but apparently he couldn't hold on that long. We don't know what was wrong with him, just that he started eating less and less and wasn't drinking very much, and then yesterday we noticed he was wobbling a little when he walked. That's when we made the appointment, but we were too late. He went downhill fast.

This was the coolest hamster ever. If you put your finger in his cage, he would "bite" on it and act like he was trying to pull you back down with him. All four of his legs would flail and he would almost roll over on his back, hanging onto your finger the whole time. He was just a sweetie. Now he's gone.

Why am I taking this so hard? I've been crying since last night, and every time I think about him, or Hay, I start crying again. Maybe it's because he did the same things my father did when he passed away? I don't know. But even though it was her hammie, I loved that thing too. I always went into her room when she was sleeping or gone and I would play with him.

*sigh*

Why do things happen the way they do?