Where is YOUR LIFE taking YOU????

Who's in the driver seat? Are you riding the brake or pushing down on the accelerator?

Who's knocking at the door? Are you listening?

Are you answering? OR are you hiding behind the curtains peeking out?

Are you on perma-cruise? You know, just plugging along each day at the same speed until you're forced to hit the brakes?

Hmmmm...just wondering.

Lar was temporarily laid-off from his job Tuesday. That's what they're calling it. A "temporary" lay-off.

No more cruise around here.

Sure do wish the sun were out today though.

Missed yoga trying to put photos onto a cd for S's teacher...finishing up end of the year portfolios for the kids. I really get frustrated when technology that is supposed to make our lives "easier" takes stinking forever...however, in this case, it COULD, PERHAPS, have had SOMETHING to do with operator error ;) Whatever! :)~

I am going to a scrapbooking retreat this weekend - leaving tomorrow early aft. and gone until aft. Sunday. This was planned "BTL" (before temp. lay-off)...hope it's nice weather - we're going to a lodge in the po-dunks, but in a very beautiful place - hiking and s'mores - YUM! And of course SCRAPBOOKING! Am excited though, because I think I may have figured out how to take all of my photos with me, my digital files, to sort through. Which is something I need to finish up doing and this will be a GREAT opportunity if it works...I'll let you know Monday!

And no AllyCat, you are not terrible for thinking anything...I'm all about being REAL here Baby! :) You are in fact, wonderful, in my book, for being a field-trip-traveling parent in the first place! Ha! That in itself takes hoodspa if you know what I mean.

Okay, off to eat lunch...Lar is making me a sally...guess TL has it's advantages! ;)

Have a great weekend and MAKE SOMETHING OF YOUR LIFE THIS WEEKEND and post to me about it :)

I'll post Memorial Day Weekend photos Sunday or Monday as well as let you know when the CREATE BIG day is at my house (read: bring your stuff over, drink wine, eat and create!) - it's coming soon!

Uggy Bluggy Day!

Ten things about today:

1. It is raining!

2. Jake did great in puppy class.

3. Volunteering at the Thrift Store was fun - those Senior Citizens keep me young!

4. I think it has stopped raining!

5. I feel uggy.

6. I am craving carbs!

7. I need to wake up!

8. I'm about to make a pot of Robios MarketSpice tea - want some? YUM!

9. My boys got into trouble this morning and had to help me CLEAN after school today...LOVE that!

10. I am reading a HILARIOUS book called I Was A Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids - now where is my Big Girl Blankie?!?!?!?

OH YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE GARAGE SALE IS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I STILL have art, stamping, scrapbooking and craft items left!

WERE YOU HERE?????

Happy Mother's Day! The recipe box...

May 11, 2008

Happy Mother's Day to Ya'll!

Here's to all of the women out there who take care of others even when they don't feel good themselves. To all of the women who go the extra mile and a half. Who smile when they feel like crying. Who think a painted pot by a child they love is equivalent to being handed their hearts on a platter. To all of the women who listen, and give advice. Who apply bandaids and ice, who kiss boo-boos and find jars for bugs. Who dress up like princesses or veterinarians or knights just so you can imagine and PLAY with your children or the children you know. To all of the women who give unconditional love and hugs - I CELEBRATE YOU today! Thanks for being a part of MY life - I couldn't do it without all of you!

ALL HAIL THE RECIPE BOX:

This little recipe box came into the Thrift Store the other day. Unassuming in a box with a few other items. Special items. Items that someone had obviously been hanging onto for quite some time. You know, those things that you don't part with until you have to. Well this box SPOKE to me. It is in incredible shape. It begged to be opened. So I did. This is what I found inside. Complete order. Not a thing out of place. And tons of recipes! All filed oh-so-orderly! They begged to be looked at, to be touched, to be read, to be used! I was amazed at the care someone had obviously taken with this little box! The time that had been invested! Each little recipe was tidily handwritten or even typed! All the cards were the same size and neatly slipped into protective plastic sleeves! Oh how I was having recipe-box envy thinking of my own haphazard box at home spewing with recipes and the ziploc bags that it couldn't or wouldn't hold! This box was sheer delight! And the recipes sounded mouth watering! Definitely not the kind of recipes you even THOUGHT about dissecting and figuring out Weight Watcher points to! That would be sacrilege to these historical morsels! It continued to speak to me..."Take me home! Save me!" Normally, in the backroom, when an item comes in with personal stuff left inside of it, we discard the personal items and price the "container" and shelve it for sale. But that just seemed so WRONG in this case! It just couldnt' be done! I talked with a friend of mine there about it, a much wiser woman and she suggested I take it home and sort through the recipes and see what I might find. Oh what I have found! I cannot wait to try some of these! I thought in honor of Mother's Day, I would post one here for you all to try...it's quick and the ingredients are easy to come by, yet it's Pink and fluffy - just right for Mother's Day I think :) Hope you enjoy!

STRAWBERRY CAKE RECIPE

Hey Gang...cool, quick challenge!

Here's a cool new scrapbooking challenge for you from Lain over at http://knitandpurlgrrl.blogs.com/scraphappy (she was the teacher of the Layout a Day for a Month challenge I took earlier this year). ANYWAY, it looks fun, she calls it "30 Minute Thursdays". Check out her site for the full info. and post your layout here and post a comment on her blog (and mine :) ) with a link to the page (if you can't link it, send me a digital photo and I'll post it here for you so you can have a link).

Now, for next week, use:
-A vacation photo
-A paperclip
-And some hidden journaling, just for kicks. ;)
Keep it under 30 minutes and show me what you can do!

Christa's Favorite Things...

May 10, 2008

Well Good Morning, Afternoon, Evening, Whatever,to you!

Today is a good day! Yes, it might be overcast outside, but I am determined to make it a good day! Everyone in my family might have caught a spring cold or allergies, that is yet to be determined, but it is STILL going to be a good day! The company where Lar works is still on egg shells as to where their next job is coming from, but it is STILL going to be a good day! Know why? Because of the little things!

Things like friends stopping by for a quick coffee and to pick something up and taking the time to go for a walk with you!

Things like being married to your best friend for 16 years and celebrating it with homemade breakfast for dinner WITH YOUR KIDS, at home and flowers and a FOUR-PAGE love letter and your favorite coffee delivered by your dh the next day at lunch time! SURPRISE!

Things like your honey having a long enough arm (aka: "The Long Arm of The Lar") to get great close-ups of the two of you!

Things like not caring if you go out to eat or if you stay home as long as you're together on your anniversary.

Things like the sheer fact that you're all alive and well on this day makes it a good day!

Then there are actual THINGS too...

Things like deciding to have a piece of artwork commissioned by a local artist and LOVING looking at it each and every day!

Thanks Persis! You rock! I just love this facebowl in RED!

Persis Gayle- Pottery---persisgayle@yahoo.com

Things like growing herbs in bowls and pots on your deck, outside your kitchen window where you can see them each and every day and USE them in your cooking! YUM!

Thoughtful friends like Julie, who drop off surprises on your doorstep when you're sick...and it's "just what the doctor ordered" - kindess and a cup of tea! I LOVE this teapot and cup! Can you see the cup says, "Creativi-tea" ?

Soaking my feet in my "new" footbath (from the Thrift store where I volunteer) and having BOTH boys ask if they could have a turn :) LOVE that even though I have boys we like to do some of the same things that don't involve mud, balls or bugs! (Okay, we WERE watching National Treasure at the time!)

Sitting in my cozy spot and being invaded by two of the snuggliest boys I know while watching Episode 1 of the Discovery Channel's Planet Earth series...it was a good thing...some of that stuff was kind of disturbing to me...but S kept telling me, "What?!? It's okay, Mom, it's just killing. It happens. Someone has to die! They have to eat!" Ah...my future hunter! Grandpa would be so proud!

Taking Jake to puppy class at 11 mos. old and having him actually RESPOND! He's turning into MY dog...following me around everywhere and listening to me, but he's actually starting to LISTEN! It's great! And he SMILED for this photo! It really IS the little things!

And of course I would be REMISS if I didn't mention, COFFEE! Any kind really...as long as it has EXTRA CREAM! LOL!!!

And thanks goes out to Jules again for this cute little tin that sits atop my Espresso machine, it was one of those "thinking of you" presents from her - LOVE those!

OH! AND Answers to Questions! The unknown bird in my photos on my last post? Dad emailed me and said, "The bird in question is a Black Headed Grossbeak." So there we have it! I just LOVE learning something each day! Not to mention I LOVE it when ya'll read and comment on my blog :) So thanks for all the LITTLE THINGS :) THEY ARE WHAT COUNT!

PS

If this post looks FUNKY with the spacing or anything I GIVE UP! I have tried to edit it probably 10 times now...and you know, it's just eating up too much time...so you get the gist, right? :) Thanks for understanding! -C :)

Visual Diary catch up...

Here I am in all my glory...I've lost somewhere around 16 pounds now...weigh in is Monday so I'll know more then. I think I'm in Week Three of Maintenance - it's definitely tricky to figure out what you can eat and what you can't. I'm being a goofball here because I was so excited to be wearing a dress and heels since it had been SNOWING and hailing and raining so much! Plus when I put the dress on it fit so much better than when I initially purchased it! YAY! Anyhoo, Lar and I had just gotten home from the MOPS Auction (they raised $20,600!!! WOW!) and I realized I hadn't taken an "after" photo of myself so I had Lar snap some...and these orange flowers were nearby (yes, I'm STILL into orange!) so I hammed it up of course :)

Okey Dokey...

Let's see...I've been posting my latest posts from the 'ol laptop which does NOT have my photos on it, so I thought I would post a visual diary today to catch you up on the life of the familia...

Here we go :)

Jonah and Dad at "soul patch" night at the Mariners...thanks for the tickets Cuzy Carmen!

Speaking of cousins...check out these three cuties! Can't tell their related, can you?!?!? LOL!

More Arizona photos...Shannon and I RELAXING!, Seth "surfing" in their pool LOL! and my niece Sara showing off her Dbacks Princess hat and a little "'tude" to go with it...hmmm...wonder if that's hereditary? And here's Uncle Adam with the kiddos after a Mariner's Spring Training Game...boy oh boy do they love their Uncle! Too bad Auntie Alea couldn't go with us! She, however was dealing with a dead water heater back at the house...ouch!

Grandpa Bill retired and we all chipped in and gave him a GPS system...obviously, once he realized what it was he was tickled! Seth is sooooooooo proud of the "worm" cupcakes I made for him to take to school on his SIXTH birthday to share with his friends!!! YUM!

Still plugging away at my Library of Memories class and LOVING it! Oh, and remember that impromtu bday party I planned for Seth, seriously, I think there were 20 kids in the house...you can only see 1/2 of them here...it was so much fun though!

Remember that snow I told you we came home to after we got back from Arizona? Well it snowed yet AGAIN a couple of weeks after that! So what do April SNOW showers bring in May??? I'm afraid to ask! And Lar HAD to take a photo of our colorful dinner...he's so proud that I cook most every night - glad he appreciates it! :) And here's Seth, so excited about his newly organized room - Daddy and G'pa Ski made the dividers for his closet and I bought the cloth drawers and made tags for them - notice his Bionicles on the shelf? He just loves it!

We're still reeling in folks over here to play ROCK BAND! Oh YEAH! Have you had a turn yet? Here are our latest band members, Kolt, Tamila, Darby, Isaac and of course Jonah! He can really rock it out...and if Rock Band isn't your thing, how about a bite to eat in the kitchen? I just LOVE a COLORFUL kitchen! I love my fruit/veggie basket in the kitchen!

And OH MY GOODNESS! WHO IS THIS?!?!?!? Is this JONAH??? WITH A HAIRCUT?!?!?!? Oh YEAH! I can see his face! He of course, HATES it with a passion, but I love it and Lar loves it...oh to be a pre-teen and have haircut angst all over again...he made this pinata for Cinco de Mayo by the way - too cool, right?

Baseball season is in full swing here...Seth is playing coach pitch and Jonah is playing minors - boy can he pitch! Seth is shown here doing the little "happy dance" he does once he gets onto first base...it's priceless! Oh! And boy can he hit that ball!

Here I am with some of my "favorites" at the Volunteer Appreciation dinner last week at the Stilly Senior Center. I don't get to see Bill hardly at all now since we don't work on the same days anymore due to his health (he's the one in white). I sure do love the people I work with there! So hey, here's a question for you...can you NAME THIS BIRD? IF SO, please leave me a comment with what type of bird you think it is...it's new to me and has a parrot like beak - loves the sunflower seeds. There are 3-4 of them around here...very pretty. Some are more yellow than others, too big for a finch and the beak is different.

Oh! Who is this?? P is back! Or she was! She made a grand appearance and babysat the boys for us so we could go get Lar some clothes that didn't fall off of his new, more svelt body...obviously Seth was LOVING it! Thanks again P! We miss you!

Okay, thanks for looking...more later this week! Off to sort and organize some photos!

Post a comment and let me know you're reading this so I know it's worthwhile to keep it up! LOL!