Count your blessings

sOme goAls

• plan out a menu weekly with grocery list (consistently, and I cannot make it for more than a week because I tend to change my mind too much!)
• exercise five days a week
• take more pictures of our everyday life
• take care of myself better....do things for myself....tanning, hair, et cetera
• scrap a layout once a week
• have my work done by the time Sydney is out of school everyday
• take my kids to the library OFTEN
• only buy things I absolutely LOVE, even if that means I have to spend more and pass up those .99 cent deals :)
• do an act of kindness once a week that will make a difference in someone's day (I try to be kind more than once a week, but you get the point :) 
• catch up on printing all my pictures and then.....
• order my prints online when I upload them to my computer

Those are just a few of my thoughts.  Just needed to get them down to remind me.  I know there are more.  I might need to add them later! 

I am still around

Ok.  I know it has been awhile.  I have had a lot of stuff going on and needed a little break.  Where do I even begin?!  We had a great time on Valentine's Day with the kids.  The night before, after the kids went to bed, Dusty and I decorated the kitchen/eating area and put their little gifts out too.  Then I woke up before them and made juice, sausage and heart shaped waffles with strawberries and whip cream.  The girls loved it.  I put Sydney's hair in curlers the night before and so I did her hair (which turned out adorable) and got the girls' valentine stuff ready for school.  Syd's homemade valentines (an idea from Sam) turned out really cute.  The girls enjoyed it so much and that made it worth it all!  I will post some pictures later (I have several to upload and don't have the time right now!). 

I have not been in the mood for the past few months to cook as much as I normally do.  So last night I made RR Sour Cream Chicken Tenders.  Delish!  They were soo easy and quick.  Plus almost everything the recipe calls for is on hand.  Love that.  I did not make the spicy bleu cheese dressing because Dusty is the only one that likes it.  So I made Uncle Dan's (one of my most fave things in the whole wide world) and had it with cucumbers and carrots too.  After dinner I made some yummy banana bread (Emeril recipe).  Fyi - I did not use the nuts, my kids are allergic/don't like :)  It was soo good.  It made me happy too because I got to use my food processor and kitchen aide.  Silly I know.  I love kitchen stuff!  Anyways, the recipe called for sour cream, so that tells you something.  Anything that has sour cream in it is going to be good and moist :)  So I will leave you with a few pictures of last night's dinner.

   

I have soo much to write and a TON of typing to do.  So I will hopefully be back later tonight to update on the rest of my life..... 

E.T.A...... I added the pictures from Valentine's Day in a photo album on the side.  Not great lighting but you get the picture.  Also, I added links so if you want to try out those recipes.  The chicken recipe is WAY easy and quick.     

just for me

Allow myself to be exactly who I am
Give up control of the process
Don't just embrace imperfections - Love them
Be inspired by the ordinary
See things
Let the emotion lead me
Break free
Guide her
Photograph it ALL!


This is from Ali Edwards - AEZine.

love it.

WOW!

I can't believe all the people that posted.  I loved it.  It was fun reading through all of them.  Since there were so many good ones I had Dusty draw a girls name and a boys name.  So here they are.......

Cynthia

Brent

Congrats!  I will be sending out your rak later today along with Jen's.  Thanks for the good laughs.  They were all so good it was too hard to pick!!

Because I love to laugh....

Okay.  So here is the deal.  You must post a funny joke before seven o'clock tonight (my time).  Only one joke per person.  I will then decide who had the funniest joke and they will get a RAK!  Come on, let me hear them......

schtuff

Ok.  I will not say I am going to post pictures of something next time.  I will say I hope to :)  Sorry it has been so long.

So let me explain.  From left to right, top to bottom:

      HS sticker sheet for our calendar.  SO cute.  Little stickers that say...buy fresh flowers, buy new shoes.  I love those kind of reminders :)

      HS stuff that came with the calendar.... sticker sheets, heart bling, mechanical pencil, ribbon to tie the calendar together when we are done with it, quote boxes - they can open up and say a quote on the inside or just say a word on the outside - I have them both ways so you can see, and a rub-on

      HS calendar.  Really cool.  The week starts with Monday.  The only reason I can figure is that she LOVES Mondays.  Weird huh?  I hope that rubs off on me because I usually dread them!  Also, not pictured is a sheet of clear number stickers to mark the months.  They didn't number the months already so that it doesn't have to be used for a specific year.

      Making Memories stamp set.  Scored on this.  Fifty percent off at Michael's.  It was only 19.99.  I love the colors of paint it came with and the next two pictures show all the stamps it came with and a pretty decent picture of the paints, brushes, et cetera.

      Awesome find at Joann's and used my fifty percent off coupon there.  I have one I got from Sam that is good until February 14th.  It is a MAMBI (me and my big ideas) set.  It says on the front of the package it is valued at over $100.00!  I am SO excited about this.  It has such cute stuff and I bought it for Sydney.  I am putting together a scrapbooking gift for her for her birthday.  This is a great starter kit for her.  It was only $9.99!  It doesn't show but all the paper is really cute and there are probably atleast thirty papers!!

      The heart I also found at Joann's half off (it was only marked forty percent but rang up fifty).  Love that kind of deal.  I am going to cut the wire off of it and get a black background and take some pictures of my kids holding it.  It will be DARLING!  Just you wait and see....

      Lastly, an awesome little find my mom found for me.  We have been eyeing these in PB and they are quite a bit more than the 2.49 we paid!  I got two and we are going to paint them and use them in my new house.  I will definitely let you know how that turns out...months down the road :)

So there you have it.  Schtuff.  Oh by the way, if someone finds the little hidden thing in this post, then I will send them out a little rak of two rhonna farrer stamps!  happy hunting.

Also, sorry the pictures ended up so messed up.  It always looks different when you are putting together a post and then when it actually comes up on your blog!  Don't have the time to mess with it.

a rak comin my way

First of all, I will be posting later today a pic of my Heidi swapp kit and a bunch more information about my class.  I will also post a pic of a great deal I found at Michael's on a stamp kit.  But I have to work first before my preschooler comes home and distracts me :)  Also, I won a RAK on a blog I read all the time!  I love her style of scrapbooking, it inspires me!!  She has done a few mini albums lately I might have to scraplift.  I am so excited to get my package :)  I will share when I get it.  I'll chat more lata.....