Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Project 365 - January 30 & 31

The reason for such short posts the past week?

A cold gone bad. :/ It turned into a sinus infection and an ear infection. Aren't I too old for this?! Sheesh.

Project 365 / Project Life - Jan 30

Tonight the car wouldn't turn on after Patrick took the boys to the Burger King playground. Luckily, I was just getting off work, so I was able to come rescue them with the Yukon and a jump start! Nevertheless, the boys still had fun, and that is all that matters.

Project 365 / Project Life - Jan 31

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Planning

Mom's work schedule.
Dad's work schedule.
Doctor appointments.
Dance class.
etc.
etc.
etc.

It gets confusing. For me, I put it all in my phone... but sometimes I just need one place to flip through some pages and see what is coming up in the next few weeks or months. Sometimes my dear husband needs a place to look to see what days I am working or not working (especially since my hours can change from day to day).

Today I broke down and bought a family planner. The wall calendar just doesn't cut it. I've finally mad that bold move to become a parent who *gasp* keeps a planner. It's the smart thing to do, don't get me wrong. I just feel so... mom. Like, look at that big girl being all organized. Personally, I am usually pretty good at remembering dates and times in my head, but I came the realization that not everyone is like that! Plus, I'm always paranoid I'm going to forget something or mix up a schedule.

I'm proud of myself. And you have to admit, it is cute, isn't it?! I already feel relieved having written down our schedule over the next two weeks in it! It gives me such a better idea of what is coming up.

YAY ME for planning!

Project 365 / Project Life - Jan 29

Project 365 - January 28

It is the sweetest thing to come home and see Elijah was practicing his writing. It makes a Mama proud!

Project 365 / Project Life - Jan 28

Friday, January 27, 2012

Thank you Puffs w/ Lotion

Whoever created the concept of tissues with soothing lotion... I thank you. You are a wonderful blessing to my completely raw nose. Why didn't I pick these up when my cold first came on?! I usually stick with the tissues with lotion, and when I don't, I'm painfully reminded why I should!

You rock, Puffs Plus.

Project 365 / Project Life - Jan 27

Project 365 - January 26

For Myles, celebrating his 2 year angelversary in Heaven.

Project 365 / Project Life - Jan 26


Fun Stampers Journey Trunk Show, 1/26/12

I went to Richard's Fun Stampers Journey Hesperia Trunk Show last night. We had a fun time and got to make a beautiful card with his new products! Let's just say... o-m-g I'm in love with the whole line. Can I just have it all? I mean really, who needs to pay bills, right? I'm going back next week to pick up a few items... I can't wait!

Check out all the amazing goodies here.

My two shadows, I mean children, came along too. Elijah played with Richard's adorable little boys, Andrew and Matthew, and AJ mostly crafted with me. I was so nervous about bringing them along, but with me working full time I know they like to hang out with me more (even though Elijah ditched me for his friends... LOL!). It was great seeing some old friends, crafting with them and my lil' man. What a great way to spend an evening, crafting with my family and friends! Love it!


Wednesday, January 25, 2012

rap a tap tap

I'm so proud of my little man! This was his second time going to dance class and he loves it. Today he got to wear his dance shoes for the first time. I managed to snap this picture in between the ballet portion and the tap portion. He was so thrilled to test out his tap shoes. Instantly, he started dancing, tapping, and jumping around. So precious.

It makes me proud to feel like I've passed something along to my boy. I thought I'd never have the chance to be involved in the dance world again when I had two boys, and here my little Elijah is loving dance as much as I do. I can't wait to see what the future holds for him!

Project 365 / Project Life - Jan 25
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Project 365 - January 24

I did take my Project 365 picture yesterday, however, I didn't post anything because I've come down with a wonderful cold that the boys had. Blech.

It isn't the greatest quality, but it wasn't an easy shot to get either! This evening (well, yesterday evening) at work one of my coworkers was getting ready to leave and tells us "Hey look at the sunset! The sky is red. It's so pretty!" I look out the window and see that indeed, it is a beautiful sunset. I go back to my station then think, "That'd be an awesome photo." I run to the back room where my purse is, grab my camera, and try to figure out a way to get the photo. The sun is fading fast, so I have to act quickly. If I go out the front of the store, I have to walk all the way around building. However, if I go out the back, I think I may be able to sneak a picture before it is gone. I drag my other coworker to hold the backdoor open for me (it's one of those doors that will lock behind me) so I can snag a picture. He patiently waits while I'm trying to snap a picture, my arm sticking out through a fence to catch this sunset. The first one I got had all the cars go by, then he sees the light is changing and tells me get ready so I can get one without the cars. When I was looking at the photos on the camera, I thought I preferred the one without the cars. After I came home and looked at them on the computer, I found an appeal to the photo with the cars driving. There is some movement to the photo with everyone driving home at the end of the day.

Sidenote: Hooray for Photoshop!

Project 365 / Project Life - Jan 24

The photo without the cars (cropped in Photoshop)

Monday, January 23, 2012

Rain rain... come back!

Don't you love when weather people hype things up?

Californians: Expect a HUGE storm coming your way! Massive!

We got wind and about 10 minutes of rain.

Really? That's it?! Come on! Last year we got days of rain. I think this was our first rainfall all winter, and all we get is a measly 10 minutes? Man, I want some real rain! We can forget the nasty wind we get and just get a nice rainfall. Ah well. It was nice while it lasted for all of 10 minutes.


When I was at work, the combination of leftover raindrops on the window and the sun shining through the clouds into the window made a fun design. I snapped a picture for my Project 365 challenge.. just something a little different!

Project 365 / Project Life - Jan 23

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Sick kiddo

Darn germs and their wild fire ways. You know when you have one sick child, the other is bound to get sick. AJ was sick a couple days ago, and sure enough, today Elijah started coming down with it. It is mostly a cough/cold/chest thing. Not so much a big deal for AJ, but Elijah's lungs are more sensitive to such things. He has had asthma since he was 3 months old, and whooping cough when he was 2 months old. Coughs, nebulizers, and inhalers aren't anything new for me.

Luckily, over the last year or so Elijah's asthma has really been under control. So much that he hasn't even needed his nebulizer. If he did have a little bout of something, he was able to use his inhaler and be done with it. The last time he had an actual albuterol prescription filled for his nebulizer was the end of 09! That one expired end of '10. First thing this morning, once I realized how pitiful he looked and noticed his wheezing, was to call the on-call doctor/pediatrician. Well, first I called Target Pharmacy who said they can't fill it if the drug expired. Fine, I'll call the on call doc. She says have them send over the request to the on call operator. I call them, relay the message. A few hours later, I call back Target Pharmacy for them to say they haven't heard anything. Oy vey. I call the on call operator, again, and talk to the physician assistant, again. After some runaround, I'm told to call target pharmacy (again) and tell them to call the physician assistant so she can fill it. I call them, they say no they won't do that because his prescription is too old. Say what? At this point, I'm fed up with both groups of people, turning into an emotional mess and getting all teary eyed. What I thought would be an easy phone call to fill a medication he obviously needs turned into a frustrating ordeal. I give up, call up the husband and tell him just to give Elijah the inhaler and we'll get the rest straightened out later this week. I'm also ranting and raving about how I'm sick of everyone giving me the run around and yada yada yada.

Around 6, the physician assistant calls me again wondering what happened and why she hadn't heard from Target Pharmacy. I tell her what happened and how I got frustrated playing this middle man between the two parties who couldn't agree on anything. She explains herself, then promptly expresses her extreme frustration with Target Pharmacy pulling this nonsense on a child who has asthma, and calls in a prescription for him at our 24 hour pharmacy Walgreens. Thank you! Sheesh. What frustration. I'm just glad he got what he needed for tonight.

I'm also proud of how well Elijah handled the whole thing. He wore his mask without complaints and handled it like such a big boy! I know he is probably used to it, but it has been a while since we used the noisy nebulizer and I thought he might get upset by the noise. Nope, he was fine! I asked him if he could give a thumbs up if he was doing okay, and he did. Sweet. ;)

Project 365 / Project Life - Jan 22

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Crafty Inspiration - Project 365

I was trying to take a nice still picture of our nightly view of city lights. It was unsuccessful.

Note to self: practice better techniques for night time photography.

This left me having to think about what else I could use for Project 365. It was a relatively dull, quiet day today... so I had to think of something (somewhat) different.

I chose a picture of one of my favorite places... my craft table. And look! It's actually decently organized. For once. The shelf on the left side of the picture is another story... it'll be fun to see later this year how the organization progresses -- as all crafters know -- a constant battle!

Project 365 / Project Life - Jan 21

Weekend photo wrap up

Just a few fun, random photos I got earlier this week but didn't get a chance to share yet.

AJ and our German Shepherd, Bacon. He's such a good dog!! The bond between a little boy and his dog... so sweet!





Precious family time -- the boys reading with Granny.




And totally random... thank you Pinterest! While it didn't come out perfect like the photo on Pinterest, I still love the way it came out.

The Pinterest version:

My version:



Friday, January 20, 2012

Happy Birthday, Pappy

Happy 61st Birthday, Pappy! Good thing your grandsons were there to help you blow out the candles... your old geezer lungs may not have been able to handle it without their assistance. ;)

Project 365 / Project Life - Jan 20

AJ was off doing his own thing when we were singing. So for round one, it was just Elijah and Pappy blowing out his candle.

Then AJ realized he missed out, so we had to sing one more time.

My handy man!

A few weeks ago our dryer mysteriously stopped working. It would turn on, it would spin, the light would shine when you opened the door, but it wasn't drying the clothes. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Soaking wet. It wouldn't have been so bad if it was during the middle of summer when it is easier to hang dry clothes, but no no, it had to go out right smack in the middle of winter.

A few years ago it stopped working on us, an we paid just over $100 to have somebody come out and fix it within 5 minutes. Uhm... thanks dryer repair dude? This time Patrick and I said, "Forget that! We'll fix it ourselves!" I googled how to repair a dryer. I found this awesome website: RepairClinic.com. For real, any time you need to fix something in your house... check out this site first. They have it all!

Me, however, being the woman I am (don't shoot me feminists!), I opened up the dryer -- which I had a very proud moment I could even figure out how to get the front panel off. I beamed in triumph as I pulled it off. I sat down to peak what was going on underneath the dryer. Staring inside at the layer of dust bunnies, wires, and other crazy contraptions, I laughed and thought, "Who was I kidding?!" and told Patrick, "Forget it! I'm calling the repair man!"

While I was at work, he decides to check out RepairClinic.com for himself, then texts me a little while later saying he thinks he figured out what the problem is. I thought, "Oh boy, here we go... brace myself for the cost." When he told me how the part was, I fell out of my chair... in relief! Only $30!! That's it?! He already ordered it and was ready to place it in. Something about an igniter being broken. That would explain no heat, right? He even cleaned out the layer of dust bunnies. Despite the fact I chickened out at looking underneath the dryer, I was beaming with pride that my man was able to figure it out! What a handy man.

A couple nights ago our piece came in, Patrick placed it in right away, and voila, we have a working dryer again!! I was so proud -- and being me so camera happy -- I had to take a picture of him. It was pretty cool seeing him figure out how to do that by himself... and he saved us $100!!


Thursday, January 19, 2012

Trip to the park

It was a gorgeous day today. Not too hot, not too cold, sunny... just right! After Elijah got his dance shoes last night, AJ began begging me for a pair too. Totally sweet, right? I went to Payless to see if I could find an inexpensive pair. However, (a) they were all girl shoes and (b) they were nearly just as much as buying them at the dance supply store. I suppose I'll just order him a pair online.

After our unsuccessful trip to Payless, the boys began asking me if we could go to the park. How could I say no?! It was a beautiful day and I had it off! They had so much fun. I also remembered how a little over two years ago I took Elijah there on a gorgeous day like today, and I realized how much he has grown in just a matter of two years. Of course, AJ too! Two years ago AJ was snoozing in the stroller, now he's all over. What precious little boys I have.

Project 365 / Project Life - Jan 19








He can get about half way across the monkey bars by himself!



I love this photo. I'm not sure what it is about it, but he looks so peaceful and precious.





"I ADORE U" - Scrapbook LO

I participated in my first ever "Recipe Challenge" from Club CK. The "ingredients" are: paint, a page from a book, hidden journaling, three photos, and patterned paper.


Chipboard Letters: The chipboard letters are painted on with acrylic paint and then sprinkled with glitter while the paint was wet to help it stick.

Chipboard letters: ADORE raised with foam tape

Book paper flowers: First, the pages are torn from an old book and punched from there. I used the scallop circle punch from Stampin' Up!, then folded it up to create the layered petals. There are 5-6 folded up on each flower, as well as another flower punch from Stampin' Up! layered on top of those. Each punch is sponged around the edge with two different blue inks. To put the brad through the middle, I used my crop-a-dile, then a yellow brad with a glue dot on top of the brad. This helped the glitter stick to the middle, then a glue pen on the flowers for the rest of the glitter. Finally, I pulled the flower up towards the center to give it some depth.

Hidden Journaling: The polka dot rectangle is trimmed to fit the hidden journaling tag and raised with foam tape making an easy fit for the journaling tag to slide in and out. The scalloped portion is a Bigz Scallop Envelop die for the Sizzix Big Shot, trimmed down so just the scalloped side shows over the rectangle.

Hey, mistakes happen. My intention here was to paper pierce the corners. Note to self: do not try properly lining up with your paper piercing tool while your 4 year old is chattering your ear off trying to show you something. What's the outcome? A very crooked line! Woops! I disguised the crookedness with some ric rac ribbon... and I ended up liking it even more. I suppose sometimes mistakes happen for a good reason! Also, notice the rub ons with the photo? Love!

Paper piercing: done right. ;)

Journaling tag, not so hidden anymore.

Hidden Journaling Tag: One of my favorite things about this tag is it matches the paper set I used on this page. Not only do you get a little surprise journaling, you get it matching on a cute tag too!
Journaling says: The day before your first birthday. It's hard to believe just a year ago we were waiting around for you. You are such a cute, wonderful little baby. I love you so much! June 17, 2008.

Overall, I'm quite pleased with the way it came out! I had fun participating. I'd love to hear your thoughts or comments! Thanks for looking!!