Today I am amazing

Today I woke up on time and with a bit of a struggle got out of bed and headed to my shower. Today I enjoyed the hot steamy water and wished I had more time to soak. Today I had breakfast with my little ones and chatted about music. Today I made it out the door with my navy blue slacks without any dog hair clinging to it. Today I drove to work without getting into an accident. Today I turned on my computer and it booted up for me perfectly. Today I cleaned off my desk and uncluttered a bit of my thought process. Today I read my favorite blogs and checked a message board where several ladies complemented me on a layout I posted. Today I feel good. Today I am good. Today I am amazing!

I scrapped again!

Feels so good to scrap. I think the reason I have been able to do it so much is because I have been making myself clean off my desk after I make each mess. I feel more apt to come in and scrap here and there! This is for my 8.5 x 11 people I love book. Its kinda nice to break away from doing 12x12! Sassafrass paper and some odds and ends I had laying around!

I made dough

Too bad I can't deposit it in the bank. Cuz it went to school with Chris....

I am talking about play dough. I have NEVER made it before and was scared to death. See I am NOT Susie homemaker. I am Mary Microwaveable. I can bake a few things over and over that turn out great but new things i just really suck at. Chris's teacher sent home a note requesting play dough be sent for a project and recipe. I actually did NOT mess it up. with a little advice from Darla I got it done! sooo proud of myself.

My friend Heather has a blog now!!! So excited! She has just started it but check it out and leave her a comment!

Time passes so fast

Monday again. So sad the weekend is over! Had a fantastic weekend! Saturday was rainy and COLD. Had a soccer game in the rain brrrr....but won 3 to zero! Nope no pics, too rainy. Then we ran over to Roberts for the Autumn sale. Stocked up on adhesive, primas, and got a new 6x6 mini album for 50% off. Not to shabby.

Then went home did some laundry and cleaning, finished proofing the wedding, then SCRAPPED! YEAH. I got so much done.!

3 12x12 layouts

4 8.5 x 11 double layouts for my cousins Rome book

4 6x6 double layouts

2 cards

1 altered something for a gift (can't tell she reads this blog)

and 1 tag!

Thats a LOT for me...

Here are the three layouts I did!

Not too much to say

Yeah I am boring, no life, no blog entry. Haven't had too much to say so I will just list some things that are going on.

Taylor's first fall soccer game tomorrow

need to mow my lawn and pull some weeds

Need to finish Kendra's Rome scrapbook, about a third of the way done

Need to finish my brother's wedding album. Pretty much done.

Need to clean my scrap room (again)

Time to clean out the boys drawers and get rid of clothes that don't fit

the dog needs a bath

Its Friday.

Finished Kip's book last night and need to get it in the mail.

First Art home

Taylor brought this home so proud of himself! Loves his new teacher and couldn't wait to go today! AHHH thats good. Chris really likes his teacher and that is a VERY good sign. He like his teacher last year, but had some frustration with her so hopefully this year will run smoother. Taylor's favorite part of the day was LUNCH! LOVES lunch, he talked about his lunch till he went to bed last night. Which was early because he threw a big ol' tantrum about not eating his red potatoes. It must suck to be 6 and expected to eat the food you are served instead of just what you want!

Having a better morning by far. So far no one has called to yell at me but the day has just begun. Its amazing how many people yell at you for things you have NO control over. I want to fix it WISH I could fix it but it ain't my fault you have 3 accidents and we have raised your rates. Thats the way insurance works. O'well the agent is always the bad guy. I can't feel guilty for the insureds own choices. I WONT feel guilty.

So how has YOUR day been?

Me

Call 911 My son has poisoned me!

OK so now that school started back up the boys come to the office after school. Do their homework etc. Well, its been an extremely rough day for me. A bit of tears. Anger and frustration way before they even got here. OK, so Taylor sees my empty water bottle and goes to the first aid kit and gets the rubbing alcohol. He put just a tad in the bottom of my bottle and I guess he was going to do an experiment. Never saw him do this. I grabbed my water to finish it up and WAMMO! What the HECK! OMG. I had to run to the bathroom and spit it out!!! He come around the corner with a pepper shaker ready to ADD more to his "experiment" yeah.....Been a GREAT day!

Oh and Darla, thanks for the experiment FUN!!! AHEM>>>>>>>>>LOL>...

FIRST DAY!

My babies went back to school today. So cute so not ready LOL..

Feels good

It feels good to know its Friday. Friday the night of staying up late scrapping (wont happen tonight though, gotta proof two shoots tonight) sleeping in on Saturdays and cleaning in my jammies, and mowing the lawn WITH my son's help! One advantage of him getting older I tell ya. I am so lucky to have him, he does all his chores without ANY complaining! Really he does. We have a point system in out house. You have everyday chores that you do no matter what. Weekly chores are expected also. IF the boys do the weekly chores when they are told without whining or dilly dallying I give them a star. IF they do something above and beyond on their own they get two stars. Like just jumping in and helping mom. After one hundred stars they get a treat. Chris is on his SECOND set of stars this year. Taylor bless his heart has 65. I love Taylor but boy does he WHINE!!  He HATES cleaning, LOL....its a struggle to get him going.

Today we had "meet the teacher" for Taylor. It gets him acquainted with his new teacher, desk placement, and room orientation. I love that idea. He will know EXACTLY where his class is on the first day and what is expected of him. FIRST grade. I am so proud of him! He likes his new teacher and felt very proud to visit the "old" teacher today. She gave him a big hug and admired how grown up he looked. He beamed. They didn't do this for Chris but I guess they figure he might know the ropes considering he his in the fourth grade. School starts Monday. Not a big adjustment for me not being a stay at home mom, but I know that my friend Darla who has been watching them this summer is extremely excited! LOL...She has had SIX kids to deal with during the day and deserves some "Darla" time. Thank you darling for everything you do for me!

I had a wonderful time last night!!! I did a shoot for a family that are just HOOTS! Crazy fun and imaginative! See some photos here.

Have a great weekend!

Like promised.

Didn't take as many photos as I thought. Here are two of my favs. The first one I played with PS a lot to get the blown out look. He is so pouty.....

Well here it is monday again!

Pretty good weekend. Spent most of Saturday Cleaning (although its really hard to tell) LOL.....AND proofing photos of the wedding I did on Friday. It was a sweet wedding. I actually ran into a lady from a town really close to wear I graduated. Turns out we knew each other! LOL. She was on the same singing group I was in while in High School! Funny.....

Sunday we spent the day at my grandmothers and it was such a fantastic day. The weather was great, food was great, and we had fun playing games out on her huge porch. Kids ran around chasing bees, butterflies, and lady bugs. Totally nice to just relax with family. I do have pics they are just at home and I am at work so I will post some later.

Lots to do this week so hopefully I can get all this proofing done I need to do! Wish me luck!

Robin

My stomach is starting to settle down

With all the stress and worry and mulling things over I have sorta come to a decision. Nothing is going to happen till next spring if I do decide to move, so thats kind of some time to get used to the idea. Still have no idea when or how I will tell my father. I found the associates degree I am going to get, even have the course outline already. May have to take a couple semesters with out of state tuition but not for the whole two years. Will have to work full time and go to school so it will be tough but I will be working toward a goal and two years is very easy to handle. So still trying to figure out if this is the way God wants me to go.

On better news I have a wedding shoot today. Not complete coverage like I like but I will be there for the dress preparation and so on. Having my Niece assist me so that will be a big help. She is a Jr. in high school and she helps a lot. Will post pics of that wedding or at least some of my favorites tonight on my photo blog. Should be a ton of fun, such a CUTE couple. She is beautiful so I am really excited.

Also have a family shoot next week that I am excited about. She is looking for FUN shots of her family and kids, so that has me hyped as well. When a client says FUN that tells me they will be up to just about anything!! LOL.

Say a little prayer for inspiration at the wedding!

Me

decisions to make

I have a lot going on. My father informed me it was my job to get the business to grow. My job to go out and meet people and sell sell sell. I can't. Its not in me. It just isn't. I love my job. I like people. I like helping them on the phone or when they come in but I am NOT and never will be aggressive like he needs. He is gearing me to take over. He said today that he would be gone soon, not as in retiring but dieing. He said this right after I told him how many people asked for shoots yesterday at function I shot last night. One lady offered to advertise for me during her parade of homes ( I am doing a family shoot for her next week) I think it scares him to think that I have found what I want to do, what is in my heart to do. I want to go back to school, or at least get certified for photography. I want to learn all I can, but here in this area there is no place to do it.

I have another option but it involves moving to another state, to an area I love, with good schools, and family and even friends I have there. It almost feels like home already.

Pros to moving:

school to train in, readily available jobs in the insurance field, my mother, my brother, my best friend not too far away, a local scrapbook store (c'mon it is a big deal for me), people in that area are willing to pay more for my services. Its so dang beautiful. Have always LOVED that area even as a high school student. Two hours closer to ex so kids might get to spend more time. My mother gets off work early enough that she could watch them after school, while I am at work, my mother is an artist so she "gets" my photography and would support me in my endeavors as much as she could. I get excited thinking about it. here my neighborhood is deteriorating, schools here after elementary scare me.

Cons to moving: My father, my children would miss him sooo dang much, I would miss my fathers family terribly, job security (but not liking it) Security in a place to live always, miss my mother in law and that family, miss my friends I have finally started making here. My house is falling apart and could not afford to get something on my own. I feel secure, yet trapped here. I get an amazingly good tax break living here. (really amazing). Don't know if my mother is willing to be such a big part of our lives right now.

As you can see its really weighing on me heavily. If I don't make some kind of decision soon, I am going to screw my dad out of being able to sell his business back to the company and make some money for retirement. BUT he is counting on ME to be his retirement and thats too much dang pressure. He has worked SO hard to start this business from the ground up and it sux that he would have to sell it to the company and not hand over his clients to someone who cares for them with the same service they have always depended on. To be honest with you and with me, I want to move, I have wanted to move to Washington since we drove up the coast to Victoria island, spring break 1992. Never had a doubt in my mind I would eventually move there. Just didn't know when. Wish I could just have someone tell me what to do. I have been praying about it. Last night I had a dream that I found a job on line and just had to tell my dad I was leaving. Horrible pain is all I remember about that part.

Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone.

Gladys Stern

Gratitude: : the state of being grateful.

Grateful for what God has given me. My children, my home, scrap booking, photography, a family who supports me in all I do, friends that lift me, a good school for my children to go to, food on the table and free time to giggle.

Challenge Layout!

I just finished a challenge layout from Monkey chatter! Love it! We had to use Chatterbox, 5 or more buttons, and a large monogram. I jumped at the chance to use up some of my old chatterbox. Here it is! Still need to journal in the little transparency envie though. Its my Aunt. Not only did I use what the challenge requested but I actually used EYELETS! I haven't used eyelets in a LONG LONG LONG LONG time. With my new cropadile its as easy as using brads! Got the page layout from Two peas.

 

I have gotten three layouts done this weekend! Just worked on them a bit here and there.

Things have settled down pretty much back to normal. Chris is brushing his teeth and even though they have been fighting a bit more than usual they are glad to be back together. Actually right now is the quietest they have been in a LONG time. Taylor is in here on the floor playing on a play computer and Chris is in the living room playing game boy. They both helped me so much this morning with lawn work that they just deserve some play time. To do what ever they want. Me too. LOL. Feels so good when they are playing nice and quiet. LOL...well I am off to fold laundry. YUCK!

a great welcome home

Well Chris is home safely and seems to be glad to be home but really sad to leave his dad. I think by the time he is a teen he will want to move in with him. I sure hope not. I  mean cj is a good dad but as far as parenting skills he kind of lacks. I have to retrain the kids when they come back as far as cleaning up after themselves and to brush their teeth. Chris apparently lost his toothbrush TWO weeks ago and the ex never got him a new one. He didn't brush his teeth for TWO weeks. Sorry, had to get that out. I meet my ex about an hour away from home and as we were just pulling in to our town and almost to our street, Chris pukes all over! He was so upset, ate so much junk food that he just couldn't help it. Poor kid. Taylor was screaming at the top of his lungs and I had some major cleanup. UGH.....love mother hood. Chris felt really horrible and just kept saying I'm sorry mom, I'm sorry. What a great welcome home huh?

So in this town where I meet my ex they have a great scrap store. I left a little early from work so I could visit. I bought such cool stuff! a Sarah binder with inserts, some sassafras stamps I have wanted, some cool circle stickers (HUGE), and a CROPADILE!!! OMG soooo in love with this thing! It cuts through metal! i have a tin bucket to put pens in and it punched RIGHT through!! AND AND AND it sets eyelets sooooo freaking EASY!!! I might actually use eyelets again!!! YEAH!! LOVE This tool!!! GET IT! LOL....

Well thats all for now folks!

AHHHHH......

can you hear that? The sound of silence. The sound of early morning when I am done getting ready and Taylor is still sleeping. Fantastic sound really. If I could I would burn it for you so you could all hear it. Well I know now why people have more than one child. To keep them occupied and give them someone to play with. Thank the Lord I had two. Sometimes I wonder if it would have been easier as a single mom with just one child but I tell you what, now that I know what thats like NO WAY. I have had NO time to myself the last couple weeks with just bug here. NOT that I didn't enjoy the one on one time with him that we both desperately needed but dang.....can't a girl talk on the phone? Go to the bathroom, mow the lawn without someone RIGHT there? A bit frustrating. Big brother is coming home TODAY. YEAH, my baby is on his way as I type. I have missed him soooo much! Taylor says he hasn't but I know he has a little.

Had a great weekend. Spent most of Saturday cleaning out my closets, dressers etc, getting ready to take some over to my dad's garage sale. Its time to purge! Between me and my children we have so many clothes there is no more room to put them. My house is too small to store clothes we like but don't wear. OUT they go!

Saturday evening we went to my second cousin's bday party. They are twins and just turning five! so cute. Taylor had a blast on their tramp! Here he is doing a flip I didn't know he could do.......

I was impressed! Then had a fantastic LAZY Sunday. I did laundry and tidied up a bit but that is IT! Should have done more with the time I had but dang it I couldn't. I did start a mini album in a box and am loving it so far! Its a book of me and my boys. Need to do a photo shoot to get more pic of ME AND MY BOYS! LOL......

Well thats all folks!