Hi, Mom!

Yes, Mom, I did a layout about you! How do you like it? :) These were my Scrap-Tastic DT stuff...Heidi Swapp!! And, yes, it does seem like it's all about McKenna lately. Anyway, don't have much to say right now. I said I'd post some more stuff today, and so I have.

I got 11 pages done on Friday on the wedding album I'm doing for someone. Woo-freaking-Hoo!!! I'm almost done! I think I may ask her permission to maybe post some of my favorite layouts on here.

Oh, and as if I didn't already know this, Micah is absolutely fearless!!! The child went off the high dive at the city pool Saturday....not once, not twice, but I'm told at least 10 times! No lifejacket. No one catching her. Yes, I am talking about my almost 4 year old. Holy cow.

My new car got a layout all about it!

I know, call me a big nerd, but it just so happened to fit the theme of a certain article coming up and how could I resist?! I also added a little bit more to my "Eat My Wake" layout. It looks a bit better, I guess. The altered "M" is for McKenna, who loves any and all things purple! I used sparkle Mod Podge on it and it's so neat! Any time you see sparkle MP, buy it! It just adds such a neat little sparkle to your stuff! I love it! Tomorrow I get to post my layouts with my Heidi Swapp stuff from Scrap-Tastic, so I'll be sure to put them up here sometime tomorrow.

I couldn't resist the new video. The song's kinda raunchy, but it's just so darn catchy! Check it out!

Thank you, Steve!!!

He did it! He finally did it! He disconnected the router and hooked the computer directly back up to the satellite! And, wow, I guess I didn't realize just how slow it was going when it was on that! I am flyin' again and totally lovin' it. Liz, you are going to just love your high speed. You are going to wonder how you ever lived without it. You and me, we can appreciate it so much more after having to live with dial up for so darn long!

WooHoo for new wheels!!

Yes, all, we finally got a new car!! No more mini van for me! I left it on the lot and didn't look back! Steve asked me if I missed it....um, NO!!! I should post a pic, but, I will....later. You'll see why.

This is a garden journal I made for my awesome MIL, Lillian. Her and Duane love to garden (hence the "l" and "d" on the cover, Steve actually had to think about it for a minute) so I thought something like this would be perfect. Inside are 12 tabbed dividers which I stamped the months on. Each month has about 3 blank pages, so on the first page of each month, I made "pockets" for them to put receipts in that they spent for that month on the garden. The rest of the space is for them to write what was done or what needs to be done for that month. There's room for even 1-2 small photos. I really hope she likes it.

Went and visited Steve's brother and his wife and my nephew last weekend in Chicago. Ate at the Macaroni Grill...YUM! I can't remember the name of what I had but it was de-lish (you know I did that just for you, Stevie!)! Uncle Brian bought the girls princess dresses complete with tiaras to go to the Rennaissance Fair. The girls were lovin' it! First of all, getting to wear dress up clothes outside! Secondly, because everyone at the fair kept referring them as "princess", "your highness", etc. It was so cute! There were lots of neat shows, one in particular that I didn't get to finish because the girls were getting antsy. It was cool for like the first 2 hours....we stayed for 6 hours, though. Natalie and I just kept wishing we could be shopping. There was a mall taunting us as we drove past it to get to the fair. After the fair, Nat and I took off for another mall, only to get there and realize neither of us had any money. We had to track the boys down, get some money and head back to the mall....where it was closed. But, we got to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. I highly recommend the tiramisu cheesecake. Got up on Sunday and went to visit my parents in Mt. C. Only to have a fight with my sister about the flower girl dress. As my dad put it exactly, my sister can definitely spend other people's money. That's all I'm going to say. Well, that and the dress is absolutely gorgeous, but still.

Well, that's about it. Caught up in 3 small paragraphs what I've been doing for 15 days. How's that for short and sweet? Off to find a new video....

This is what SLUMP looks like....

Yeah, I hear ya all laughing. It sucks. I can tell you the exact time it happened, too. Right after I got done doing one layout and one altered item with the August KnK kit. Then, out came this crap. I can't believe I'm even posting these atrocities. I guess to maybe embarrass the slumps out? I wonder if any of the celebs have slumps? What would ya give to see those?! "She's 'slumped', she's 'slumped', she's 'slumped', she might be dead" (Presidents of the United States of America "Lump" with a minor word change, click twice on the video if you have no idea what I'm talking about) just keeps running thru my head as I look at these. And I have to get a mini album together for a class at the Doodlebug in a week and a half. It's not lookin' good....maybe I'll be lucky and noone will sign up for the class and it'll be cancelled! Wish that for me, would ya?

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

We recently upgraded our cell phone and as I was trying to decide what new ringtones to get, I came across this song from Monty Python's Life of Brian. I hadn't updated my blog video in a while, so I thought that would be perfect! Why, perfect? I don't know. I just thoroughly enjoyed that movie and the ending has always cracked me up! C'mon, a bunch of men being hung up to die and they just break out into song and whistling about the bright side of life?! Don't tell me it's not funny! So, if you want a quick chuckle, just click twice on the video to start it up. But, you really need to see the movie to get the full impact. Oh, and my new ring tones I picked out....Violent Femmes Blister in the Sun, Big & Rich Big Time, Modern English Melt With You, Charlie's Angels theme, and Van Morrison Brown Eyed Girl, just in case you were wondering. I still have 2 more ringtones left to pick...any suggestions?

Meet me in St. Louis....

Sorry I've been a bad, bad blogger lately, as Ann so pointed out to me in an email this evening....I believe she included the words slacker and loser in that email. But, that's ok, because I totally have been. Does anyone else have any problems with Blogger being so incredibly slow for them? I can be cruisin' the internet just fine, even visiting other people's blogs and I go to log into mine and all of a sudden, it's like I'm using dial-up again! Extremely frustrating. That's one reason I've been neglecting my blogging duties, that and the fact that we have a piece of crap router! Well, it's probably not a piece of crap, but it doesn't "get along" with our satellite internet and, basically, it's pi$$ing me off. Steve, I making a public outcry....PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE disconnect the damn thing and hook my computer up to the satellite! I don't even care if it has to be in the basement! I hate hate hate hate having to screw around with it at least 5 times a freaking day.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! Since my family is a bunch of losers (I swear to God, they'd never miss us if we up and moved to Oregon!) we decided spur of the moment to head out to St. Louis Monday afternoon. Came home and packed us all really quick and took off. We hit the arch. I've been there several times, but Mara and McKenna had only been once and I doubt they remembered it. They loved it. I wanted to hit the Spaghetti Factory, but there was no way we'd have been able to hit it and make it back to the parking garage before they closed. So, we went to O'Fallon and hit Steak 'n Shake and got a hotel room. Note to self...don't ever put the girls to sleep in one bed while they are all still awake. It won't work. Steve ended up having to room with Micah and McK and Mara slept with me. All was well after that. Slept in on Tuesday and hit the Magic House. The girls absolutely loved it. I think Steve and I had a pretty good time as well. Pretty neat stuff. After that, we went to Union Station and window shopped and had lunch. Then we took off for back home, hoping to get back into town in time to hit the fireworks at Huntingburg. We completely missed any spot of rain, but evidently they had quite a downpour because the fireworks were cancelled. It was kind of a bummer. Funny, it took us 4 hours to get to St. L, but only 3 to get back home!

Yesterday I went and test drove a couple new vehicles. Our van is on it's last leg (Yay!!) and it's time for a new car. Well, not a car, but definitely not another van! I've served my time as a mini van drivin' momma! I tested a Toyota Highlander....very nice vehicle, except if you have 3 kids. It wasn't easy to get in and out of the back seat for Mara. Not a big plus. And, the trunk space was darn near non-existent. So, on to the Ford dealership for a Freestyle. No, not a Freestar, which is another van. This is an SUV-ish type wagon. Or a wagon-type SUV. Whatever. LOVED IT! It has bucket seats for the second row so it's easy in and out for the 3rd row. Trunk space was a little better. Not a whole incredibly lot when comparing it to the van, but definitely more than the Highlander. Anyway, as you can tell, I'm sold. Steve had to get it and test drive it this weekend. He tends to go into convulsions when he has to make big ticket purchases like that. http://www.fordvehicles.com/cars/freestyle/?bannerid=2334331236622526325143 Check it out and tell me what you think!

I had one absolutely awesome mail day yesterday and I didn't even have to spend a cent! I love mail days like that! First, I got a totally freaking cool PINK!!! Scrapworks bag from a very special friend. Totally made my year. I love it. It rocks my socks. Secondly, I got stuff from Jen at Ready, Set, Create! I signed up to do something with some stamps and raked in the loot! I can not wait to delve into it! Totally wasn't expecting all those fantastic scrapbook goodies.