Confessions of the Day 14

My house is kinda a wreck.  I have never professed to be a clean freak but I try to keep a clean house.  But I never said anything about being a tidiness freak.  My lovely 2 year old daughter loves to just dump toys and my 6 year old is apparently allergic to putting things back away in the right place.  Not to mention my husband would SO be on an episode of Hoarders if not for me (I'm totally serious).  So between all 4 of us this house is a wreck.  Not to moan (ok yes to moan that's what having my own blog is about) but who is the only on who cleans up??  Yep that's right me.

Speaking of Hoarders ....  that show is addictive!  Not only do I look at those people and think holy cow how can you live like that but I also see how it can happen (my hubby).  I have also had pack rat tendencies in my past thanks to my mother who threw anything not nailed down away (let's see if my mom reads my blog shall we).  But after moving so much as a college student I got over moving so much crap and changed my ways!  But the other thing about watching Hoarders is that it makes me feel better about my wreck of a house because it's not as bad those people's houses!

I have a love/hate relationship with PTA dinner fund raisers.  I love that we get to go out to dinner so I don't have cook and it supports a really good cause. But I hate that those nights are always packed!  I really can't stand big crowds and there is a lot of parent involvement at my son's school, so all the events tend to be packed.  So I am forced to be in a big crowd and I have to socialize with people I don't normally socialize with.  Pretty much  idea of hell.  I am pretty shy and big crowds are hard for me especially when it just acquaintances and not good friends.  You know now that I think about it, it would be better if I just gave the PTA a donation instead of enduring dinner fund raisers! 

Hearts for Haiti

If you haven't already heard I am selling some of my craft items on Etsy.com .  I know I am sure you are all sick of hearing it (all 6 of my readers ;) ... being optimistic I think).  Anyway this is actually for a good cause so I wanted to post it here too.  There is a shop on Etsy called Hearts for Haiti and a bunch of sellers (myself included) have donated an item.  If you buy from the shop ALL the profits go to Doctors without Borders in Haiti.  Oh and did I mention the shipping is FREE and worldwide no less.  So go check out my little contribution here but also the rest of the shop!!

Confessions of the Day 13

I am OBSESSED with the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris.  I read the first book last week and it took me a few days.  I was waiting on the second book Living Dead in Dallas (I use Paperback Swap for most of my books) to get here and it came yesterday!  Well I started it last night and as of about 8PM tonight I am over half way through it!  It helped that my hubby is on spring break this week and it was a beautiful 70 degree day here so I sat outside most of the afternoon reading while my kids played outside and my husband did yard work.  They are just so much fun!  I also read the Twilight series which I love as well but these are better in some ways because it's adults instead of teenagers and there is real sex ;),  bad fashion and rednecks!  I have books 3 through 7 on the way (again through Paperback Swap).  I am just hoping book 3 gets here in the next few days!!

While I was sitting outside in the sun today reading I managed to get sunburned.  Not badly sunburned but still I'm a bit sore and pink.  The sad/stupid thing is I know better!!  I am light eyed and very fair skinned!  In fact I burn within 15 mins. of being direct sunlight.  Oh and I burn then I peel then I am back to being just as white as before.  So I get ABSOLUTELY no benefit out of being in the sun longer than 15 mins.   Oh and did I mention skin cancer runs in the family.  Yep I'm a smart one!  It just felt so nice being outside today and being that it was pretty much the first day it's warm enough in months to be outside with out a coat I just forgot.  Oh and there was the small issue of being so engrossed in my Living Dead in Dallas book that I didn't want to stop reading.


I let my 6 year old have an email account and a Facebook account.  The email account isn't so bad I know.  I did it because my family was sending him little email notes to my account which was fine but he loved getting them so much I  figured it would be fun for him.   Plus I thought it might help to get him excited about writing by writing back (it didn't fyi).  Now don't think I am a horrible parent for the Facebook thing.  He is not allowed on it except when I am with him and it's only so he can play Yoville.  In fact he only has 5 friends only family or family friends and no there is no picture of him up so it's not he uses like a real Facebook account.  

Ten on Tuesday

1. Of your current hobbies, which would you choose to spend more time, money, and effort on? Why?
I would have to say scrapbooking.  I have not been as diligent about doing it as I should be.  Right now I am only scrapping at the big all day events I go to with my Creative Memories partners.  And that sadly is slowly getting less and less.  Our business is not doing well as of late which also effects how much I spend.  I am over a year behind in my books and that bugs me!
 
2. List the two other hobbies/habitual activies (not chores) besides the one listed above that you regularly do now and didn’t choose in question one.
Making frames and reading.

3. Why are you spending time on the above two hobbies/habitual activies at all if you really wanted to spend your time on the first one you chose?  …or to put it another way, what are these two hobbies/habitual activities fullfilling that the first one doesn’t if you don’t want to put all your effort into the first hobby?
Well I am trying to sell my frames and making them is a creative, relaxing outlet.  And I just love reading and again it's relaxing.  I guess scrapbooking has become somewhat stressful since I am behind in my albums and I am really worried about the business and my partners.


4. Read John 3:16 in the bible… In what way does this passage affect you?  What are your feelings towards these words, positively or negatively?
Ok I am agnostic.  This means that I believe in a higher power but not any specific god or religion.  So I don't have a bible in my house (if I do I have no clue where it would be).  So I have no clue what John 3:16 is about.

5. M&M’s: nuts, no nuts, or peanut butter?
Plain old M&M's!!!

6. Putting away the feeling of pride being a bad thing; what secretly/openly are you proud about yourself?
I am proud of my children's behavior (for the most part) in public.  I think I have/am doing a pretty good job raising polite, well mannered kids.

7. Given one room in the house to do with what you want, not changing the actual size of the room and with all the money you would need, what would you do, and be specific? 
I want to redo my master bathroom.  It's a plain old bathroom and my old condo had a fabulous one I miss a lot.  So I would like to reconfigure the space and put in a corner, jetted, soaking tub and tile the whole thing (floors & walls).

8. What’s the next movie you’re going to see?  Not what you’d LIKE to GO see, but the next movie you realistically are going to watch.



Either Alice in Wonderland or The Bounty Hunter

9. Use the keyboard only and make your best smiley/funny/cool face –> like this! 8^)
>8-)

10. What makes you cry? What makes you pray? What makes you laugh?
I am an easy crier so .... sad movies, injustice, my kids in pain are sure bets.
I don't pray perse but I send good thoughts and usually this goes along with finding out someone is sick or needs help.
My husband, my kids, The Big Bang Theory, Two and Half Men.

Crafty crafty

March is National Crafting Month, I didn't have a clue until I saw it posted on one of my friend's Facebook status messages (thanks Candy!).  I consider myself purdy darn crafty if I do say so myself.  I have store on Etsy and I get some commissions for frames (ok so it's family doing the commissions but it still counts).

 My most recent commission my Sister-in-law requested for her friend's new baby boy

I scrapbook, decoupage, make candles and other crafts that cross my fancy.  I have tried quilting (even made a baby quilt once), sewing (made the curtins in my son's room), and knitting (really failed with this one!).  So when I realized that tomorrow was the day all the kids at my son's school could go to school dressed as their favorite Dr. Seuss character because this week was Dr. Seuss' birthday, I thought no big deal I'm crafty!! Ha!  Well my son wanted to be the Grinch.

I knew we didn't have a Santa hat let alone a child sized Santa suit nor does he have a green shirt or pants.  And considering I am no seamstress that option was out.  His next choice was the Cat in the Hat.

Simple enough he has black pants and a shirt.  I whipped out a red bandana to use as the bow tie and we were gonna make the hat but as soon as my son saw the bandana and the cat ears he had put on in the mirror he decided it was just too embarrassing.  So after some arguing about how the cat ears and bandana bow tie looked fine, I gave in and started looking on the internet for ideas.  I came across a picture with a bunch of Dr. Seuss' charters together and saw Horton for Horton Hears a Who.

I then suddenly remembered we have a Horton board game that comes with a Horton mask you wear to pick up clovers.  So as soon as I mentioned that he was happy.  He has a Horton mask and clover to wear to school and not be really embarrassed by his mother's lack of crafting ability.

Ten on Tuesday

So I took a break from some early spring cleaning (it's another nasty rainy day here) and went clicking through some blogs I follow on Networked Blogs and stumbled upon Roots & Rings. Anyway it's a great blog check it out sometime, but she does a Ten on Tuesday that I loved so here is mine!

1. If you were given an hour to use a $200 Amazon gift card, what would you buy?
Well I have a wish list (includes things like the one season of Charmed on DVD I don't have yet) already at Amazon so I would most likely buy what was left on that and I am sure I would find a few other things to buy too!

2. Are there any fairly common foods that you’ve never had?
Anchovies are the only thing I can think of!

3. What was your favorite way to use your imagination as a kid?I loved playing house and being a mommy! Shocking! I also used to pretend I was famous and being interviewed for TV shows.

4. What’s your favorite state? Why?
Colorado because it's my birth place but I also love it there and it's beautiful. I love NC too and it has lots of good things but I have a soft spot for Colorado.

5. If it was our culture to have our parents choose our spouses, do you think yours would make a good choice?
Hmm... My mom would do fine I think but not sure my dad knows me well enough to choose a good one. But not sure I would want either one to make that decision!

6. What’s your favorite herb?
Cilantro!

7. If you could have dinner with one celebrity, who would you choose?
Kevin Smith. He's funny and smart and I love his movies. Plus I am pretty sure he would dish about all the other celebrities!

8. What’s your favorite Disney movie?Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo. Wow I have a little theme going there.

9. If you had to listen to the same song over and over for 24 hours, what song would you choose?
Solace of You by Living Colour One of my most favorite songs ever.

10. How do you order your steak?
Medium rare. I will accept medium or rare but don't you dare bring me a steak with NO pink on the inside or one that is burned on the outside.

In Memorium

On Friday we had to make a very hard decision. We had to have our 16 year old cat Circe put to sleep. She had been having major problems and well we didn't want to see her suffer so we made the hard call.

Circe in our condo circa 1999

I got her back in '97 when she was 3. She was living with some guy who worked for my mom and he was moving and couldn't take her with him. So my mom and my ex-stepfather (who was a sucker for cats) took her in even though they already had 3. I happened to come home from college for the weekend right after they got her. She was used to being an only cat and strictly indoor cat and she was being forced to be an outdoor/indoor cat with 3 other cats. Well she hated it. All of it. The being outside thing and the other cats too. She took a shining to me and stayed in my room with me all weekend. I had just recently moved to a one bedroom apartment by myself and was thinking it would be nice to have pet. So I decided I would take her home with me. I don't even think I asked my mom and ex-stepfather, I think I just told them I was taking her. And so she became part of my family. My husband came along not long after Circe. She moved with us to another apartment, our condo and then finally here to our current house. She even dealt with us getting a puppy and then another kitten.

Circe making it clear that she was really our first not our newborn son

On top of that she went through the toddler phase (well she almost made through ... my daughter is still 2 and still kind of in the toddler stage) with both of my children. She was a very sweet and loving cat but she always made her self and her needs known, sometimes rather loudly I might add. But she was the start of my family and I miss her dearly. Her place on the couch is hard to look at without her there. But she is in a better place. So here's to one of the best cats there ever was .... Circe.

Confessions of the Day 12

I was actually relieved when I realized I had promised a friend I would watch her baby so that I didn't have to go volunteer in my son's classroom this morning. Don't get me wrong I know volunteering is a good thing and all, plus I do it twice a week and have since the beginning of school. But for some reason 9 times outta 10 I work with all the other reading groups but not the one my son is in. I like getting to know all the other kids but I would also like to see how he's doing but when I don't get to work with him that makes it hard. And even better I got to stay home in sweats and play with a baby!!

I had a piece of chocolate cake for lunch. Oh and a glass of milk. Yep that was my whole lunch...

I "accidentally" deleted the Veggie Tales movie The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything from our Tivo list because I am so tired of it! Not to mention I just can't stand the Veggie Tales.
I promised to play Wii with my son and he picked out Wall-E which has a few good multi player games. Well he manged to beat me in EVERY game we played. And no I did not let him win. I was really trying to beat him. It's really sad my 6 year old now has better hand eye coordination than I do.

New

New is the new word for my life. I am faced with the painful fact that I have to go back to work. At first I just freaked out and cried and got really blue about it. The last 6 years have been the best of my life. Being home with my kids has been the best thing ever. But financially we need more income so I have been forced to reevaluate my career. I was a special education teacher before I stayed home with my kids but I accidentally let my teaching licence expire last year. So if I did go back to teaching I would have to get re-certified at the same time which means taking classes while I am working full time. Which is a big NO WAY. I would already be away from my kids all day and then I would have to deal with classes. Yuck!!!

My dream is be an artist/crafter and make a living that way but it's hard and takes time. I have an etsy.com account and have been selling through it and here locally to my wonderful friends. I just wanted to show off some of the frames I have made but given away. This first one is one I made for my mom it's origami paper punched out like puzzle pieces and arranged on the frame.


This second one is one I made for a really, really good friend of mine and it is made with scrapbook paper I punched into circles of different sizes and then arranged.



They aren't the best pictures because I took them (and I am so not a photographer) quickly just for myself because I knew they were not going on to etsy.com. But I love them all the same. Now if I could just start selling some more....
In the mean time I am looking into taking classes to become an Esthetican (facialist/waxer). I can shape a mean eyebrow and there is not a zit that scares me. And I'd like a new path to head down. So we will see where all this leads....

What my daughter will not be listening to

I was in my minivan driving my children somewhere or running some errand or another while listening to my iPod because frankly listening to the radio either makes me angry (conservative talk shows), bores me (too many freakin commercials), or just plain makes me feel old (new songs or artists that I don't know and don't like). So I listen to my iPod on shuffle a lot (OK 98% of the time) in the car. Well the song Lovefool by The Cardigans came on. You may remember this song was a fairly big hit back in the late 90's because it was on the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack.
It's got a great melody an I used to love it, and then I heard it again and really listened to the song lyrics. Go ahead and read them below.

Lovefool Lyrics
Artist(Band):The Cardigans

Dear, I fear we're facing a problem

you love me no longer, I know
and maybe there is nothing
that I can do to make you do
Mama tells me I shouldn't bother
that I ought just stick to another man
a man that surely deserves me
but I think you do!

So I cry, and I pray and I beg

Love me love me
say that you love me
fool me fool me
go on and fool me
love me love me
pretend that you love me
lead me lead me
just say that you need me

So I cried, and I begged for you to
Love me love me
say that you love me
lead me lead me
just say that you need me
I can't care about anything but you

Lately I have desperately pondered,
spent my nights awake and I wonder
what I could have done in another way
to make you stay
Reason will not reach a solution
I will end up lost in confusion
I don't care if you really care
as long as you don't go

So I cry, I pray and I beg

Love me love me
say that you love me
fool me fool me
go on and fool me
love me love me
pretend that you love me
lead me lead me
just say that you need me

So I cried, and I begged for you to
Love me love me
say that you love me
lead me lead me
just say that you need me
I can't care about anything but you

(anything but you)

Love me love me
say that you love me
fool me fool me
go on and fool me
Love me love me
I know that you need me
I can't care about anything but you

Can you see my problem with the song???? Holy crap I can't believe I ever LOVED and IDENTIFIED with this song! How sad is that? I used to feel this summed up my dating life and the really sad thing is it did at certain points. It just makes me remember all the losers I dated and how lacking in self esteem I was. Boy did I date my share of losers but thankfully I smartened up and gave a nerd a chance and met a wonderful man (the nerd) who I married. So needless to say I will be taking Lovefool off my iPod rotation because my daughter does not need to hear such utter nonsense! I just wish it wasn't such a catchy song ......