Ugh! Life!

So...it's been a while, huh? I really don't have much to say or show you right now. Just wanted to check in. We are in the process (a very long one, I might add) of getting our house ready to sell. We just need one more room for the kids. All I can say is, YUCK! It was fun at first. Thinking about starting fresh and getting something a little bigger and better. However, it has turned into something that is very overwhelming.

Now, if you know me, you know that I have a tendency to keep things around. Not bad if you have the room and are staying there for life! However, 11 years has given us time to accumulate a lot of junk! There, I said it! We have a lot of JUNK! Anyway, thanks to a very good friend (and many offers from others), I have been able to begin attacking the JUNK in our lives! But, believe me. It's a lot!

So that's what I have been up to lately. Hoping that when we move, I will have a little room all to myself for a studio. Maybe then...dare I say it?...I will be able to post more and have some time for creating and sharing. I doubt it. But, we can always hope, right?

Have a blessed day and enjoy!

Where does time go?

Well, holy cow! I just can't seem to get things going. Too many things to do in my life. I am still trying to get on here and add things once in a while. But, life just doesn't seem to cooperate. My life has been pretty choatic lately and I sometimes feel that I am just treading water. I have been sick and then this is just a busy time of year. Some exciting things have been happening. My baby boy just turned 8 on April 10. I can't believe that he is already 8! Where does it go? Time just speeds up every year. A friend of mine accepted Christ and so did my baby girl, who is 5. My dad told me that my cousin did, too. Now that's too cool! So, needless to say, life has just gotten in the way of this blog. I will try to post some pictures next week. Noah is having his birthday party this weekend and they are having a nerf gun fight and playing all kinds of sports. Should provide for some good pics! I can't wait!

Another Goodbye

Well, here I am again. Still not quite making my goals that I set, but that's okay. Life just happens sometimes, doesn't it? This last month has taken me on another whirlwind. My small group leader- and very, very dear friend - announced 5 weeks ago that she and her family were moving to Alabama. WHAT?!?!?! And they would be leaving soon. Here husband is our youth pastor and will be taking a senior pastor position at their new church. I knew that it would happen someday, just not that fast and not this soon.

Well, that sometime soon is going to be this coming Monday. Yuck! I am so sad to see them go. I have fallen in love with their whole family (they have 2 kids that are close to the same ages as mine). I feel like they are just an extension of my family and now they are leaving. Can I just say, "WAAAAAHHHHH!"? I have been trying to spend some time with her this week while I help her pack and it has been wonderful. Not many tears yet, but I am sure those are to come.

Our small group had a "last supper" with her this last week. It was really nice. We all brought something to eat and just talked, cried and laughed a lot. I wish that all of us could have been there - 3 of us were sick - but we still had a good time.

Well, that's it for now. Kiddos have to get to school soon and I gotta go pack and probably shed a few tears. Thanks for stopping by!

Hello again.

So, I didn't quite make it with 2 posts last month. I am hoping to do better this month, though. I am the room mom for both of my kids classes this year, so today I have been working on Valentine's Day things. I also have 2 friends that are having birthdays this month. Needless to say, I am busy crafting this month. Hopefully I will have some pictures to post this week of some of those things.

My goals are coming along. I obviously haven't met all of them this month, but I am not giving up. I just have to try to do better the next month. Remember, those goals are where I want to be by the end of the year anyway.

Well, just wanted to post a little something today and say hello to all who are reading. Thanks for stopping by!

I told you so!

Well, I told you that I would not be very good at this. What can I say?

OK. It's the new year and although I am not big into New Year's Resolutions, it does seem to give you a fresh start and a new perspective, doesn't it. Anyway, I have laid out some goals for myself and we will see if they come to fruition. I have personal goals...I said, they were personal...so, you can't see those. However, I do have some crafting goals. I will let you in on those.

1. Scrap a layout for each of my kids...one for each per month...that's at least 24-48 pages. Notice I said for my kids. I don't know about you, but I seem to scrap and create for others so easily, but never seem to make time for my family and my kids. To put it into perspective, I am still on hospital pictures for my son, who is now 7 years old. Crazy, right? So far, I am 0/24. Better get going, huh?

2. Send one card out, that I created, each month. Boy, I bet my friends will be glad to see this. I don't do cards very well. I love to make them, but I am terrible at sending things to someone just because. This will be through the mail, too. Not just handing it to them when I see them. Now that's a HUGE one for me.

3. Get my Craft Area organized. I know, I know. This is every crafters bain of existence, right? You should see mine. I have so much stuff! My friends always tease me about having a small scrapbook store in my basement. I think they might be right. I have often wondered if I am a scrappbook supply collector, rather than a scrapbooker. I have some plans for painting ( I am sure my husband is cringing right now) and cleaning up and moving out some things. I will try to post some before and after shots later. But, not until the project is completed. I want you to be proud of me, not horrified. Ha!

4. Spend one day doing crafts each week. This may only be a half day, but I want to spend more time using the gazillion things that I have collected along the way. I also think that since my kids are both in school now, I should be using the time that they are away to scrap instead of using up our precious family time while they are at home.

5. Add to my blog more frequently. I am not sure how often this means I will add to it yet. I know that I do not have time to do it every day. I sure don't know how those ladies do it. But, I will try for at least 2 times a month. Then, if all is going well, I may bump it up to once a week. For now though, we'll just try 2 times. Let's see if that's an attainable goal first. I am also going to try to post more craft items as I post, too. Maybe that will help me keep my first goal.

OK. That's it. Those are my main craft goals for 2009. I know there are many other things that I will try to accomplish, but for now, I think these are the ones that I want to make sure that I do.

Now, I feel that I must take this time to tell you that I never have been very good with following through. That's probably why I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions. So, we'll see. I really want to try to give my life more focus. I tend to be so random and very spontaneous with my schedule and projects. Maybe now that I posted these, I will have to look at them and see how I am doing.

That's all for now. I hope that you all had a very blessed Christmas and you are enjoying your new year. Here's to fresh starts and clear perspectives! Let's go!

Atlanta - Here We Come!

Well, I just got back on Sunday from a wonderful trip to Atlanta. And, I made it back in one piece! Woo-hoo!

A very dear friend from my bible study group just moved there and was celebrating a very important birthday number (I won't say which one). So, her husband decided to surprise her and flew our bible study group, a couple of friends and her aunt and uncle out to see her. It was quite a trip. She had no idea we were all coming! It was an awesome weekend. He had us all picked up from the airport in a Hummer limo and it then took us to her house which was about 30 - 40 minutes away from the airport. Meanwhile, she was away at a football game for her son. We spent some time at her house until the football game was done and then, when the "coded call" came, we hid in the hearth room and waited for her to walk in. Needless to say, she was absolutely shocked to see 12 people from Kansas sitting and standing in her hearth room. It was a GREAT weekend! The 2 days we were there went very fast, but it was fun getting to see her again. Almost surreal.

Then, I come back to reality and send my kiddos to school on Monday. Just back into our normal routine, right? Well, sort of. I was out running all day - doctor appt, lunch with hubby, picking up some things for church, etc. and so I never made it back home after my doctor's appt. Then, I went to pick up my kids from school. As they are crossing the street to meet me, my daughter tells me that she had a red day. They use a color-card system for behavior. What!?! Usually the teacher calls you when the card goes to red. This is obviously the worst card you can get. When I asked her what happened, she said she couldn't remember. So, we marched right back across the street to chat with her teacher about what happened. She had tried to call me at home, but not my cell. No biggie about the call, but I couldn't believe that Bekkah got a red card and that she got it so soon after the first day of school. I found out that she had kicked and thrown sand at a little boy at recess time. I was NOT A HAPPY MOMMA!

I don't think that she will be treating her classmates that way again. We had a very long discussion about how we should treat our friends and I even pulled out some bible verses to share with her about how Jesus says we should treat others. At that point, I had flashbacks to discussions with my parents. Whoa! When did I become them? Oh, well. I guess I was trained that way for a reason, right? She is grounded from tv (at 4!) and had to write apology letters to the boy and the teacher (she wouldn't talk to the teacher when she got in trouble). I think that her most devastating point was this - I told here that if anything happened like this again this week, she was not going to have a birthday party with anyone! Wow! You would have thought that I had shot her and left her for dead. Needless to say, we had a green day yesterday. Welcome to my crazy life!

I hope that you all have a great week! I will hopefully post again soon!

Teacher Goodies!

I am always crafting, but I always forget to take pictures of the things I make. Probably because I am usually doing them up until the last minute! Then I don't have time to take a picture!

These are what I made for the kid's teachers on the first day of school. My son gave his teacher the candy sundae (super easy to make) and my daughter gave her teacher the bag of goodies (my son had her for Kindergarten, so she already got the candy sundae). The pattern for the bag was taken from Angie Kennedy Juda's website Chic n' Scratch. http://www.chicnscratch.typepad.com/

Thanks for the awesome tutorial, Angie! If you love papercrafts, you should check out this website. It is one of my favorites!

In the bag: A small notebook to write down those crazy things that her kindergarteners will say this year, covered mini candy bars, and the circles are peppermint patties that are covered with scallop punches on both sides.

Thanks for looking!