Monday, December 28, 2009

Hello! So, I've done up photo calendars again this year. I haven't printed anything up just yet but here's a link to the version I made for my side of the family. LINK And the version for Hubby's side HERE. I've been meaning to print up copies for everyone but I have to buy more printer ink and paper. If you don't want to wait, feel free to let me know and I can email you the files to print on your own. These are the CD case calendar pages so for those of you who want to see what this is, here's what they look like when they're done. LINK So, all you have to do is grab a CD case and a copy of the pages I made and-PRESTO!- you have a calendar!
I also have meant to blog about something else for a couple of weeks but kept forgetting to write it up. Too much going on, I guess. That will be my excuse, not that my brain leaks information like it's a sieve. Anyway, Hubby was watching Little People, Big World one day and I was in the other room on my computer. (I'm working on my addiction, ok?! LOL) Anyhoo, he comes in and tells me that the Roloff family is at the Rockin' R. Now some of you know that the Rockin' R is in Antimony, UT, where my side of the family has ties and we camp there nearly every year. So, I was interested to see what other people see and do there. At one point, they are on an ATV ride (or was it horseback riding?) through Antimony Canyon, which I immediately recognized. But they went to see a particular rock formation that I have never seen, nor even heard about. I can't remember what they called it, exactly, but it was something along the lines of "The Cowboy." When you look at it, the rocks look just like the silhouette of a cowboy, complete with hat! I got the impression that it is located in the canyon. And now I WANT TO SEE IT! Imagine, 30 years of camping there and never seeing The Cowboy! I've tried searching for info on the internet but have come up empty. Soooooo, if anyone knows about The Cowboy Rock, 'fess up 'cuz I'm on a mission now! Next time I go I want to search it out!
Well, ok, I guess that's all for now. I just want to wish everyone a safe and happy New Year! If you have to go out, watch out for the drunks and crazies! Love you!









So, as you can probably tell, we had Christmas at our house. As you can imagine the kids were VERY excited about Christmas and vowed to wait up and see Santa Claus when he came. And they very nearly managed it. They stayed up until well past midnight! As they were in bed (supposed to be going to sleep) I could hear them singing Christmas carols together. It was too cute. Unfortunately, since they were up, Santa had to wait until it was VERY late before he could deliver gifts to our house. Poor Santa.
In the morning after opening gifts, we had our traditional ebleskiver breakfast. Yummy! The rest of the day was mostly spent enjoying some family time together.
Well, I just wanted to share a few photos with everyone. Love you all!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Whew! I've been busy baking cookies today! I made sugar cookies and gingerbread men. I'm taking a bit of a break before we tackle the frosting. We've got plenty of goodies here since I also made brickle blond brownies and rice chex mix a couple days ago. Tomorrow is tamale day. Yum!
The kids are all ready for Christmas. Counting down the days. In the meantime, they are having a great time with all the bubble wrap that is in the boxes that have been arriving. I'm hearing pop after pop right now as they pop every single bubble, one by one. I'm thinking maybe Santa should just bring bubble wrap this year! LOL It's so cute that Big R still really believes in Santa and in Santa's magic. He wrote a letter to Santa asking that Santa make him a real Jedi that can use the force for real and has a light saber that really cuts. And he added on that he'd also like to be able to fly and have a gravity machine. Quite a tall order for Santa to fill! Unfortunately, he will be not be a real Jedi this year, although I heard a rumor that he is getting a new (toy) light saber from Santa this year. And little MoMo is really cute, too. She wrote out a Christmas wishlist for Kaos. Because he can't write one himself and Santa needs to bring him a present, too!
Well, we'll sure miss visiting with family this year. In case I don't talk to you, have a wonderful Christmas! Love you all!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Hello everyone. I know there's a big holiday coming very soon, but I think it's good to recognize all the smaller ones, too. Like today just happens to be National Chocolate Covered Anything Day. So that gives you the perfect excuse to eat things that are covered in chocolate! Now there's a holiday I can really stand behind. LOL
Anyway, just wanted to let you all know that we are alive and (almost) well. Poor Big R had a really bad case of conjunctivitis. The antibiotic drops have cleared it almost entirely up now. And MoMo has been sick pretty much since before Thanksgiving. It could very well have been she caught something and then just as she was getting over that, she came down with something else. It just seems like she has been sick for weeks solid. But she's just about fully over everything. I hope. Then Hubby came down with something. He spent almost the entire last weekend in bed. Monday he went to the doctor and it turns out he has a sinus infection. So, now that he's got antibiotics and all he's doing a lot better. Me, I've managed to stay well since my post Thanksgiving episode but playing nurse to everyone else has taken its toll. I'm exhausted, mostly mentally because I will admit that I'm not really cut out to be a nurse. It takes every last drop of my patience to sick people. That sounds horrible but unfortunately it's true. I would be like that guy on the movie Happy Gilmore in the nursing home. "What, grandma? Your fingers hurt?" (while the grannies are forced to quilt so he can sell the quilts and make money) "Well, guess what? Now your back's gonna hurt 'cuz you just pulled landscaping duty!" At least I'd be thinking that the whole time. Maybe I'd have enough patience left NOT to actually say or do that but on the inside, that would totally be me.
Um, anyway, now that you are all terrified to get stuck with me as a nurse, I have another pic from our record breaking snowfall last week. Yes, we actually broke records here for amount of snowfall and for low temps. One day the Weather Channel reported our temperature at -9 degrees, 4 degrees colder than Fargo, ND. Yeah, it was COLD here. Fortunately, we're back up to above freezing temps during the day! 37 never felt so good. LOL
This was our street. Notice you can't tell where the road actually is. That was fun. And while this picture was taken on December 7, they didn't clear our street until this morning. They did plow most of the other streets in town but not ours. Of course, our street isn't on any maps, either, so maybe that had something to do with it. Oh, and check out who I saw on one of the neighboring streets.
Ok, well, I guess that's about all I have to say at the moment. I actually wrote more than I intended with that little nurse bit. So, I'll let you get back to your National Chocolate Covered Anything celebrations. What? You're not celebrating? Oh, well, happy Hump Day, then!

Monday, December 7, 2009

We're having a SNOW DAY! It started snowing yesterday evening and stuck right away. It's been so cold here already that I think the ground is frozen. The snow just started piling up and piling up and now we've got quite a layer of the white stuff out there! Here are some pics from last night. I don't know what the official snowfall amount is but when we got up this morning it was about 6 inches deep in our yard. Here's a pic of our patio table this morning.So today school was canceled. We slept in and then went out to play in the snow (which is still coming down). Unfortunately, the snow is very powdery so it's no good for snowballs or snowmen. But the kids did get rides on their sleds. Check out this video.

Yes, our dog is having a ball with all this snow. He even pulled the kids around on their sleds a bit. I think it's hilarious how he was prancing through the snow. So, we're essentially snowed in at home. They haven't cleared the roads, at least not our street. Hubby (who already had today off) drove his truck around the block so I guess if necessary we could drive somewhere but I doubt I could get anywhere in the car. We're just hanging out here at home and we'll see if there's school tomorrow. Hopefully they'll get the roads cleared.
Alright, well, I'm going to go hunt up something to eat for lunch. Maybe some Chipotle Chocolate Chili leftover from last night. Yum! Talk to you later!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Hello everyone. I hope you are all well. We haven't gotten totally rid of the sickness around here. My little MoMo got it and so did big R. Ack! Hopefully we are all healthy soon. And I really hope I didn't infect anyone else while we were visiting. I apologize if I did. Sincerely. I don't know why I ALWAYS get sick when I go to AZ. It's so bad.
Anyway, I was pretty excited yesterday when the UPS guy brought me a package. It was my FREE photo book from PhotoWorks.com! This one was totally free, didn't even have to pay shipping. And the book is so nice! It's awesome!
The only downside is that the size of the book is different from the size I scrapbook in. I normally make 12"x12" layouts. The book was 7"x9", I believe. So, not square. This meant that I had to choose layouts which if parts were cropped out, wouldn't look too odd. Of course, I had to act quickly to get my free book. I think it was the first 25,000 who got one so I didn't have time to make new layouts or anything. But I still LOVE how it came out, even with the cropping issue. I can definitely recommend the Photoworks photo books. This is the one I got. I guess it's actually 8 1/2"x 11". In addition to it being FREE and great quality, I got it super fast. I think maybe about 1 week from the time I placed my order it was on my doorstep. Very nice!
Ah, well, unfortunately I forgot what else I was going to write about. Besides, I really ought to get a few things done around here. So, until next time...

p.s. If anyone out there knows about iTunes, I'm having a problem that I can't figure out how to fix. Whenever I listen to songs in the iTunes library on my computer (as opposed to on my iPod), it will play the song I select but not the whole album or playlist. So, if the album or playlist contains 9 songs it will play one and then stop. Then I have to tell it to play again for the next song and it stops after the song is over. I must repeat for any remaining songs. It didn't used to do this. It would play the entire album or playlist. I can't figure out what's gone awry and how to fix it. It's VERY annoying!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

So, we went out to the hot spring yesterday. You can see in the pictures the steam that was coming from the very hot water. It was way too hot to touch (the water) but when I got home I looked on the internet and found out that the water is about 190 degrees. We decided to take Kaos with us so he could run around. And guess what he did? He tried to lap up some of the hot water! He actually stuck his big ole tongue in it! You'd think the heat would warn him to keep his distance or that the steam would burn him as he got close but apparently not. He's not too bright.
Here's MoMo standing near it. And another with hubby, Big R and MoMo. I also took some video of it bubbling and steaming out of the ground, in case you were interested.
We also looked around for some cool rocks and things. We found quite a lot of quartz and purple glass. I found a spot where I collected quite a few chunks of obsidian. And right where I was finding the obsidian I started digging and found an old rusty square nail! Ok, I'm a dork, I was really excited when I found it. LOL
Anyway, today I went to Reno with some other friends/Twilight fans and we saw New Moon and ate at Olive Garden (YUM!). It was a lot of fun. Always nice to get out with other adults leave the kids at home!
Well, I have to get the kids all washed up and ready for bed so until next time...
Hi all! So I was pretty excited yesterday to get my FREE Shutterfly book in the mail! Yes indeed. I got a free hard cover 8x8" book, just had to pay shipping. I tried to take a couple of pictures but they didn't turn out so great. If you'll excuse my photography skills (or lack thereof) I'll post them anyway.
I'm so excited that I finally have a book of my own. And hopefully someday I'll have all of my layouts printed. I also got the other photo book from Kodak. Again, just paid shipping. But I was actually kind of disappointed with that one. It's not hard bound. Actually just printed on photo paper and bound at the spine. And it's smaller. But, you know, it only cost me like 2 bucks so I can't complain too much.
You can judge the size by comparing it to the DVDs in the background. But still, I can take it out and look at it and remember some of the special summer memories. I also got free (gotta love freebies!) a cute little almond tin. It's from the Almond Board or something. Just a little tin to keep your almonds in. Apparently it holds a perfect 1 oz serving size.
I don't think I'll actually carry almonds around in it, though. Maybe a new tin for my "traveling pharmacy." LOL
Also yesterday we had terrible wind. Kaos, who is terrified of the wind, pretty much cowered next to my leg all day. They said we could get gusts of up to 60 mph. I don't know if we got any that strong but we definitely got wind strong enough to knock down a portion of our fence.
Sorry, I just accidentally published this post before I was done. Oooops! Well, I guess that pretty much covers everything, anyway. We're off on another little adventure in a bit. Last weekend hubby went out alone and found a place not far from here that has a hot spring. He found some cool rocks, too, so today he's going to take all of us to see. So, I'll probably have some new pics later!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Saturday, November 7, 2009

I just wanted to wish you all a very happy Digital Scrapbook Day! Yes, it is a REAL holiday! I'm celebrating by filling up my hard drive with some of the various freebies offered. Woo hoo! And I'm wishing I could shop all the sales and buy all the items on my wishlists at a discount. That would REALLY fill up my hard drive! LOL Well, this is just a quick post. Talk to you later!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Ok, so today I took a little trip to Walgreens and snagged me some bargains! Woo hoo!
I tried to estimate the retail value. It would vary depending on what part of the country you're in and what store you're shopping at but I tried to estimate on the low side. I figure the retail value is at least $62.40. But I paid less than $27. The makeup alone would normally cost just about $26. So, I basically got all the rest FREE! I LOVE free stuff! Just look in my closet at all the free razor, toothpaste, and shampoo/conditioner, etc samples I've got! LOL Plus, last Friday I got a great deal on shoes for the kids. Payless Shoes (apparently in conjunction with Oprah) had everything 50% off but just for 2 days. It just so happened that both my kids needed new shoes so we headed on down to our local Payless and got 4 pairs of shoes plus a snazzy scarf for myself for $40. Big R got 2 pair of skate shoes, one black and one white. Momo got some pink sneakers and a pair of black dress shoes with rhinestone accents on the buckle. We were all pretty happy when we left the store with our goodies. And so was my wallet!
Well, I just had to share my shopping with all of you. I'm heading back to Walgreens a couple more times this week to pick up a few more bargains and spend some of my Register Rewards. Can't let them expire! Talk to you all soon!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween! My little MoMo pronounced it the "Best Halloween EVER!" She's partial to that saying. Almost everything when it is happening is the "best EVER!" LOL So, I got the ninja costume done in time. After I finished sewing it, I had hoped I could use an iron on transfer to add the dragon. Alas, when I tested it on a scrap, it did not work out. So, I set to work hand painting the dragon on the fabric. MoMo was pretty excited about her costume so it was worth it. Big R was a Clone Trooper. He had a cool Clone Trooper helmet and blaster that I thought he'd wear with the jumper I bought but he opted to head out with just the cheap mask that came with the jumper and no blaster. We began the day yesterday carving our pumpkins. Here they are lit up.
The top is mine, the middle is MoMo's and the bottom one is Big R's. After the pumpkin carving we made our creepy creature cookies.
After dinner we got ready to trick or treat.
I took the kids around the neighborhood while Daddy manned the door here. Here are the kids with their candy haul.
Look at all that candy! Big R's candy bag (remember the old jack o' lantern bags that we had as kids?) was full right up to the top! So, today we have been taking it easy and trying to come down from the sugar high. LOL It seems as though I've crashed and I'm pretty worn out at the moment, So, I guess I'll finish this here. Bye!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Ok, so as I mentioned before, I was trying to scrap my summer photos by yesterday so I could get my free photo book from Kodak. It was a bit of a challenge for me to perform under pressure. By last night I was running out of creativity and ideas (and time). But I did it! I ordered my book and it only cost me $1.99 for shipping! I haven't ordered from Kodak before so I don't know how their photo books compare to Shutterfly's but for less than $2, does it matter so much? Speaking of Shutterfly, I think I actually have a code for a free book from there as well. But I'm definitely going to use layouts I've already completed for that. I don't want to scrap under pressure again! At least for awhile. So, here are a couple more layouts.
Also, things are coming along on the costume front. I have almost finished. I had to go back to Wally to get some more black fabric to finish the neckline. The pattern had yardages using just one fabric but I am doing a two tone with the main part being pink and the belt and neckline black. I guessed on how much black I'd need but didn't get quite enough. So now everything is done except for finishing up the neckline and adding the dragon. I guess I better get it finished up. I'm kind of running out of time!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009


Monday, October 26, 2009



Hello. As you can see, I did a couple of new layouts. I'm trying to get all my summer photos scrapped. I got a coupon for a free photo book and it expires on Thursday. I want to make myself a book with all our fun summer activities. Finally, I'm getting some of my layouts printed for myself! I keep meaning to do it but just never have. It will only be a small fraction of all the layouts I've done and have saved on disks and such but it's a start!
I've been doing some baking the last few days. I made pumpkin scones and made my hubby happy. He LOVES them (and what's not to love?) and has been asking me when I'm going to make them. So, I finally made a batch and they are all gone already so I guess I'll be making another batch with the can of pumpkin I have left. My friend also gave me a big bag of apples so I make a pan of apple squares, applesauce and apple oven pancakes. Yum! I still have quite a few apples left so I probably will make a pie and more applesauce.
Other than that, I'm trying to sew MoMo's Halloween costume. She saw some older girls at the store trying on costumes and one of them was wearing a satin kimono. She also saw a similar costume in a catalog we got in the mail so she decided that's what costume she wants, except in pink. I guess it's sort of like a girl ninja type of thing but it doesn't have a sword or anything like that. It's like this. So, I got a pattern and some pink and black satin to sew it. I figured it would be pretty easy to make but, man oh man, am I having a difficult time! I cut out the pieces the other day and started sewing today. The first step is to make small loops for the belt to go through. I stitched and then I was supposed to turn this skinny thing right side out. I spent almost an hour trying to get the darn thing turned and finally decided to just improvise. I found some ribbon, which was unfortunately white. But one black permanent marker later and I had black ribbon which I cut to length and stitched in place. Then I stitched the side pieces to the back piece at the shoulders and started sewing the first sleeve. I was at the end of the first sleeve and started wondering why the fabric didn't match up properly. That was when I figured out that I had sewn everything wrong! All the way back to the loops. I sewed them on the wrong side to begin with, then sewed the side pieces on the wrong sides and then sewed the sleeve on the wrong side as well. So, I had to basically take all the stitching out and start back at square one. Well, I didn't have to make the loops again but everything after that! I wasn't too happy. And the satin isn't the easiest fabric to sew since it's so slippery. Ack! But I managed to get everything stitched back the correct way. I'm glad I don't have to sew Big R a costume this year. He's going to be a Star Wars Clone Trooper. He already has a helmet and a blaster but good old Wally World had a costume for $12. I don't even know if I could have sewed one for that price. And he's happy with it so it works for me. I tried to talk MoMo into being a skunk this year with no success. I made Big R an adorable skunk costume a few years ago and the little STINKER wouldn't wear it. I think maybe he wore it for 5 minutes, all the while writhing on the floor while we tried to get a photo.
Well, I've rambled on long enough. Until next time...

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Happy Tuesday everybody! Today I was able to go with MoMo's class on their field trip to the pumpkin patch. It was so fun! MoMo was pretty excited that we got to ride on a real school bus. Here's MoMo on the bus with a big grin. When we got there we had a presentation on the life cycle of corn. It was pretty interesting. She showed us corn kernels and a corn stalk and had some equipment to take the kernels off the cob and crack the corn and grind it into corn meal. She had some mini corn muffins for us to taste and popcorn, too! Yum! I learned something interesting that I didn't know about corn. Each kernel is its own fruit and each is pollinated separately. Each ear has about 800 kernels that need to be pollinated and there is a piece of silk for each kernel. The silk is what catches the pollen and directs it to the kernel.
After that, we got to take a hay ride out to where the pumpkins are and all the kids got to pick a pumpkin.
Most of the kids raced to the far end of the field in search of the perfect pumpkin. Not MoMo. Nope, she took about 2 steps and picked up a pumpkin and that was it. She had her perfect pumpkin. (Must take after her Grandpa R)
Then we rode back and the kids got a ride on the cow train. I don't know who had more fun-the kids on it or the guy driving!
They also have a cool tower of jack o' lanterns. I bet it's very cool at night all aglow.
Finally, we got to see their animals and even feed the chickens and goats. I found it amusing that this goat was just standing on top of the little house. I guess I never really looked at goat eyes before. I know some of you think they are very creepy and I never understood it. But now I know what you mean. Those weird pupils! They are kind of creepy.
After that it was time to head back to school. On the bus on the way back, MoMo (and several other kids) exclaimed, "That was the best field trip EVER!" So, yeah, I'd say the field trip was a success.
Well, I better go. Bye!