Addi is taking a magazine break after a hard morning of
                                           working at the flower shop.

                                         
                                          This is my kind of pet....  There is no shedding, no licking,
                                          no potty breaks, no dirty paws.... I could go on and on....

                                         But this is the fur ball we have....  And he does everything my
                                         horse head doesn't...  But I love him in spite of all of that .
                      

                                         We took my first born, my baby boy to get his drivers permit last
                                         week.  I am having to learn how to be cool in the car, and how not to
                                         look over to my left and break down in tears at the fact that he is driving.
                                         Also I am having to really work on not being a back seat driver.  I am
                                         afraid that is going to take some time.
                                        

               

                                          If anyone is wondering why I haven't posted anyting lately

                                          it is because I have been working on these 2 wreaths. Yes

                                          only 2 wreaths. These babies took a LONG time to make. 

                                        

Toddlers and Tiaras

 I can't stand that show.  Well actually I have never watched the show, but I can't stand the commercials for the show.  That's how I know I wouldn't be able to stand the show. 


But look at my little toddler in her tiara....


                             

                                                                   

3

We went to the zoo a couple of weekends ago.  I absolutely LOVE going to the zoo!

We say its for the kids, but I know I enjoy it just as much, if not more than they do.

I have plenty more pics to post of the animals, but this one is dedicated to the giraffes. 

They are so adorable, they were feeding them while we were there so we really got

to see them up close.

this guy is old

He felt some sort of connecion to Bre, she was kind of freaked out at how he kept staring at her.  I being the caring mom that I am made her stand there so I could take pictures of it.

                                   Then Bre took my camera and got pictures of this :

Happy Birthday to Addi

My parents were in town a few weeks ago, and we decided to celebrate Addison's birthday while they were here.  We had a small cookout with  family to celebrate her big day.  I had plans to have lots of decorations, for the party, but with the move and running around here and there, I ran out of time.  It happens.... Alot!!!  She had a wonderful party without the balloons, and tissue paper balls, and party hats anyway.  My husband is glad I decided to forgo that craziness this year.  I didn't get a huge variety of pictures because I was the crazy person running around with the video camera also.  Here are a few pics from the party...

Clean Floors...No More

Addi is no longer content with letting us feed her oatmeal to
her.  She wants to do it all by herself now.  Don't even THINK about
picking up that spoon and trying to help her.  It's not a good
idea, believe me....I tried!

Hummingbird ?

  These are a few pictures I took the other day in the city.  My mom and I thought the little guy in the pictures was some type of hummingbird, we are not exactly sure though.  At some point I will probably google it to find out, because thats how I roll.  Or if any of you bird lovers out there know what it is for sure, feel free to share your knowledge please.

  
                                            

  We are officially moved in !!!   We have been living in our new house for about a month now and it is finally starting to feel like home.  It is still so surreal to think that this house is our home.  I find myself looking around and saying "thank you Lord" alot.  I truly believe God had this house waiting for us.  Everything fell into place perfectly as far as finding it and working out all of the details as far as price negotiations and all of those things. 

  These are a few pictures of the chaos that surrounded us for the first week or so.  Thankfully everything is pretty much put in its place now.  Before we moved I made a decision to really go through everything and get rid of alot of  stuff.  You see I am a hoarder,pack rat, a very sentimental person and I save EVERYTHING, especially when it has to do with my kids.  I pack anything and everything that has to do with them in totes. At our other house we bought a storage building to store all of my totes, sad but true.  Since we enclosed our garage here at the new house,  our storage building had to be used for tools, lawnmowers, and that type stuff .  So pretty much my totes got the boot!   We do have an attic, so I decided to store my beloved totes of history up there.  But after realizing I had about 20 large totes up there, give or take a few, I convinced myself that my totes were going to cause the attic to come crashing down into Addi's room.  After much worrying and stress , and googling how much weight an attic can actually hold I decided it was time to let some stuff go.  It took about 4 trips to the attic for a couple of hours at a time, but I finally had my twenty or so totes down to about 10 including a few random boxes.  Truth be told I  could probably downsize more than that but I'm good for now.      Inside of the house I decided to get rid of alot of stuff too.  I had alot of  decor items setting around and frankly I got tired of dusting it.  At our new house I wanted everything to be clean, organized and minimal.  I decided I didn't want alot of stuff junking it up.  I wanted the spaces to be more open and free of clutter. I believe I have acheived that and I couldn't be happier !    It is amazing to me how much calmer I am because I got rid of the clutter.  I feel less anxious about keeping everything perfect because there is not as much to keep up with.  I will post after pictures of our house soon and show you what I am talking about.                                               

Today is moving day !!  Technically today is packing day and tomorrow is moving day but at this point its all the same.  Moving is hard, hard work.  I had forgotten since I haven't had to do it in 13 1/2 years.  And in 13 1/2 years we have acquired a lot of stuff.  I started out strong this morning, packing box after box.  I am on number 33 now.  (  Yes, I am numbering the boxes. Why, I really am not sure! It makes me feel more in control of all this chaos if I know how many boxes there are. )  But for the last couple of hours I have fizzled out.  I should be on box 50 by now, but it didn't happen.  Do you want to know what did happen ?  Let's see, I took a nap... A little nap and only because I had a pounding headache. Then I fixed me some coffee hoping that would help my headache.  What else have I done, oh yes I straightened my hair and freshened up my makeup because that is so important on packing day.  And right now I am typing this post.  Okay fine, I am procrastinating just a tiny bit.  Its just there is SO much to do in such a short amount of time.  I understand why the kids act the way they do when we make them do their homework !  I shall be more sensitive to their plight from now on !  ( I actually just looked up plight in the dictionary to make sure I was using it correctly, I think it works ! )  I better go paint my nails before the hubs gets home.  I don't know if he is going to appreciate a fresh manicure with all the work still left to do, but I am willing to give it a go ! 

I know! I know!  I am not very good at keeping up with this blog.  I have good intentions, but sometimes I just stop at intentions.  Do you see my new header at the top?  Yeah well I have been working on that sucker since the last time I made a blog post!  It takes me alot longer than the average person to figure out all of this technical ho-hum! 


Summer is over and my kiddos have started back to school.  As always the summer seems to have flown by.  Funny how that happens, actually it's not funny at all, it makes me cry.  I love my kiddos being with me.  In other news :  We bought a house !!!   Yes, we bought a house, but no we are not actually living in it yet.  We have made our 3rd house payment on it, but have not actually slept there or been in it for more than a couple of hours at a time.  We had our garage enclosed  into a bedroom and a  mudroom.  ( For those of you who never read Better Homes and Gardens magazine, yes a mudroom is actually a real name for a room, kind of like a utility room.  We just call it a mudroom and it is usually followed by a confused face of the person we are saying mudroom to. )  But whether or not it is actually a mudroom or utility room is  the least of our problems.  You see our renovation was supposed to be completed by the first of July.  Well that didn't happen.  (Note to self:  Never, ever. EVER hire a contractor that you got from the phone book, and had no one refer them to you .)  I am afraid we have had to learn this the hard way. Now I am not going to name drop on this blog, but anyone that knows me and lives in my area, if you do any remodeling, call me and I will definitely tell you who NOT to use!


These past few months have been so stressful, more for my hubs than me.  Since he is the one that deals directly with the contractor.  Our phone conversations for the past three months have pretty much consisted of me saying "Hello"  and my hubby saying " Do you want the good news or the  bad news first?"  Which technically there really isn't any good news, its more like : Do you want the bad news, or the really bad news first?"  We hired a contractor instead of doing the renovation ourselves because we needed it done fast.  Well we could have gotten it done faster if we had done it ourselves.  But silly us, when someone says "yes, we can get this job done in 4 weeks", we believe them.  We pretty much have still ended up doing alot of it ourselves, we have had to get most of the supplies and leave it there for them to do because they kept getting the wrong supplies.  When it is all said and done, they will have had to redo the brick job 4 times, redo the carpet 3 times, redo the tile 2 times ,  redo the paint because they painted before they patched the holes, redo the trim because they put the trim up before the carpet and tile were done.  I could go on and on, but I get a headache thinking about it.  I know one thing is for sure, after this is all said and done we are going to open up a contractor business.  By now we are professionals !

These pics were taken before the remodel started, I will post after pics when it is completed

Things are finally looking up, we had a new contractor come in and he is taking care of business.  Hopefully they will be done today or tomorrow and we can go in and clean and then start moving next week.  I tell my hubby that God is teaching us patience through this whole experience, and ultimately God is in control of all things and He knows best.  Everything happens the way God chooses, and knowing this has totally kept us from losing our complete minds during this process.

Ramblings....

1.  We had our dog neutered a week ago.  I thought " that will calm him down and help him not to shred things to pieces."

2.  It didn't !

3.  We tried to be nice and buy him a fluffy, white dog bed to lay on while he was recovering.

4. He didn't appreciate it at all, and we are now out $35.00.

5.  Can you have dogs declawed?

6. Of course I'm teasing!

7. Do they really need their teeth ?

8. Teasing again.

9.  I have started brushing him everyday and showing him more affection thinking maybe he is just acting out of  boredom or something.

10.  His fur is starting to look better than my hair.  At least his roots aren't grown out 3 2 inches.


                                                

                                             once again, ignore the dates on the pictures.

Coming to terms

It is 9:20 a.m. on a Saturday.  I have been up and at'em since 6:45 a.m.  In those roughly 2 1/2 hours I have fed Addi her oatmeal, made breakfast burritos for the rest of the gang, gotten my Silhouette machine out along with the 500 pieces that goes along with it, spent approximately 10 minutes trying to figure it out for the 2nd time in the 8 months that I've owned it, then proceeded to pack it all back up (nice and neatly) then feeling down but not out, I got out my Photoshop book and spent the next ten minutes trying to fix another picure.  The photoshop book is now put away, and not a single picture is changed.  In these last 2 1/2 hours I have had an epiphany.  It's major, prepare yourselves , I have finally come to terms with what the rest of my family already knew, and truth be told I knew it too, but was really holding out hope that it wasn't true.  Here it is ...My  "aha" moment for the day....   I AM NEVER , EVER AS LONG AS I LIVE, GOING TO UNDERSTAND HOW TO USE PHOTOSHOP OR MY SILHOUETTE MACHINE!!!!!!   Ahhh, I feel much better now.  That burden has been lifted.  Some people may call me a quitter, and honestly I am okay with that!!!  I don't think that I am a quitter, I did try to get it, really I did.  Some people are better at some things,and other people are better at other things. Life is too short to spend so much time stressing over it.  I am going to stick with what I know I can do,and become better at those things, and add new ideas along the way. I can make bows, I can make flower arrangements, I can browse Craigslist like no other,  I probably could decorate cakes. I am a creative person, I however am most definitely not the type of person that can use Silhouette machines or Photoshop.  Thank you, now back to your regularly scheduled programming.....

After many long, sleepless nights of trying to figure out

how to use Photoshop, I have FINALLY  mastered it!  I am

pretty much a professional Photoshopper now. 

"Photoshop Extraordinare" if you will.

 Call me anytime you are ready to schedule your

professional photoshoot!  Ok, maybe I am getting

a little ahead of myself.  Does that really surprise you?

The fact is , I stumbled across You Tube video tutorials

that showed me step by step how to use some of 

the Photoshop programs.  I was hooked, for a while at least, but 

that wasn't enough.  By the time I was working on my own pictures

I had forgotten everything the nice gentlemen on You Tube had told me.

   So I did the only thing I knew to do....

I started clicking all kinds of buttons, and just played around

with the pictures.  After that I had to break out the ol'

Photoshop for Dummies book to figure out how to get my

pictures here on my blog.  It was a lot of trial and error, more 

error than anything, but I finally figured it out.   

Okay fine, don't twist my arm...  I figured it out by accident!

Thankfully 1 out of the 1,000 buttons I clicked was the

correct one.  And just as I was asking my hubby to show me

  where in the world I sent my blessed pictures to...I saw them, tucked

away quietly in the My Pictures tab on my computer.  I am

pretty sure I heard Angels singing the Hallalujeh chorus

in the background!  

So without further ado... Here it is....My very first

and possibly last photoshopped picture.

I hope you are not expecting me to tell you in detail

everything I did to this picture in Photoshop, because

I honestly have no clue.

before

                                                                           after

                                                   


                                              That was exhausting, I must go lie down now.

I have tried to post something on my blog these last few weeks.  No, really I have!  It's just that I have been so busy lately.  What with kiddos, work, a crazy, dillusional cocker spaniel that decided to rip a hole in my nice perfectly hole free up until that point couch.  That dog is LUCKY he is still alive!  LUCKY I tell you.

As busy as I have been lately I can tell you what I haven't been busy doing, and that is .... Getting my roots done.  Can you say call your hairdresser already. It's been long enough!  Also I haven't been busy selling any bows, oh no my friends I am afraid that ship has sailed. Bye-Bye bow career. Mom, Dad, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Friends,  it doesn't matter- if I know you then you can expect to be receiving a bow for Christmas! What,  its the thought that counts, right?  And I think I have a lot of bows that I need to unload!  Me-in a bit of a tizzy? Nooo!-why do you ask? 

 I also haven't been busy practicing photoshop, or practicing any other machinery, yes that is what I call those things.   You know those big scary machinery devices known to you smart people as Silhouette machines,  scanners, printers, all of those monsters that I prefer to keep locked up in a closet for fear I might have to actually learn how to use them.  Yes that is where they are and have been since I became their freakishly weird proud owner.  And truth be told they will probably stay there until I get a wild hair  and get them out and read the instructions for what feels like 100 years, then realize that the instructions might as well had been written in French because they are like a foreign language to me, then I will pack everything back up, nice and neatly of course because that's  how I roll, and I will proceed to forget about them for the next few months until the wild hair strikes again.  It's a vicious cycle.  I go round and round with this cycle and the cycle ALWAYS wins.  I am 100 percent certain I have some sort of condition.  Maybe it's procrastination, or perfectionism, or laziness.....The possibilities are endless!  I'll google that when I have more time.  But for now I am going to go clean something.. See that is what I do when I am trying to avoid doing something else like reading my photoshop book :)

Where have I been you ask ?!?!  I have been snug in my bed crying my eyes out for the past few weeks.  Do you want to know why?  Well I am glad you asked, let me tell you.....  It is because my first born, my baby boy....  are you ready for this?  He done went and started drivers education classes!  The nerve of him, he is squashing the idea that I had of me being the one who drives him anywhere he needs to go. FOREVER!!!  I knew this day would come, but I thought maybe in like 100 years, not right now! NOT RIGHT NOW!!! I have to go back to bed now.

                                       (Ignore the dates, this is my daughters camera and she gets her lack of technical skills from me.)
                                                                                                       

The Result

Okay I am posting this blog to let all of my fabulous followers know how my extreme couponing trip turned out yesterday.  Let me begin  by saying that as Clay, Addi and I were getting out of the car, and I was getting my 8 coupons situated, ( thats right, I said 8, baby steps..), we see this lady getting out of her car carrying a HUGE binder full of coupons.  I am woman enough to admit that she is more than likely going to be on the Extreme Couponing show before me.  So here we are in a grocery store that I haven't shopped at before, with my sale ad and 8 coupons in hand.  We were a force to be reckoned with.  Our first stop was to the bathroom, because you can't coupon on a full bladder.  This was the first glitch that occured.  I was planning on walking in to a bathroom with at least 5 stalls and  a few sinks.  This was a single bathroom, in a grocery store.  I wasn't sure those still existed.  It really threw me for a loop, and made me second guess this whole shindig.  I am a creature of habit, I like knowing where I am going.  This store was new to me and I felt awkward and out of place.  It was really bizarre how out of my comfort zone I felt, and when you throw in the fact that I was holding coupons in my hand, well lets just say someone had a meltdown, and it wasn't my 19 month old daughter.  There was stomping and whining and I am pretty sure I said something along the lines of " I just want to go to Wal-Mart and buy the Great Value brand."  Thank goodness I had Clay there with me or I really would have left.  As I was arranging and rearranging my coupons trying to look like I had some sort of clue what I was doing, he took a couple of coupons and went and found those items for me.  The idea of extreme couponing is to match the coupons with the items the store has on sale that week.  I only had a few coupons to match with their sale items, so thats where we started.  Honestly I don't know if my personality is good for couponing.  There was a level of anxiety involved that I am just not sure was worth it.  I almost felt like I was doing something wrong, and I just couldn't breathe correctly until we left the store.  On the plus side we spent $27.00 but we saved $21.00.  That was exciting for us, but I just can't grasp the whole idea of buying something that you normally wouldn't buy just because it's on sale.  This is going to take some more practice for me to totally get it and to see if it is the right fit for our family.  If momma ain't happy, noone's happy, and I was a bundle of nerves in that store.  We did share a few laughs however as we were walking up to the checkout counter we looked at the coupons again and realized they said "do not double" on them.  And then we realized that you had to have that grocery stores savings card to get the sale prices.  Clay and I played paper-rock-scissors to decide which one of us was going to ask the cashier about these questions.  I lost so I had to go ask which brought my anxiety level up a notch or two.... Good Times......Thankfully we could apply for a store savings card right then and we were able to use the sale prices.  And they did double the coupons.  Overall it was, in my opinion, more trouble than I was prepared for.  But again I think it has more to do with my personality than the actual couponing.  So I will try it again, but I have a feeling that for the next few weeks our pantry will be full of the Great Values brand.

Do It Already...

As many of you already know I have a gigantic small tendency to dream BIG, and watch those dreams go nowhere.  That may be a tad bit on the dramatic side.  I blame hormones for my exaggeration.  In fact I blame everything on hormones. Hey don't judge, I'm a woman, it works for me.  If you are reading this and you happen to be a woman, you should totally try it sometime if you haven't already. Where was I?  Oh yes, I have added to my list of goals to accomplish in the near future...  Are you ready for this?    To be......  An   Extreme Couponer....  Thats right, has anyone watched that show?  Keep watching for one day you will see me on there, having $1,000.00 worth of groceries in my cart and only having to spend $1.00 on them.  In case you don't see the pattern here, I tend to set too high of goals for myself.  Let's take the me becoming a millionaire making bows for example.  I have come to the bitter conclusion that it's definitely more than likely not going to happen.  I have however sold 4 bows.  What has happened in the bow business is that people come into the shop, examine my bows to try to figure out how to make the bows themselves. This results in me jumping over the counter, bodyslamming them, and holding them there until the authorities arrive.  This makes for a very awkward situation for everyone, but drastic times call for drastic measures, and I am sorry , but I can't have copycats.  Did I copy other peoples bows?  Maybe so...But the buck stops with me!  So along with the bow business, me learning how to use Photoshop, learning how to use my photo scanner my dad gave me, learning how to use my vinyl making machine, I am going to learn couponing.  And just like my Photoshop book, my scanner and vinyl making machine are all stacked neatly in my "hobby" armoire, I clip coupons and keep them in my purse.  I have just been waiting for the "perfect" time to learn how to coupon.
But the waiting is over, it's now or never, do or die!  And today I shall make my shopping trip and plan around the grocery store sale adds, just like they do on Extreme Couponing.  Now just so I don't set myself up for disappointment , I don't expect people to be gathered around me at the checkout today clapping for me because of how much I just saved with coupons.  Also in case you were wondering , there will be no camera crews there, unless I have my husband videotaping of course, which I might.   But I will be using coupons and hopefully saving money, and this will be the start of my Extreme Couponing  journey. I will keep  you posted, I know you are dying to know how it turns out.

                                                   This will could be me someday

These photos were taken in December 2009.  I love looking back at these pictures.  I remember the events of this night just like it was yesterday.  Clay and I were still functioning on 3 hours of sleep each night, barely.  Not long after these pictures were taken we started putting a little bit of  cereal in Addi's nighttime bottle, and we became normal, well-rested human beings once again.  It was glorious. Also when I look at these pictures I think about how Zach and Bre were in the same school.  Zach was in 8th and Bre was in 6th.  It reminds me of how fast time flies.  Zach is now almost through his freshman year in highschool.  I cry daily because of this.  It is not fair to Moms, the whole growing up idea.  Bre is almost through with 7th grade, and will be entering her last year in middle school.  Addi is walking running everywhere, putting words into sentences, and she understands when I ask her "Are you poopy?"  All of these events are almost too much for my heart to handle.  I am so grateful for whomever invented cameras, although I think as moms and dads the events of life are forever burned into our memories with or without the pictures there to remind us. To add fuel to my fire as I am writing this Kenny Chesney's song Don't Blink is playing on the radio.  Cue the waterworks!

this one is my favorite...can you say real life at its finest?