Saturday, April 30, 2005

MORE ABOUT ME!!!

so, its saturday night and i have nothing better to do than surf around the net and check out new and exciting blogs. while i was over at ani's blog, i saw that she posted "70 questions". since i like to talk about myself and since i have nothing better to do, i thought i would answer em and post em here.

70 Questions

1. First Name: elizabeth

2. Were you named after anyone? no, but after my grandfather died, both me and my mom found out that his grandmother was named elizabeth. its also my mom's confirmation name

3. Do you wish on stars? almost every night

4. Which finger is your favorite? middle...duh!

5. When did you last cry? hmmm....the other day when i was driving around. had some shit on my mind.

6. Do you like your handwriting? luv it

8. Any bad habits? uhhh..yeah! the worst are procrastination, too emotional, chew the skin around my fingers

9. What is your most embarrassing CD on the shelf? brittany spears...the first one

10. If you were another person, would YOU be friends w/you? hmmm....i don't know. i'm a pretty moody bitch ;)

11. Are you a daredevil? NO!!!

12. Have you ever told a secret you swore not to tell? prolly have, but it must not have been that bigga deal or the secret was already out

13. Do looks matter? lets be honest here....yes! no one wants to kiss or sleep with someone who should be wearing a paper bag over their head...okay, that was so friggin' mean. even to me.

14. How do you release anger? i scream and yell and have to keep from throwing something across the room.

15. Where is your second home? work prolly

16. Do you trust others easily? too easily

17. What was your favorite toy as a child? i don't know what the first was, but i know that i had a doll that was about the size of me and i used to give her baths in the toilet.

18. What class in school do you think is totally useless? history

19. Do you have a journal? i have a buncha partially written journals around. and i have the blog, but i don't really post things that one would normally write in a journal. and the reason i really don't write in the journal is b/c my thoughts are very private and i don't like the idea of someone stumbling upon it and reading them.

20. Do you use sarcasm a lot? a lot is an understatement

21. Have you ever been in a mosh pit? no....clausterphobic (sp?)

22. What do you look for in a guy/girl? nice eyes/hands, romantic, and a great sense of humor

24. What are your nicknames? baby, mommy, noodle, lucy, olivia, isabel, liz,

25. Would you bungee jump? no way!

26. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? hardly ever

27. Do you think that you are strong? mentally-to a point, physically-prolly not

28. What's your favorite ice cream flavor? anything coffee flavor or cherry cordial from U.D.F. in cincinnati, oh

29. Shoe Size? 8-8.5

30. What are your favorite colors? green & orange

31. What is your least favorite thing? someone cutting their nails in public

32. How many wisdom teeth do you have? none

33. How many people have a crush on you right now? hmmmm...wouldn't i like to know ;)

34. Who do you miss most right now? greta....hurry up and come home girl. i haven't talked to ya since yesterday at lunch time. having major withdrawals here

35. Do you want everyone you send this to Go ahead and post it on your blog. sure...i'm nosey

36. What color pants are you wearing? brown pj bottoms

37. What are you listening to right now? a silly commercial

38. Last thing you ate? chocolate cupcake

39. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? green

40. What is the weather like right now? just finished raining all day, pretty windy and cool out

41. Last person you talked to on the phone? melissa

42. The first things you notice about the opposite sex? eyes/hands

43. Do you like the person who sent you this? no one sent it to me...i stole off someone else's blog

44. How are you today? greeeeaaat

45. Favorite drink? iced tea right now

46. Favorite Alcoholic Drink? beer

48. Your Hair Color? dishwater brown

49. Your Eye Color? hazel

50. Do you wear contacts? yep

51. Siblings? two brothers

52. Favorite Month? february of course

53. Favorite Food? mexican

54. Last movie that you watched? meet the fockers

55. Favorite Day of the Year? my bday

57. Scary Movies or Happy Endings? happy endings

58. Summer or Winter? Summer

59. Hugs or Kisses? kisses

60. Relationships or One Night Stands? relationships

61. Do you want your friends to write back? yep

64. Living Arrangements? living with the hubby and my two bug-a-boos

65. What Books are You Reading? chocolate freak-steve almond, lunch-karen moline, & point of origin-patricia cornwell

66. What’s on your mouse pad? dell

67. Favorite Board Game? rummy 21

68. What did you watch on TV last night? nothing, we were at the zoo to do for kids

69. Favorite Smells? a great smelling man

70. What’s the first thing you think of when you wake up? is it saturday? do i have to get up for work or not? what day is it? is it really 5:30 or did i accidently hit the hour button last night when i set the alarm?


now aren't you glad that you know a lil more about me?

your turn!

MORE SEWING!!

today, i decided i needed to get more practice at the sewing machine, so i went through the many totes of fabric that are laying around and pulled out one of my favorite pieces. i luv the way this purse turned out. i cannot wait to carry it around :)





after i finished the purse, i decided that i was going to work on my wallet technique. i took some squares that i received from stose when she gave me a butt-load of fabric that her grandmother had hand-sewn together for a quilt or whatever she had dreamed them to be. the wallets are a lil iffy, however, i do like how they turned out. there are parts when the fabric got all bunched up, but i figured, that is what makes them special :)







then, while doing all the sewing i was dreaming of one of hillary's beautiful pin cushions b/c i was so tired of digging the pins outta the lil pkg. they came in. so i decided to put one of these 50 cent tins to good use. i just glued fabric around the edge and stuffed it with pollyfill. i then glued ribbon around the edge over the fabric to hide that messiness. i think it turned out pretty good. a lil lopsided on the top, but it serves its purpose. i am going to glue magnets on the inside of the lid for extra pins to stick to and then i will prolly stick odds and ends inside the pin. not bad for 50 cents. i have another tin and i think i am going to do the same thing with it but this time i am going to take a lil more time to make it look neater :)



ZOO TO DO FOR KIDS!!

well, last night, we finally go to go to the zoo-to-do for kids that we missed out on last year due to the weather. lemme go on and tell ya, if you live near new orleans, this.is.a.must. even if you have to drive an hour and a half like we do. i have never had so much fun! tickets were only $15 a piece (minus bella) and we got to eat as much food as we possibly could. there were games for the kids, jumpy things, food from some of the best restaurants in new orleans, face painting, crafts, music, and lets not forget the animals. when we first rolled up, i was a lil nervous about the fact that we were under-dressed (well i thought so at least. there were women there in dresses! dresses at the zoo with messy kids running around!!) but once we got inside, it was pure heaven.

some of the things we ate (and boy, we practically ate everything in site ;)

*shrimp etouffe (sp?)
*mac n cheese/crawfish mac n cheese
*cookies/cake
*iced coffee
*petit fours
*kabash (i think that is what it was)
*popcorn
*another crawfish dish that was to die for, but i don't know what it was. hell, i coulda been eating alligator for all i know
*beignets
*icee's
*dominos pizza
*lemon ice
*krispy kreme donuts
*ice cream sodas
*ice cream

and there was plenty more that we were too full to eat.

but let me not forget the one thing that i was the only one brave enough to eat.

cricket-chocolate-chip cookies!!!


yeah, you heard me right. i ate a cricket in a cookie! i was the only one who ate one. i figured that was the closest thing i was getting to a fear factor moment, so i better take advantage of it ;) it wasn't that bad. it had a nutty flavor to it. the hardest part was wondering if it was going to be all crunchy like and if i would be able to get it down. i did fine, however, i only ate one bite of cricket. couldn't handle bringing the other one to my mouth.

and now for your viewing pleasure....



















MY SILLY KIDDOS!

here's some misc. pics of my lil bug-a-boos being silly!







FINALLY, MELISSA'S XMAS PURSE IS DONE!

okay, so if you guys remember, i had a lil problem with the fabric that i ordered for a purse i was going to make melissa for christmas. well, i ended up getting the fabric and was terrified to do anything with it. i had only made two other purses in my life and i only had a yard of fabric. and since it was such a saga to get this fabric, i was afraid to cut it and once i got it all nice and cut out, i was afraid to start sewing it. well, last weekend i decided four months was long enough to wait. i sat down after a lot of sweating and a lot of worrying, the purse was complete! i was so pleased with the way it turned out that i even made her a lil wallet with some scrap material that was left. i used a stiff felt for the inside part. the sewing isn't straight and there are prolly some mistakes that a pro would notice for sure, but melissa loved it and that is all that matters :)





A NEW LOOK!

i needed a new, clean look. hopefully this will please me for awhile :)

Sunday, April 17, 2005

ORGANIZED HOME!



i am prolly the most UN-organized person i know and every year, becoming more organized is one of my new year's resoluations. so far this year, i guess i've done okay. and that is the lowest okay possible. there is just stuff everywhere. i stumbled upon this site a while back and i highly recommend it. they have great printable forms for a price book (when going to the grocery store, knowing which store has the best deals), a weekly/monthly menu, they also have a craft section for supplies, etc.

i have used their forms for a budget book that i started last october. i have gotten really slack in writing down every penny we spend, but i do use it to keep track of bills i've paid (bill, when due, amount, when/how i paid). it has come in handy.

if you guys have any organization tips/tools, please, share them with the organized-challened.

Saturday, April 16, 2005

SOME NEW BLOGS TO CHECK OUT!!

since i have been so surf happy lately, i have discovered a buncha new blogs that i really think you should check out. really, leave here right now and check some of these out. they're great!

my little mochi
buzzville
etches-johnson
friendbunny
soule mama
mip mup
little things
two rabbits
angry chicken

THE KIDDOS!



mikey finally got to paint his wooden plane that he got for christmas. of course mike had to put it together first, but once mikey picked out three colors for it, he got to sit on the porch and work really hard on it. which he did! he's had lots of fun playing with it too!


the kiddos playing with their elefun game. bella kinda doesn't understand that she is supposed to catch the butterflies in her net. she just likes to watch them fly out of the elephant's nose :)



bella went into mikey's room this morning and took his glove and ball. hmmm...could this have anything to do with the fact that we watched a braves game on tv last night and she had so much fun watching and cheering for the players?

MY SAMPLER SUBMIT!!

i decided that i wanted to make something for may's june/july's sampler. even though i really don't sell my goods on the net, i still wanted to be a part of it.

so i decided to make these:





some are magnets, pendants, and pins. i need to make my lil card, package them up, and get them in the mail on monday so they make it on time. i really hope that everyone likes them and will use them. i think that is the biggest compliment any crafter can get. when someone really uses their craft!

note: i know you really can't tell in the picture (hell, you really can't tell in person) but in each one, there are clear beads on part of the card (i.e. the suit) and once i poured the resin in, it was kind of hard to tell that is what is there. it looks like its a bunch of air bubbles. so i am a lil disappointed in that. next time i intend on using red and blk. beads like i did here for my own personal pins

PENDANTS!!

i guess i lied in a previous post when i said that i hadn't really done any crafting. i forgot about these lil jems. i decided to put some of those wine glass charm ringy-thingys to good use and make some pendants. its also a good way to use up some beads. i absolutely love how they turned out and they were so easy (yes, i know i already said that).


a few that i made with various beads and such


and of course my favorite one. i got the charms at art chix studio. this one has been worn already.

BOOKS FROM THE GOODWILL!!

i stopped by the goodwill at lunch one day this week to see if i could find any bobbsey twins books. while i didn't have any luck with the bobbsey twins, i did manage to find a few books from a series of sesame street books that i used to have when i was little. i was so excited. i think when i was little, i ended up with about 3 or so of em. i guess mom decided that she didn't want to pay the high price of the book club.

so when i saw these at the goodwill for 29 cents each, i just had to scoop them up for bella. i even found the one that used to belong to me that i had given to mikey and he thought it would be fun to tear the pages out of them...hmph!

i also found a few other lil treasures too!







CHOCOLATE BUNDLES!





so i decided to make something that would use up just a fraction of the leftover easter candy that we have sitting around. i've been wanting to make this recipe since i first saw paula deen make it.

they turned out really good and really rich!!! i ended up putting a piece of caramel in mine and mike's.

i really recommend this recipe!

TABLECLOTH!!





i have such a bad habit of buying loads of fabric and they just end up sitting around. well, last weekend when i walking past one my my many baskets/totes of fabric, i noticed this fabric that i got in the remnent bin at walmart for $1.50. i decided to take it out of its lil packaging and see how much was there. i was floored at how big a piece it was (apparently it was in the remnent bin due to a spot somewhere on the fabric). it was over a yard long. i thought it would be great for a spring/summer tablecloth. so as i walked to the dining room, i prayed that the piece was big enough and it was. i threw it in the dryer to get the wrinkles out (i HATE to iron) and then put it on my table and it is beautiful!

the pictures of course do not do it justice. mike has been aggravated with me since i put it on the table. i keep saying "i just can't stop looking at the table. it is so cute. why did i let that fabric just sit for a year?"

WHEW! WE'VE BEEN BUSY!

i haven't really blogged in a while ('cept for the email posts i made) so i am doing to catch up today.

first, i'll fill everyone in on what has been going on around here. two words. SWIM LESSONS!!! i am taking the kids to swim lessons along with greta and her lil bug mason and melissa (who is holding mikey while i hold bella in the pool). it started this past monday and it runs mon-thurs. we already finished our first week and we have one more week left. we are having loads of fun, but it is wearing me out! we don't get home until 8:30 and bella is usually sawing logs at this point. but i shouldn't complain too much. we are all having fun and mikey has progressed so much since the first day. thursday they got to jump off the diving board. i wish that i had my camera...wait, as i think about it, mike was there watching and was supposed to take pictures. where the hell was his camera at? why wasn't he taking pictures and why didn't i think to remind him to get his camera outta his unit.

oh well. maybe next week i'll have some pics (of this kids that is. there is no way in hell i will be posting pics of me in a bathing suit for the world to see ;)

other than that, i guess that is all that is going on. work, taking mikey to school, etc. i haven't had the opportunity to get much crafting done (well not as much as i would like to), so i am hoping that after next week, i will have more time to get some stuff done. i always get so jealous when i check out other blogs (see sidebar) and see all the wonderful things that these girls do on a daily basis. the closest that i get to crafting everyday is looking at their wonderful stuff.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

BEING A POLICEMAN'S WIFE.....

...makes it easy for me to give up my love of ben & jerry's icecream. i thought i would share this wealth of information to the ones out there that are interested in my daily musings. this is really heartbreaking and my thoughts and prayers go out to the fallen police officer's family! i can't even imagine what they are going through.

note: i received this information from one my fellow employee's who's a policeman and received this information from the f.o.p.

Greetings All,

At the recent National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) conference, the
delegation in attendance voted unanimously to begin a boycott of
persons, products and companies associated with the supporting of
convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.

In case you don't know, he was convicted in the 1981 killing of
Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner under overwhelming evidence.
The act was an especially brutal and sadistic murder that still haunts
the family, friends and coworkers of Officer Faulkner. The New York
Shields presented Officer Faulkner's family with a Medal of Valor at
their 1999 Police Memorial Breakfast.

Convict Abu-Jamal has written a book, "Live from Death Row," and
attempted to place himself in a celebrity status as a result of his
criminal behavior. Others have supported his pathetic attempt to gain
stardom and freedom, all the while spitting in the face of Officer
Faulkner, his family and every single law enforcement officer in the
United States.

The F. O. P. has announced the formal boycotting of the following:

1. Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Products (donators to a defense fund for the
killer).

2. Actor Paul Newman and his products (an outspoken supporter of the
killer).

3. Actress Susan Sarandon (supporter of this convicted killer).

4. Filmmakers Spike Lee, Oliver Stone and John Landis (supporters of the
killer).

5. Writers Norman Mailer and Joyce Carol Oates (supporters of the
killer).

6. Super-model Naomi Campbell (supporter of the killer).

7. Musicians: Sting, David Byrne and Michael Stipe of REM, (supporters
of the killer).

8. The Backstreet Boys who are performing "free" benefit concerts for
the killer's defense fund. One of their "benefit concerts" scheduled for
Baltimore, Md. had to be canceled when Baltimore police officers
refused to work the overtime shifts for security at the concert.

As you may not know, a tape recorded statement made by this heinous
convicted killer, was played at the graduation commencement ceremony of
EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE IN WASHINGTON STATE in June 1999. This resulted
in over 800 graduates walking out and another two dozen turning their
backs during the killer's three minute diatribe of hate.

The F.O.P.'s position is getting widespread coverage in the media, as
well it should. The members of the New York Shields stand with our
fellow brothers across this country in strongly supporting this boycott
and honoring the memory of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.

We urge you to participate in this boycott and request that you pass
this e-mail on to your coworkers, partners, family and friends. We must
stand together against this brutal murderer.

Please do your part and pass this important message along to your
friends. Take care and STAY SAFE.

Saturday, April 09, 2005

THE PRICE OF CHILDREN!!

this was in an email i received recently...

The Price of Children

I have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It's nice, really nice!!

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into $8,896.66 a year, $741.38 a month, or $171.08 a week. That's a mere $24.24 a day! Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you want to be rich.

Actually, it is just the opposite. What do you get for your $160,140?????????

Naming rights. First, middle, and last!

Glimpses of God every day.

Giggles.... under the covers every night.

More love than your heart can hold.

Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.

Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.

A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.

A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sand castles, and skipping down the sidewalk in the pouring rain.

Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up.

You get to finger-paint, carve pumpkins, play hide-and-seek, catch lightning bugs, and never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh, watching Saturday morning cartoons, going to Disney movies, and wishing on stars.

You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof, taking the training wheels off a bike, removing a splinter, filling a wading pool, coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat to history to witness the first step, first word, first bra, first date, and first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal.

You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren.

You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so . one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost.



You get to be an ancestor!



ENJOY YOUR KIDS AND GRANDKIDS!

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

GAME CARDS!!

here are some game related card that i have made recently. i have thought about selling them online (along with creating a whole website to sell some of my goodies) but unfortunately i feel that since i am a crafty person, i think everyone else thinks "i can make that too! i'm not going to pay for it". kwim??

have you ever thought of selling your goods? do/did you sell em? how well did you do?


miss scarlet (the card is red....due to the game piece on it, the scanner didn't get that close of a shot so it looks really pink).


col. mustard


st. charles. i don't know how i feel about this card. i'm not too crazy about it.

THE BUTTON GODS HAVE SMILED DOWN ON ME!

when kris (mike's sister) came down, she surprised me with the three tins of buttons that mike forgot to bring home with him when he was there last january. i had thought they had gotten thrown away. they belonged to mike's mom and possibly his great aunt dorothy before that. i will treasure them always and plan on making beautiful things with them (i've already made one ring with one of the big buttons and i *luv* it).


2 tins filled with misc. buttons


buttons from a third tin that i absolutely luv

WHAT EVERY WOMAN NEEDS!!!

Sunday, April 03, 2005

CHOCOLATE BLISS!!!



just found this on a great website called kewl finds.

kewl indeed!

thought i would share this new find....off to search around the site.

i.must.resist.the.temptation.to.smell.like.chocolate.all.day

SPRING SWAP!!

i participated in the "hurry up spring swap" over on glitter and my wonderful pkg. arrived yesterday in the mail.

i recd.:

*a beautiful knitted scarf out of blues/greens
*an older natl. geographic calendar that has great pictures in (these will one day be cards)
*handmade earrings (gorgeous)
*handmade bracelet (ditto!)
*shimmery star stickers
*a cute lil marble like box
*4 mixed cds (which i cannot wait to listen to)
*an assortment of origami paper (which i can not wait to play with)
*knitted wrist cuff

thanks again lady_stardust! i luv everything :) glitter hugs.

WHEW!! A BUSY WEEK!

well the reason i just posted our easter pictures is b/c mike's sister kris and her family (steve, kayla, briana, halley, & amber) along with mike's grandparents were in town. so our evenings were filled with delicious food and wonderful company.

tuesday evening when they got into town, we met them at their hotel and at dinner at the pier 4 which was located in the casino. it was delish. the servings were HUGE!!

on wednesday evening, they all came over and had another easter egg hunt outside for all the kids and once again they racked up on candy and coins! friday evening we took them to the shed for some of their famous bbq! it was our first time being their also (which is such a shame see we live right down the street from there) and it was so good! we will def. be going their again.

thursday, sans me, they all headed over see the ship in alabama. its a military ship. i really don't know much about it :) that is about when the rain started to hit. we ate dinner at mcelroy's which is so good. i luv eating there. i mostly go for lunch so i was a lil disappointed when i couldn't order the crawfish etouffee. i did however have a stuffed shrimp, which was really shrimp coated in a crabcake like coating. heavenly.....

friday, we woke up to the worse rain we have had in years and headed on over to new orleans. we went to the aquarium (after searching over and hour for a parking place), then walked the riverwalk, and then hit a few touristy shops. after we got home, we all went back to our house for some pizza and worked on scrapbook for briana's school project.

we had a lot of fun with them and hated to see them leave!


a riverboat

us in front of the fountain on the riverwalk

us in front of the sign at the aquarium

some horrible parrots (sorry i fear birds...plus, they pooped on mike the last time we were here ;)

penguins in luv

a crazy looking seahorse. do you see it?

bella being good!

mikey looking through the seahorse at seahorse eggs.