MAY RECAP!!

may kinda flew by and left me in the dust. cannot believe how fast the year has gone.

so many things wonderful things happened in may but i was just too busy to post em.

bella graduated from preschool



i can't believe my baby is going to kindergarten. totally crazy. she graduated preschool at the beginning of the month and i was so proud of her. this past year she has learned so much including how to sign which has made me so happy.

for the ceremony, she had to give a lil speech with a friend of hers about holland. they were so stinkin' cute. they signed some words, sang some songs, and threw their caps in the air when it was all done.


my lil dutch girl

they also did a lil slideshow video of pictures that were taken throughout the year and towards the end of the year, they had the parents take a pic with their child and then the child said what they were grateful for from their parent.


bella said "thank you for making tomato soup and grilled cheese for me". eeek! too cute for words

bella turns 5

bella's 5th birthday fell on mother's day this year. she also happened to be born on mother's day. the day she was born, i had told myself that whenever her bday fell on mother's day for the rest of her life, i would take her to tea and do something special with her. just her and i! well since one of the tea places closed down and i knew that the other one would be packed, i made our own lil tea party.

but wait!

i'm getting ahead of myself.

early that morning, bella and i were served breakfast in bed by michael and mikey. my camera battery was dead or i would have pictures. we had michael's famous pancakes and bacon. it was delish. bella especially loved the breakfast in bed.

then it came time for our special tea around lunch time. since bella's room is a lil on the dainty-vintage side, we had it in there and listened to classical music (which i enjoyed more than her...lol)


the spread



yummy "tea"

then my mom came over and we gave bella some presents and had cake :)



it was a nice day and it was especially special since it was our first mother's day/birthday since she was born. i thought about that special day all day long.

that next monday, being the awesome mom that i am, i took cupcakes to bella*boo's class and they all signed "happy birthday" to her as they sang it.



mother's day present

as i was walking to put my breakfast in bed dishes into the sink, i saw this lil beauty sitting in the kitchen.



my new bike that i love oh so very much. since i have received it, mikey and i have been on many bike rides. now i just need to find a lil basket for it. preferably vintage :)

goodbye second grade

its hard to believe that i can say that i have a child that is getting ready to go into the third grade. i remember third grade and i loved it ooooh so much.

we were invited to attend mikey's award ceremony and i was pleased (and surprised!) to find out that mikey had made a & b honor roll all year long!!!



we also discovered that mikey had grown 3 inches this past year!
that is just crazy!
i can't believe it.



this was such a cool project that his teacher did. which made me realize that i should have thought of this last year when we moved into the house. but this year on the anniversary of the move in i am going to do markings on both the kids on the inside of the pantry door and do it every year till we are showing their children :)

boy scouts memorial day activity



have i ever mentioned how much i love that mikey is in boyscouts?
well if i haven't lemme just gone now and say that i love that he is in boyscouts!
the people there are so good and so kind hearted.

they decided this year that they were going to go to the va and place flags on the graves. there are over 17,000 at our va and believe it or not, with the people that were out there (not just boyscouts) it was done in like 15 minutes.

i was honored and touched that we got to be a part of this.
it was amazing.
to see all those flags blowing in the wind.
to explain to the boys what it meant to do this.
then the boys started going around and shaking the hands of the fine men and women of the military and telling them thank you. oh boy, i'm teary eyed just thiking about that.




bella's bday party



the last saturday of the month was bella's bday party. i was super ready to get it over with considering i had no idea how many people were going to show up b/c people don't know how to rsvp anymore (hmph!).

it ended up being small which ended up being very nice.

bella had a my little pony party so i tried to do a lil of the party favors that way.


regular ol bubbles. punched out circles from computer sticker sheets and then put a my little pony sticker on that.


lil goodie bag


so that was may!
aside from all the day to day stuff!

i'll be back soon with the things i have been creating for the month! believe it or not, i've kept up with it.
yay!

A CREATIVE JUNE!!!

yesterday while i was checking out bloglines, i came across this post by beth johnson.

ummm hello!

brilliant idea.

especially since i haven't created anything since national scrapbooking day (um, have i shared those lo's yet?) so i told her i was game and so far i've created something every day (gimme a break, i know its only the 3rd, but hey, that's at least three things done right?)

so here's what i got done so far:

june 1st


i bought this lil cork board at the thrift store for less than $0.75
painted it blue with some paint i already had on hand and added four lil white hooks to it!

june 2nd


lo for current noel mignon challenge. the challenge is to do a summer lo and what says summer like swimmin'.


lo for current scrap your crap challenge. you had to use a mix of stickers and who doesn't have a ton of stickers laying around!


new scrap jacked challenge! this is my new fave. love this pic of michael. i took it at work using a polaroid and if you can't figure it out, that's his badge in his mouth. i also did a photo transfer of this photo that i'll share later (talk about an addicting craft!)

june 3rd


a lil canvas i made. the size is 5x7. i used vintage fabric and buttons. and of course some american thickers. its the perfect lil thing to sit on/near my scrap desk! and of course there's that yellow!


a lo of my two fave boys!

so wow!

i can't believe how much i have gotten done in three days. and i know the main reason that i have gotten stuff done. i spent 8 hours (yes 8 hours!) cleaning, rearranging furniture, throwing stuff away, and throwing stuff into boxes for my two winners (so if you gals were wondering, i'm still throwing stuff in them and then waiting on you gals to get settled into your new homes :)

its now cleaned up and out and more airy feeling. its just a great space. now i still have a dining room table filled with crap that i gotta move around, but i think i needed the crafty break.

so thanks beth for the inspo :)

ELIZABETH MEANS....

totally stole this off of greta's blog.

What Elizabeth Means

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are incredibly wise and perceptive. You have a lot of life experience. You are a natural peacemaker, and you are especially good at helping others get along. But keeping the peace in your own life is not easy. You see things very differently, and it's hard to get you to budge. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are full of energy. You are spirited and boisterous. You are bold and daring. You are willing to do some pretty outrageous things. Your high energy sometimes gets you in trouble. You can have a pretty bad temper at times. You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life. You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You're most comfortable when you're far away from home. You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble. You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out. Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia. Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

i agree with:

But keeping the peace in your own life is not easy. You see things very differently, and it's hard to get you to budge.

You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing.

You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long.

You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. (i wouldn't say i'm the best at everything but i sure as hell try...lol)

You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble.

THE GARDEN!

oops!
sorry the pics are too big. i'll fix that later.


over the weekend michael and i (well mostly michael...he did all the grunt work) doubled the size of my garden. i planted about 30 tomato plants (roma/beefsteak) and about 21 different pepper plants.

now i don't know what i am going to do with all the stuff when it comes in...lol...but i'll be so tickled green when it does.


lemon tree


egg plant


green peppers


cucumbers (you see the lil guy on there???)


blackberries

i plucked that big guy too after i took the pic. i also got one more off the bush and then got a few wild ones. definately didn't get as many as aimee did though!


my basil.

can you believe i haven't eaten any of this yet??? its too purty...lol. actually i am going to use it this weekend in some bruschetta that i'll be bringing to a party.


cucumbers

every time i look at them i think "i can't believe i grew them from a seed and they are actually growing". i also think "i can't believe i haven't killed anything yet"...lol


the garden


disregard the dying marigolds. my mom got them for me to put around the garden to keep the critters at bay. well after planting all those plants sunday i didn't feel like digging up anything else. i'll work on it this weekend.

BEST BALL GAME EVER!!!!

monday night mikey had his last ball game. we were playing the undefeated team and i was a lil nervous about it (yes, i'm one of those moms). we have only lost once and it was to this team.

can i just say that we won!!!

our team did an outstanding job. i did so much cheering that i didn't think that i would have a voice yesterday a.m. each and every player did an amazing job but i have to say that my bug made me jump up from a sitting position and keep jumping up and down.

i don't know if i mentioned it already or not, but i promised at the beginning of the season that i would give hime $10 for every homer and every pop fly he caught(he plays right field). i've already shelled out $30 for the homeruns but haven't paid for a catch.

until now!!!

i was so excited.
the team was excited.
heck, mikey was shocked and didn't even realize that he caught it.

it was the best feeling a parent could have and i wish i could jar that moment up.

so needless to say, as soon as we got home he wanted to know where his moola was. he is def. my lil alex p. keaton and he's already saving for a car so anytime he is owed money, he wants it.

and here is my lil ball player.



now we have to play a championship game against the same team on friday night. i think i am going to need a drink before hand :)

SAVING US SOME MOOLA-*PART 1: COUPONS AND FREE SAMPLES

**after typing four pages in word on just coupons and freebies, I think I am going to break this down in parts. I don’t want to overwhelm or bore any of you with an endless amount of words.

Okay so I’m finally getting around to typing this post. sorry it took so long, but goodness, things have been hectic on my end (yes, I know you guys are getting just as tired of hearing this as I am saying it).
I’ve been mentally writing this post in my head for a bit now b/c I wanna make sure that I write it in a way that is easy to understand and that will show you guys how fun it actually is to save your family money. I know that most people think that the time that I put into these tasks is a waste and not fun at all, but to be quite honest, I enjoy it immensely!
Most of information that I have, I borrowed from other cool chicks out there that are gracious enough to share their tips, links, and shopping trips with the world.

First I am going to give credit where it is due and highlight a few blogs and sites that have saved me a ton of money!

freebies 4 mom
Heather is the coolest chick I know and she takes a lot of time to share with the rest us all the freebies, internet coupons, and other cool deals that are out there. I don’t go a day without checking her site. she also offers give aways on her blog which I think is awesome!

money saving mom
Crystal is an amazing blogger that also runs the site biblical womanhood. actually I think I first came across her biblical womanhood site before finding money saving mom and felt like I hit the jack pot. Crystal is a young mom just like myself (‘cept I think she is a little bit younger {sniff}) and she takes a lot of time out of her schedule to help us out.

Everything you need to know and get started about couponing you can see on her blog. not only does she show the latest and greatest of internet coupons and free samples, but she will also break down for you all the deals you can get at chain stores such as cvs, riteaid, Walgreens, food lion, publix, kroger etc!!! actually I’m extremely jealous of all the great stores in her area that offer such amazing deals that make it possible for her to stretch her buck. I only have a couple and well that just sucks!!!!


the mother load
Amy is another woman after my own heart. She enjoys things like saving her family money, cooking on a budget, and entertaining her family at hardly any cost. She has posts like “freebie Fridays” where every Friday she posts all the free stuff that is out there on the net. Her blog is another daily click for me. I’ve printed out some amazing (and simple) recipes from her site and I highly recommend checking her out!

Those are my top three that I check on a daily basis. And usually while I’m on those blogs, I’ll hop over to another one and another one and another one (aka blog hop) either via comments or links that these girls will post on there blog.

Actually, you really don’t need to read anymore of what I have to say, you can actually just go to the above blogs and find out everything that you need to know….lol.

But for those that are still sticking around, I’m going to tell ya a few things that I do to help make our dollar stretch via couponing and free samples!

coupons
Okay, I know some of you are groaning right about now. but I’m here to tell you that most of the money that I save comes from clipping coupons. I actually don’t mind clipping the coupons. It’s a great task you can do while watching tv or while you’re at work {wink}. Actually, I’ve been known to cut them on my lunch break while eating downstairs with the hubby (money saving tip to come in a later section).
I usually purchase at least 3 Sunday papers each week that is if I know there are going to be really good coupons in the paper. I may even purchase one more. The papers are only $1 each and there are coupons and rebates (see *part 2) that well exceed that cost! Not to mention a lot of the ads for chain stores (i.e. cvs, Walgreens, etc) have coupons in them which adds to my savings.
You can get coupons from places other than the Sunday paper. this will probably come as a shock to some of you as it did me until I realized how many sites out there offer printable coupons. Now I do need to let you know that you need to check with your local store’s coupon policy to see if they take internet coupons. Some stores have issues with them possibly being copies, etc. so they may not take them.

Aside from finding links for printable coupons from the above blogs, you can also find printables at the below sites:


smart source
betty crocker
red plum
box tops for education
Pillsbury
pp gazette
coupons.com

These are just a few that I hit on a regular basis.

Now I know that some of you are thinking that is a lot and that its going to be a waste of ink, but I disagree. I can print a lot of coupons using one cartridge. Some of the coupons that you will print will be for free product, some will be for such a large amount off that you’ll end up getting the item for pennies. Not to mention that once you have emptied out a printer cartridge, you just bring it to office depot and they will give you a print out for $3 off your next purchase. You can bring in as many empties as you want and you are able to stack three of them on one purchase (meaning $9 off!!!)

Also be on the lookout for coupons that are attached to the product you buy. They can be found on the inside of a pizza box, on the outside of the bottle, inside a pack of shredded cheese, or they just might need to be peeled off the packaging.

Now you’re probably wondering what you are going to do with all these coupons after you have them all together and cut out while you watched a few episodes of murder she wrote.

1. Staple multiples: since I buy more than one paper and some of the above websites let you print more than one of the coupons that they are offering, it is very helpful to staple the coupons together. That way if you are at a store that offers b1g1f (buy 1 get 1 free) or you need more than one of that product and you have all your coupons together, it will save you a ton of time.

2. You are going to need something to put them in. awhile back I made this coupon box to store all my coupons in. I made sections based on my families needs. This box is sturdy and large enough to hold all the coupons that I have cut. I recommend getting something that works for you.

When it finally comes time to hit the grocery store, I usually start by making my grocery list. I base my grocery list off of my menu (see *part 3*). I then go off of this grocery list to find the coupons that I need. I take the coupons that I plan on using and keep them clipped to my list. I don’t leave them in my coupon box b/c I usually have so many that would be more confusing and would take more time. I also bring the coupons that I think I may wanna buy a product on (i.e. Johnson and Johnson has a ton of coupons out there on the net for $1/product. I usually gather these coupons and buy the Johnson and Johnson buddy soap at walmart for $0.97. I don’t necessarily need the soap at that time so it may not be on my list, but I know that I need to scoop these up before the coupons expires and stockpile them so when the kiddos use up what we have, we already have some in the house. most of the time these items make it on the list b/c I tend to get distracted at the store looking for one thing or another and then I may forget.)

I also bring with me a calculator and my little scrappy tote that I once got at a weekend crop. The tote is perfect b/c it has one big opening in the middle that is the perfect size for my coupon box and has lil pockets all around the outside that fits my calculator, cell phone, and coupons. I devote one pocket for the coupons that I want to use and one for the coupons that I didn’t use. Once an item goes into my cart, that coupon goes in another pocket.

That’s pretty much the extent of that. I enjoy grocery shopping a lot so this isn’t really a chore for me. I like to see how much I can save each trip and how much stuff I can actually get for nothing. Its like a game. And we all know how much I love games!!!

Whew!

Bored yet???

free samples
As some of you may not know, there are a ton of free samples out there for the taking. Companies are smart. If they know that if they give ya a free sample of one of their products and you like it, more than likely you are going to go to the store and buy a full size of that product.

A lot of name brand companies are willing to do that. for just a few seconds of your time, you fill out your information and voila in four to six weeks a sample of that product will arrive in your mailbox. Some of the samples come with coupons, some don’t, but I feel its just a bonus if I get one.

You can get anything from toothpaste to granola bars for free.
Cat food to shampoo.

Now I have to say that I do not sign up for anything unless I know the company!
Some of the sites you can go to (again aside from the above blogs) are:

start sampling
walmart
On the menu go to “in stores now”, “free samples”, and then it will list the ones that they are currently offering. They offer about 6 different samples I think a week. They change a lot which is a good thing. I get most of my samples here.


I love getting the samples in the mail and I have enough shampoo samples laying around that when I run out I have some or when I travel I have the smaller bottles/packages to throw in the suitcase.
Samples are awesome!

I have found some new products to try this way and some products that I had thought about buying but after receiving the sample, decided that it wasn’t for us.
Well I am going to end *part 1* here! hopefully some of you are still here and you’ve learned something new or learned of a new site to go to to help your family save some cash!

Just so ya know, I hate money.

Well I love it when I have it but I hate it when I don’t. So any lil thing that I can do to help my family keep some in the savings account keeps me from getting ulcers and keeps me sane.

If any of you have any tips for me in regards to couponing and free samples, please share! I’m always wanting to hear of new things.

WINNERS!!!!!

thanks to all of you that entered my lil rak in hopes to help me clean out my room :)

i decided to pick two winners!!!!!!


and the winners are:


Melissa said...
Great idea for cleaning out! I'm game! tehehehe
May 16, 2008 4:16 PM

and.....


Lorena said...
its time for that spring cleaning to take place!!! :) You go girl!!!
May 16, 2008 5:27 PM


BIG HUGE CONGRATS GIRLS!!!

email me your addy at emma81399(at)aol(dot)com and i'll get your goodies out in the mail :)

thanks again for all of those that stopped by and tried to help a hoarder out :)


tomorrow i should have the post up for those that are interested in my moola saving tips. i know there are a few that have been patiently waiting for this post :)

WELL Y'ALL HAVE SEEN THE VIDEO!!!

so its rak time folks!!!!

y'all saw the video in the last post and as you can see i have entirely too.much.stuff.

so i'm willing to share.

leave a comment in this post by sunday and i will draw a winner next monday and i will send you a box of goodies.

it could be scrap goodies.
fabric.
jewelry schtuff.
paper goods.
vintage goodies.

who knows!

but its going to be good.

i'm hoping to give the room a more cleaned look and have more wall space so i want one of those shelves gone!!

so please, leave a comment and help a hoarder out :)

good luck :)



note: post on mother's day, bella's graduation from preschool, and my money saving post among other things is still in the works.

MY ROOM OF CRAP!!!

while the ever fab simone was down here she video taped my scrappy space to show it off to the world.

so if you guys are curious as to where all my magic {wink} happens, here ya go!


Elizabeth's Room of sCRAP! from spazzgirl on Vimeo.


after watching this i realized that i do have a ton o'crap!!!!



ps....i'm still going to do a moola saving post and show ya all the lo's i've done the past two weeks.

pps...my lil bella*boo graduates from preschool tomorrow {sniff sniff}

ppps...if anyone wants to buy any of that ribbon that i am holding in the beginning of the video, lemme know. as you can see i have a ton of it.



if you don't see anything but a big ol white space, just click on "elizabeth's room of scrap" and the video will pop up :)

SUNDAY SAVINGS!!!!

so today we got up and had a couple of errands to run. we needed to stop at walmart and i knew that i had some awesome coupons to use up and get some great deals!

and indeed i did!!!

wanna guess how much i got all this for???? (exclude the pepcid ac)



c'mon guess!


still guessing??

i got it all for......$4.09

here's how its broken down:

2 boxes of malt-o-meal cereal on sale 2/$2 i used 2/$1 coupons so they were FREE

2 boxes of honey bunches of oats with chocolate on sale for $1.98 i used 2/$2 off coupons so they were FREE

2 boxes of kashi cereal were 2/$5 i used 2/$2 coupons so they were $0.50 a box

3 cans of sizzlin' style baked beans were $1.25 each, i used 3/$1 off coupons so they were $0.25 a can

1 box of scotch brite toilet scrubber kit was originally $4.29 and i had a coupon that made it FREE

2 packages of tea were $1.50 each. the package came with a $0.55 off coupon therefore they were $0.95 each.

2 packages of huggies clean team wipes were $1.72 each. i had a coupon for $3.00 off two making them $0.22 each.


great deals huh????

cereal is a big thing in our house and i have a freezer full of it. i usually get it for next to nothing so i stock up on it when i can.

i had included the pepcid in the picture b/c i had a coupon and will get a rebate on it but it rang up the wrong price so i'm going to have to give them a call or go in next time with my receipt.

most of the coupons that i had used were from the net which is a great source of freebies and coupons.

if anyone is interested on where to go or how i work my magic {wink}, lemme know and i'll do a whole post on it.

if any of you have had any great deals lately i'd love to hear it.

WOW!

three posts in a week!
this has got to be a new record {giggle}

since the mojo is flowing, here is the lo i did for the recent noel mignon challenge which is to incoporate fabric on a lo. as most of my faithful and long time readers know, i'm a fabric hoarder.

big time!

so you'd think i woulda used a buncha different pieces right?
wrong!



but i love the way it turned out. i also mostly used goodies from noel's new treehouse kit which is uhhhh*mazing!



also got a fun email from my buddy karen and i thought instead of emailing it to a buttload of people i would post it here and if you wanna do it, do it. if you don't, don't.

but lemme know if you do b/c i'm nosey like that :)




LIFE QUESTIONS
Hit forward and place an X by all the things you've done and remove the 'X' from the ones you have not. Answer the 30 questions at the end and send it to your friends (including me). This is for your entire life!

Gone on a blind date
Skipped school X
Watched someone die
Been to Mexico X
Been to Canada
Been to Florida X
Been on a plane X
Been lost X
Been on the opposite side of the country X
Gone to Washington , DC
Taken a far drive with the one you love X
Swam in the ocean X
Cried yourself to sleep X
Played cops and robber X
Recently colored with crayons X
Sang Karaoke
Paid for a meal with coins only X
Own a GPS X
Done something you told yourself you wouldn't XXXXXXXXXX
Made prank phone calls (before caller ID) *no but we used to have the payphone numbers to the mall and would call hoping boys would answer and then lie about all our info.
Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose X
Caught a snowflake on your tongue X
Danced in the rain X
Written a letter to Santa Claus X
Been kissed under the mistletoe
Watched the sunrise with someone you care about
Been on vacation with your bf/gf X
Blown bubbles X
Gone ice-skating X
Been skinny dipping outdoors
Gone to the movies X

1. Any nickname? liz, lizzard, lucy, biz, isabelle, olivia, dear, sunshine, and my ultime fave: mommy/mama
2. Mother's Name – julie
3. Favorite drink? this always changes with me....right now i'd love some dr. pepper
4. Tattoo? yes
5. Body Piercings? nothing but ears
6. How much do you love your job? a lot! but if i could stay at home...
7. Birthplace? cincinnati, ohio
8. Favorite vacation spot? to visit each state in our beautiful country
9. Ever been to Africa ? no
10. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? maybe not cookies, but junk food...yes
11. Ever been on TV? yes....the uncle al show when i was five
12. Ever steal any traffic sign? no but my mom has. does that count?
13. Ever been in a car accident? yes. i was the one hit
14. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 4
15. Favorite salad dressing? balsalmic vinegar (the good stuff and w/o oil) or ranch
16. Favorite pie? pumpkin. wait apple. oh wait, cherry. hmm....
17. Favorite number? 8
18. Favorite movie? love "you've got mail" (i think b/c i wanna work in that bookstore)
19. Favorite holiday? halloween
20. Favorite dessert? mmm...could be any number of things. but i usually like a good piece of cake with hot fudge and icecream. or see number #16
21. Favorite food? pizza!
22. Favorite day of the week? friday
23. Favorite brand of body wash? right now i'm using that exotic shit from caress. it was a good deal.
25. Favorite smell? vanilla, lavender, a good smelling man ;)
26. What do you do to relax? read, craft, or scrap
27. How do you see yourself in 10 years? 100% happy
29. Furthest place you will send this message? hmmm...not sure?

FINALLY SOME SCRAPPINESS!!!!

i'm sure that some of you was beginning to think that all my creative bones have been broken, but i assure you that is not the case!

quite frankly i spend most of my days at work dreaming of creating!
but as you saw from my last post, that unfortunately has taken a back seat to some other much needed tasks!

but two weeks ago, i played hookie and met greta at the lss and gave myself a goal to complete four lo's.

and i did!!!!


a lo devoted to my most favoritest shoes in the world!


awww...dwight! now if only they would make a jim bobblehead :)


this one was done for the scrap your crap felt challenge. yeah, i'm a lil behind.


my heart rockin' lil girl!!!! used some of the paper from one of the rockin' kits that noel mignon sells!!


and b/c i sit at work all day and dream of creating, i came home and did this lo in between making my famous peanut butter and white chocolate chip cookies.



sorry mom! that one of me receiving the ribbon is an original (eek!)

this lo was done for the current scrap your crap challenge.

whooo*haaa....i got one done on time :)

okay, well i'm off to see if i can pump another one out. my wheels have been spinning over noel's newest challenge.

WEEKEND RECAP!!!

friday

**after i dropped the kiddos off at daycare, i was able to come home and have the house to myself for 2 hours of pure bliss before i had to pre*register bella for kindergarten (sniff sniff).

i wish i could start every day like that.

**once i got to work i worked (ha!!)

**had lunch with friends and on the way backed stopped at the lss to pick up some new bampop.

**shared gummy lifesavers with two of my fave people at work (drew/kerry)

**came home and fixed dinner (yummy homemade french bread pizza)

**michael went in to work for some overtime

**made homemade apple/cinnamon muffins for breakfast the next day

**cleaned out my coupon box

**clipped a buttload more coupons (while watching sex in the city)

**thought about my grocery list and menu for the upcoming week

**fell asleep to murder she wrote (as usual)

saturday

**got up early, made my grocery list, had coffee and above muffin and headed to the grocery store (i have mentioned how much i love this right?!? no sarcasm, i'm serious)

**saved almost $50 with coupons and got some items for FREE....whoo*haaa!!!

**b/c of this savings i bought myself "juno" and the kiddos "alvin and the chipmunks"

**used nothing but the reusable bags that walmart sells for my groceries. that felt so awesome!!! i should now have enough to where i don't have to bring home another plastic bag for the rest of my life!!! they were also handing out free ones for earth day. oh and flower cards for the kiddos to plant.

**came home, unloaded everything and off the boys went for hair cuts.

**had to leave to go pick michael up his truck broke down. boy that was an ordeal and required us to go down the street from where his car was (20 minutes from home) to get the right tools. finally it started.

**raced home to head to the ball fields for mikey's baseball practice. they had an extra practice b/c they are still undefeated and they are going to play the toughest team tomorrow night.

**came home, made dinner, and watched it while watching alvin and the chipmunks.

**michael went off for more overtime and the kiddos and i fell asleep watching movies that bella and i had rented earlier in the day.


sunday

**got up early and started some chores (grrrrr!)

**mikey and i loaded up our own recycling bins and brought down to the local recycling center. that felt awesome!!!!! we had fun pitching the cans in the holes and throwing the newspapers where they belong. now i have fresh empty cans ready to be filled.

**took the kiddos to go get their pic taken at a local volunteer department from when we donated some moola to them a few months back for a new station. i can't wait to get the pic back next week. i don't have any picks like that of them together.



**spent both lunch and dinner here. we've been spending many meals here before it gets too hot.

**laundry

**aside from my tomatoes, got the garden ready:






i'm growing: tomatoes, cukes, zucchini, egg plant, carrots, lettuce, red/green peppers. figure i got all the main componants to a salad :)




**added more stuff to my compost bin. got this bad boy at sams a few weekends ago and i'm tickled "green" about it. i just hope that i'm doing everything right and that i get some good compost in the new month or so.



**discovered more blackberries growing on the tree that we got last year that i thought for sure would be dead.




**these are wild berries of some sort. i don't know if they are black or raspberry but i hope they do produce some fruit for us to nosh on.




**another discovery....is this wheat???? this is in an area where we had a birdfeeder that fell to the ground, so all that seed was planted. i also discovered some sunflowers in this mix and hope that i can dig those up and plant more toward the back of our property.


**michael and mikey planted our lime and lemon trees. if anything produces fruit, i hope its these two bad boys.









**we celebrated fritz's 1st bday!!! it was last sunday and i missed it, so we celebrated this sunday.





**cooked chicken for another dinner this week.

**made spaghetti sauce to jar and freeze for meals in the future.

**grilled out and ate dinner outside....yum*may!!!

**ate some cookies that i made earlier for dessert.

**played a game of candy land with the kiddos

**read em two books

**now i'm bloggin'



see what my weekends are like???

this has been pretty much every weekend for the past two months or more. and this doesn't include the two-four loads of dishes, the 6+ loads of laundry, hitting the net for freebies and coupons, updating my netflix queue, blah blah.

but my weekends have to be like this b/c my weeks look like this....

week of 21-27 april 08

**monday: baseball game

**tuesday: back to the ball field for baseball pictures to be taken

**wednesday: bday party

**thursday: another ball game

**friday: michael works over time

**saturday: bday party in mobile at the mobile bear's

**sunday: chores and get pic that was taken this sunday

whew!!

hope y'all enjoyed your weekend and got a lot done too (b/c if i'm busy as shit, so the hell should everyone else ;)

COMPLETELY ADDICTED!!!!

i have been listening to these two non-stop since monday morning. well actually i should say sunday night when michael and i saw the movie and i immediately downloaded the soundtrack.

anyway, they are the only ones i have listened to in the car, at work, you name it. i'm listening to them right now. actually i'm prolly singing a lil too loud. hope no one walks by :)

i hear they are going on tour and i can only hope that they come close.


aside from that i've been addicted to.....

*the making of my garden

*going to mikey's baseball games and paying him $10 for every homerun he hits (i'm going broke :)

*noel's treehouse kit

*face book. why the hell did it take me so long to join this??? let me know if you're on there and i'll add you as a friend :)

*the idea of scrapping a lot this weekend. and i mean A LOT!!!

*getting ready to go grocery shopping (i LOVE grocery shopping)

hope y'all have a great weekend and let me know if you like my new friends :)

I AM SOOOOO COMPLETELY HONORED!!!

the ever fab*boo maryann has featured good morning sunshine on indiependence.

how awesome is that???


thank you so much maryann :)

for those of you out there that still remember me, know that i did not fall off the face of the earth just have been busier then ever!!

i'm so behind on posts and what has been going on in my life that its just plain ridiculous. i do plan on getting some pics uploaded from my bday (um yeah....a month and a half later) and some other things that have been going on.

but to fill you in a little bit....

*i haven't scrapped in almost 2 months (aarghah! the horror!)
which completely sucks b/c i haven't had a change to participate in the scrap your crap challenge, the past few noel challenges, and all the other ones out there :( i really need to get back into this b/c i can tell when i haven't done it. any of you other scrappers like that?

*baseball season has started

*birthday parties are in full swing and there are quite a few on our calendar

*i'm still researching this whole gardening thing

*work is crazy busy and i can't even believe that i'm able to blog right now

*bella will be graduating from preschool in a lil over a month :(

*st. patrick's day parade resulted in goodies and a major sunburn (boy did it hurt!)

*easter was fun but came entirely too fast

*spending time with the kiddos and the hubby which is always a blast

*READING, READING, READING, READING...i can't quite put the books down
and for those of you don't know about good reads you should really check it out. lemme know if you join and i'll add ya as a friend.

*got the most awesome box of stuff from noel mignon including the new kit-apple blossom which is just gorgeous.


so those are just a few of the things that have been keeping me busy.

and for those of you that think that i don't wanna read what has been going on with you please know that is not the case. i really can't get on the net much at work anymore and by the time i get home i'm so busy i really don't have a chance to hop at home.

but know that i love each and every one of y'all especially if you are still around to read this :)