Monthly Round-up (and NO! I do not mean the bug killing kind...)

WARNING!!! Extremely long blog post!





I read many different blogs, some involve scrapbooking, some organizing (though you wouldn't know it if you saw my home!)LOL, some about cooking, and much, much more...
One of the blogs I read is Katie the Scrapbook Lady and she recommends to do a reoccurring round-up at the end of every month to allow you to scrapbook your memories easier. So I thought I would give that a try.
Here are her prompts for a monthly round-up:

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
Well, besides my usual scrapbook publications (Creating Keepsakes, Simple Scrapbooks, Memory Makers, Scrapbook ETC) I bought Woman's Day, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Good Housekeeping & a special issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors entitled "Studios". I am a self proclaimed magazine junkie and would buy them all f I only had the room to store them. LOL I also have to note that 2 of the above mentioned scrapbook mag's are going out of publication, which is a real bummer cause Simple Scrapbooks was one of my favorites.

I have also read a really good book this month. Seems like it's been quite a while since I've had one that was noteworthy... It's called "Book of Lies" by Brad Meltzer. Check it out if you're looking for a good read...

What movies, television shows, plays, etc. did I watch this month?
We finished watching a lot of reality TV series that we had gotten hooked on over the fall/winter months. Such as "Survivor", "American Idol", "The Amazing Race", and we just started watching the new season of "The Bachelorette". What makes this season so special for me is the fact that Jillian comes from the town of Kelowna, where I spent the college years of my life and where my family still lives today. I can't wait for the show where she gets to take them home to show them around Kelowna, it's so fun to see how they portray a town I know well.

I've also been trying to catch up on TIVO'd episodes of "LOST", I find that I enjoy this show way more when I can watch several episodes one after another.

What fun things did I do with my family and/or friends? (I decided to add my own category in addition to this called "Did you take any trips or vacations or did someone come and stay with you at your house?")
I started going back to the gym to work out regularly this month. As part of that I joined a new bootcamp called "It's A HOOT Bootcamp". The girls that run it are great and the best part of it is that we exercise outdoors. I love it, even when the weather wasn't all that stellar to start with. But I also signed up Miss Grace for the kid's part of the bootcamp and this means that she got to join me outdoors at one of Bellingham's fabulous parks and she exercised with the kiddos. What a great idea! If this sounds like something you would like to check out please feel free to look up their website and let them know I sent you. There is even a coupon I can send you for a free session if you just want to try it out once... Let me know if you want it, it's good till the 19th of June...Hope to see you there...

Grace also started her T-ball league through the local YMCA. I wasn't sure what to expect, since soccer seemed to be a "take it or leave it" thing. But it seems that Miss Grace is quite enamoured with T-ball and can't wait for her next practice/game.

Did you take any trips or vacations or did someone come and stay with you at your house?
As a family we made two trips this month.

The first weekend of the month we headed out to the San Juan's in the Roeboat. The first night we anchored off of Sucia Island and had quite a bit of rain. Actually an island local said it was the worst rain storm he had seen in 20 years. WOW! The next day we headed to Friday Harbor and had an awesome dinner at an Iranian restaurant. It pays to try something new every once in a while!

The last weekend of the month we headed east to Winthrop to visit Martin's parents. We took Becky her long awaited chicken coop, losing some pieces along the way, but finally managing to get it all finished and ready for some chicken to move in. Grace & I had a good time visiting the Farmer's Market with Grandma Becky.

In between the two we had our friends Stan & Ginger from Alaska stay with us over Mother's Day Weekend. I cooked up a yummy Sunday brunch and afterwards we took a nice walk down to the river with everyone.During the week of the 14th Grace & I decided to drive up to Kelowna to surprise my parents with a visit. They were soon to be celebrating their 25th Wedding Anniversary and we wanted to do something special. Besides, Martin & Adam were off to visit Ben, the aspiring NAVY Seal of the family in San Diego, where he is stationed during his training. While in Kelowna my younger sister Lyne & I hatched a crazy idea to set up my parents for a surprise family photo shoot. It turned out to be a great idea. The photos the photographer we got totally last minute turned out amazing. He was a guy who had taken pictures of Lyne's friends' wedding. His name is Stefan Matis, go check out his website.

What gifts did I give and/or receive?
I finally did the "Pay It Forward" drive thru thingy. You know, the one where you pay for the person behind you in line.
It was kind of a cool feeling to gift someone I didn't even know and make their day. You're welcome lady in the green Volvo, it was my pleasure.

I also finally finished the "Grandparents" frame I had been working on for a bit now. And during our Memorial Day visit to Winthrop to see my in-laws it was delivered. I think it was a hit. Thanks Julie for making me look good. LOL

What special or unusual purchases did I make?
I've been waiting to get some window coverings for my scrapbook studio. Coveting anything Pottery Barn I knew that waiting for a sale was an absolute must...well, I got lucky and the curtains I had been drooling over were part of their last sale. I ordered them straight away and also snagged some cute lamps for my office too. Can't wait to put them all up...hopefully hubby will squeeze me into his busy schedule sometime soon.

Another, very unusual purchase, was made while visiting Winthrop during the long weekend. My friends Troy & Aubrey are getting hitched in July and Martin had wanted me to get a nice new dress for the wedding. There is this awesome store in Winthrop called the "Courtyard Quail" and I spend money there every time we go to Winthrop. It is a cute boutique that sells all kinds of cool clothes, accessories and such. They also have a home decor store in Winthrop and branches in Leavenworth and somewhere else I can't remember right now...

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
I have had some popping in my lower back when exercising, but think that's just from being a bit rusty and starting to exercise more again... Martin has been having trouble with his arm, he seems to think that he pinched a nerve or something and has been getting massage therapy for it.

During Grace's T-ball game on the 30th I was stupid and did not put my sunscreen on before the game.
When I remembered it was already too late and my shoulders and back where burnt pretty bad.

What were my accomplishments this month?

This doesn't really ring any bells with me...? I guess getting back to exercising regularly. That's a biggie. Dragging my sorry butt off to bootcamp and the gym...

What were my disappointments this month?
Disappointed that I still have a mile long to do list, and am not getting as much accomplished as I feel I should...

Anything else noteworthy to include?
Also getting rear-ended twice in one day should qualify under this category, shouldn't it???

All right, I apologize, this post has taken on gigantic proportions. But I must say, we did a lot more stuff this month than I had originally thought. What a great way to look back and summarize everything you think is noteworthy. I love it and will try to do this every month from now on. Beware! I think that I will change some of the topics though, and add on some I feel need to be in there...so stay posted.

I also had my last day at Treasury, at least for the summer. It was soooo hard to say that. I miss that place.

Ooooh and volleyball at the park has started up again. It was so nice to play outside on the grass. I hope to make it out there more often this year...

So I apologize for the long post, but I think that I may actually try to do this every month. It made me realize how much more we had done in a month than I actually thought... I plan on changing some of the questions to things I feel are more relevant to me and my scrapbook style, but all in all I think it's a great idea.

Winthrop Visit

On decidedly short notice we decided to head east for the long weekend and visit Grace's grandparents in Winthrop. We were planning on leaving late afternoon, but as usual with the lack of planning on Martin's part we ended up departing our house after 7 PM. This resulted in a hasty dinner on the road, part of grandma's chicken coop flying off the back of the truck and a lot of heartburn (from the bad Asian food we ate on the run!).

We did lot's of walking into town while in Winthrop. Had to visit the fabulous Rocking Horse Bakery, I highly recommend their scones, but my absolute favorite is the chocolate croissants. Second only to the one I had at a small bakery in Paris. My favorite scones are the apricot/ginger ones, yummy! We also sampled some of the ice-cream at the local sweet shop, where co-incidentally Grace's cousin

Alannah worked over the

weekend. Here I highly recommend the Mocha Almond Fudge, it's divine. LOL

Of course after all that food one gets tired and needs a ride on Daddy's shoulders...

The weather for this long weekend was fantastic and I had impulse

bought a slip-n-slide for Grace. Who can say no to that when it's for sale right there in the grocery store with the bread and stuff I was buying anyway??? I tell you those merchandisers are evil!

Grace ended up not quiet knowing what to do with the slide

and ended up walking up and down modeling her swimsuit like on the runway. It was quite entertaining...

We also visited the Farmer's Market with grandma. They had some really cool booths and we bought some huge radishes, a shelf for grandma's stereo, some divine pound cake and we missed out on getting some awesome looking cherry pie by just a smidgen. Too bad, I bet it was delicious.

Just A Quick One...

since I am so far behind with my blog....again.

This is where I found Grace the other day...

She was so quiet I had to check on her, cause you know what that normally means....

They are either asleep or up to no good. Well neither was the case this time. She had found her Dollar store book and was intently practicing her letters.
What a good girl.

BIG Scrapbook News...

My friend Margie, whom I have taken several amazing classes from, is breaking free and starting her own business with her girls. It's a scrapbook kit club appropriately called "The Girl's Loft".

Please go check her out...she's doing a give-away on her blog right now....

Mother's Day Walk

We had company over the weekend so a traditional Mother's Day was not in the cards for us this time. Normally we visit one of the our moms and surprise her.This year we did nothing like that, but instead stayed home.  I cooked up a nice brunch, including Asparagus/Brie Eggs, Bacon, Fresh Fruit, some wonderful Blueberry Pancakes and much more...

Our friends from Alaska Stan & Ginger had fun and it was great to see them again.

After brunch we cleaned up, got our rubber boots out and headed down to the river.  

Grace had a blast throwing rocks and taking off her boots to play

 in the sand with her toes. 

 She was a bit reluctant to have her photo taken, but with some

 pleading and blackmail I managed to get a few good photos...

T-Ball, a first for our family...

Since we had tried Soccer in the fall and it didn't really seemed to be "it" for Grace I thought we'd try something else in the Spring.  So enter the YMCA T-ball league...

We signed up, showed up and are now a shirt-wearing, mitt-toting, ball-throwing member of the Lime Green Team.  

Our first practice was interesting as we did not have a glove yet. Thankfully on

e of the kids' moms had brought extra and Owen was gracious enough to let her lend it to Gracie.  

So in the rain, on the muddy field we had our first T-ball exper

ience. 

After it was all said and done the coach said he already spotted a star on the team, Gracie

 would make a great infielder since she let no ball go past her and even beat some of the much bigger boys to the ball. She also can throw quite a bit better than most of the kids on the team.  She's been walking around glowing ever since and when you ask how T-ball went she says: "I'm the star!"  Too cute!

There's been no looking back since...we immediately planned a trip into town and acquired a new, shiny pink baseball glove including a pink 

matching ball. With only two practices (we missed one due to our family weekend getaway to the islands!) we had our very first game this weekend.  

I couldn't believe how many people showed up and even 

grandparents, dogs and extended family were there with lawn chairs, blankets and picnic baskets. 

We ended up playing against one of our friend's daughter's team, Taite. She is also four, but stands 

almost two heads taller than Grace.  It was a lot of fun to see the girls, their baby brother, and of course their parents, Simon & Beka. 

Since it's a YMCA league they don't actually keep score, have outs or such.  Everyone gets a turn at bat and it was quite interesting to see the different reactions and interpretations of the kids.  Some ran to the wrong base, others didn't run at all, one kid turned right around after touching first base and went back to home plate...you never knew what would happen. Martin said it seemed like every kid needed a one-on-one coach... 

This Post Touched my Heart...

I am an avid reader of celebrity scrapbooker blogs, including but not limited to Ali Edwards, Teresa Collins, Margie Romney-Aslett, Heidi Swapp, etc. Well, this post below I took from my scrapbook Idol's blog Stacy Julian...

no shoes on April 16th

So, I've been wanting to blog about TOMS Shoes for a while now. Lauren (our nanny) introduced me to them. I LOVE companies with a story and TOMS has got a great story. For each pair of shoes you purchase, a pair of shoes is provided to a child in a need.
So here's the deal, lets go barefoot tomorrow. I'm not wearing shoes wherever I go. Clark's not wearing shoes to school. If you visit TOMS website you can print flyers to give to someone when they ask you, "Where are your shoes?"
Lauren has applied for an internship with TOMS. She has met the initial application requirements and has now been asked her to create awareness for this campaign. That .. is something we can help her with, right? If you choose to purchase a pair of TOMS, please use the following promo code so that Lauren gets credit:
odwsfsA67GSK0MW
(hint: since this thing is 15 characters long, I would copy & paste) And just so you know, the promo does not save you any money, it just gives Lauren credit for the purchase.
You can also grab a banner for your blog on the TOMS site. Here's the story ...
Our Story
In 2006 an American traveler, Blake Mycoskie, befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created a company that would match every pair of shoes sold with a pair given to a child in need. One for One. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by caring TOMS customers.
Since our beginning, TOMS has given over 140,000* pairs of shoes to children in need through the One for One model. Because of your support, TOMS plans to give over 300,000 pairs of shoes to children in need around the world in 2009.
Our ongoing community events and Shoe Drop Tours allow TOMS supporters and enthusiasts to be part of our One for One movement. Join us.

How cool is that? I think I see a pair of new shoes in a child's future...

Pet Peeves

OK, a while ago my BFF Megan posted some pet peeve kind of stuff. Well one of mine, as well as hers, is bad drivers. In particular BAD parkers. Here are some I've recorded around town and now I am blogging about them for all to see their transgression. I will not fuzz out the license plates, cause in my opinion they are guilty and therefore fair game...

I found the first one parked at the On Rice restaurant at Barkley village. Wow, could you maybe try to take up one more spot?

Number two was caught on camera right outside Treasury, where I work. I hate to tattle, but it's the Dollar store guy. LOL

The next one was someone who had trouble find the space between the two lines at the downtown YMCA. Parking is already at a premium there, so I say, if it's too big for you...get a bike.

And last but not least for this edition of the "Worst Parkers of Bellingham" I saw this gem at Target yesterday. No wonder mothers with children, (infants in car seats especially!) have to park in Outer Mongolia, with these morons tkaing up two spaces for a little Dodge Neon. ARGH! I can't believe it.

Now I hope none of these vehicles belong to your Aunt Myrtle or Aunt Zelda (Julie!). Cause if they do please tell her that I would be more than happy to provide free parking lessons to her....

LOL What are some of your pet peeves? Come on, I know you wanna rant about 'em...

I think I'm in love...

I was a little bummed today that my DVR cut off the only performance I had stayed up to watch American Idol for. Adam, he's my man, if he can't win it no one can....

I know cheesy, but man, that guy is good. Gives me goosebumps everytime. So I headed to the internet in search of the video of his performance and here he is in all his glory.

Enjoy! (Sorry I tried to upload the video, but for some reason it won't play!) :(

Ever Had an Oatmeal Sundae?

Me neither. But apparently it's a hit with the younger crowd. My daughter is normally not a picky eater but oatmeal is not really her thing. So the other week, (the Monday we got snowed in a week ago, actually!) I decided to give this a try. I had read on some ladies blog about trying to add sprinkles to food and just being creative and calling it fancy names. So I thought let's see if it works...

Well, I can report SUCCESS! Not only did Miss Grace eat her whole bowl of oatmeal and fresh fruit, but she also asked for the same thing for dinner, and breakfast the next morning. ;)

Here is the secret to my success. I used the following ingredients:

Then we put one of the waffle bowls into a glass bowl, stirred up the instant fruit oatmeal (we used Strawberries & Cream to go with the fresh strawberries.). Sliced up some fresh berries and added them to the bottom of the waffle bowl, added the oatmeal, garnished it with a whole berry and for our finishing piece de resistance we sprinkled it with Valentines day Sprinkles. (Thank You Michaels, probably the best fifty cents I have spent lately, grabbing these puppies after they put their Valentines stuff on SALE at 75% off.)

Anyway, here is the end result, and let me tell you, I had one impressed Toddler. She couldn't get over the fact that the whole thing was for her, and her alone...

She polished it off in a few bites and then showed me how full her tummy was. Well I was one happy Momma that morning, I've been racking my brain for ways to keep her from eating "Lucky Charms" every day. And I can't cook Snowman Pancakes every other morning either...so here is a go to breakfast we'll be serving more often at our house. As a matter of fact it seems to be a crowd pleaser with the banana cream oatmeal and fresh banana slices. Yeah for Quaker Oatmeal and Fresh Fruit. Mom's everywhere rejoice...

Another of these tag things...

I know that I should probably finish the old post about my cruise and the Vegas trip my hubby surprised me with for Valentines, but I just don't have the time or motivation right now. And this is a post I can slap up here and finish, check off my list (I know that you can relate Julie!), and call it done.

So here it goes:

It looks like the “4th photo” tag is making the rounds again, go to the 4th folder in your photos, and post the 4th photo from that folder.
This is what I came up with:I picture of my husband's late wedding ring. Funny how that works. We had it especially made for him by a local jewelry store here in Bellingham called G.B. Heron. They do wonderful work and we loved what we ended up with. We've since misplaced it twice and found it again once, so that means, in real life math terms it's still missing. Not sure when or where this second time happened, but to the day we have no idea where it ended up. What a shame for a one of a kind item. I think I am more upset over his ring than I would be if I lost mine...weird how that goes...

So now I need to tag 4 people. I’m hitting up Julie, Lisa, Megan and Alissa. Have fun, ladies! Can't wait to see some cool photos...

Guess I'm just not a good Blogger...

I know that I should have posted photos of my cruise (January) and my Las Vegas surprise trip, but you know how it is....life gets in the way. I hope to get a few posts in this week so stay tuned, you never know, Hell may just yet freeze over. LOL

Here are some pages I've created recently:

This one is a quickie I did in less than 1/2 hour the other night... Really, it's all scraps and some old photos I had already printed but not used and some letter stickers, (really, really, really old letter sticker; let's just say I'm surprised that they are still sticking to the page! LOL).

This cutie patootie is a Treasury sample I put together from the new Cosmo Cricket "Snorkle" line. Love the colors of this paper line.

I also did a little cleaning and re-arranging in my scrapbook studio. You couldn't tell from looking in the door, but I feel a lot better knowing it's done. I have a new box started for when I happen to come across anything for the fall garage sale at Treasury. I didn't do the Spring one this year as I didn't really have enough to warrant getting a table or even half of one. So in the fall watch for my stuff...

Off to convince Miss Grace that it is indeed her bedtime. Dad and her are watching Planet Earth on TV. Wish me luck!

I know, I know, I know...

it's been forever since I've updated this blasted blog, but this was too funny to pass up and it made for a quick post so here it is!
Enjoy! It made me smile.

Snowed In, (well for Bellingham Standards anyway!)

I was at work on Monday and Tuesday and we've been getting the forecast that we'll get a bit of snow. Not sure what they meant by that, but now I know.

I am glad that I drove across town to the grocery store on Monday and Tuesday after work, (making me late to pick up Grace at Daycare on Tuesday!). I picked up the essentials and a movie to get us through the "snow storm" that was for told.

Well today it's Friday and I haven't left the house since Tuesday, except for a stroll out our backyard to make snow angels with Grace. I am getting cabin fever and have a ton of things to do before our big family Christmas. I have not bought a thing for Christmas dinner and am still sending out more X-mas cards as I type. Bob, our wonderful mailman, has been an angel, taking my envelopes and packages without complaints. I need to get him something nice for X-mas, do you think he'd like a massage? Our mailbox has been knocked off it's post by the snowplow, and since they are still plowing like mad we've deemed it futile to put it back up anytime soon.

Anyway, so my hubby is in a crabby mood cause there is sooooo much to do and so little time. Employees that are unprepared for the weather, customers that are whiny and don't want to pay, computers that work too slow, phones that don't work at all or drop calls, 50,000 voice mails to check, bills to pay, gifts to buy, etc, etc, etc. I'm sure you have your own story...

I'm off to finish wrapping presents (given that the big brown UPS truck can make it here today as promise!), writing the last of my Christmas cards and planning our dinner. I'm sure there's more on the list, but for now that seems daunting enough...

All right, all right...

I know it's been forever. Believe me, I've had every intention of blogging more, but life just kind of got in the way. I even took several random photos just to post on the blog but I just didn't get around to it.

Anyway, I guess I'll just post them now...here we go.

In the past month we've made some snowman pancakes, gone for fast food at Burger King and crowned Queen Grace, washed Ben's Truck, finished out Grace's Soccer season, had Oma & Opa down for a quick visit and much, much more.

We spent Thanksgiving in Winthrop with the In-laws. We had boys going to shoot at the gunrange, cousins playing guns with legos, Mom's relaxing wiht a good book or playing a computer game, spirited games of cards; Grandpas, Uncles and Nephews competing in a heated game of Ping Pong, and much more. I played around with my camera settings and caught this cool shot of Adam. Doesn't it look like the invisible man playing? I love this shot.

The rest of the photos taken at Thanksgiving were mainly for the Gratitude Album I put together from last year's Treasury kit. I tried to get everyone to fill out their "what are you grateful for" page. With mixed results.

For dinner this year we decided to try something different and we headed out to Sun Mountain Lodge. In theory it was a great idea, no cooking, no dishes, no leftovers to store away, and so on. But then we got to thinking and I think Thanksgiving is still best at home. It would have been fabulous to have leftover stuffing, cranberry sauce and such. Although, my dear Mother-In-Law did bake a turkey breast for sandwiches, bless her heart and slaved away baking some awesome pumpkin pies. Since it was Adam's 16th birthday on the 17th and he always asks for his favorite, we sang "Happy Birthday" and ate Pumpkin Pie. It was a lot of fun. Now it's back to reality and looming Christmas deadlines....

Look what I did today!

As my parents are over for a quick weekend visit we spent some time at home. During the Seahawks - Dolphins Football game I set up me little craft table in the living room. But today, unlike my usual scrapbook stuff, I pulled out and dusted off my long neglected sewing machine. There was a time, long, long ago, before I scrapbooked, when this little baby got a workout every week. Believe it or not, I used to sew anything and everything from boxer shorts, to sundresses, overalls and Halloween costumes. But since I got addicted to scrapbooking it's been a long time since I've used my machine for something other than sewing on a layout.

So a while ago I took Grace to Jo-Ann's fabric store and she helped me pick out some fun fabric, thread and color coordinated buttons. It was funny, since we happened to run into Elizabeth with her two boys, Jackson & Thomas, who were shopping for Halloween costume fixin's.

Well to make a long story short, I spent a couple of hours with my sewing machine and after fiddling with the settings and the bobbin housing falling apart in mid seam, I created this:

What do you think? Do I still "got it"?

Belated Update on our Pumpkin Patch Visit...

OK, here it goes. I am a BAD blogger, I am a BAD blogger, I am a BAD blogger. I promise to punish myself more later, (wait I have about 6 loads of laundry waiting for me, that should be sufficient punishment, don't you think?)

After our unsuccessful attempt to visit Stoney Ridge last time we finally got our turn. Thinking that crowds should be significantly less on a weekday versus a Saturday we headed there on Friday morning. What a surprise when we pulled up only to fight our way through at least a half a dozen school buses, some Mom's groups and other organized people that were at the Patch on a weekday. What were they thinking?

The weather was perfect, not too sunny, not too bright, just right for taking pictures.

Grace had a fun time petting and feeding the animals. Even though it was pretty crowded she had one of the kids working the pens take out a bunny to let her pet it. Unfortunately Daddy was a little slow on the trigger so we didn't get a picture of that.

Evidently the talk we had before heading out took root. Because at every junction where there was a photo op Grace would willingly stand and pose for us. Whether it was by a display of baby pumpkins, out in the pumpkin patch, at a silly cutout where you put your face through, the pumpkin tree, truck or the bicycle, she was ready willing and able. So we have quite a few photos that turned out nice this year. What a change from trying to escape and flee the scene when she was smaller.

When we hit the patch she headed straight for the field of tiny pumpkins that the farm had prepped for the school kids visits. No messing around with the vines and having to tromp through he muddy field. Miss Grace knew exactly which pumpkin she wanted and headed straight for it...this one was it!

We even took time to stop in for some cider donuts, an apple pull-apart, apple cider, coffee, chocolate milk, Apple & Pumpkin Pie with Ice-cream and whipped cream. YUMMY!

I think we may have to check them out at Christmas time for a tree. Their flyer advertises a live nativity scene including "Moses" the camel. Would they need a permit to keep a camel, I wonder?