Thank goodness it's Friday

Today was another busy day for me. I think I was home for about 1/2 hour (to unload groceries) since I left this morning at 9am and got home at 8pm. Spent a lot of the day at the school. We handed out our belated Christmas/New Year gifts to the teachers from the PTA. We had shipping issues, so didn't get them before the winter break. We gave them all an adorable tote bag with the school logo imprinted on it. Friday is also the day Miranda & I help out in Parker's classroom.

Ryan had to go to Mesquite today for a deposition, so afterwards he decided to head up to Cedar for a little snowmobile action with Mark. I stayed behind this time because Miranda has her first Leadership Retreat tomorrow as a Beehive counselor in YW. She is super excited to go. Parker had a Primary activity tonight to get to know his new teachers, and now he is spending the night at a friend's house. So I get to have the morning all to myself to get some stuff done! I'm planning to run to DI and take some of our stuff I've been cleaning out.

While Miranda was at her Broadway class tonight, I ran to Pebbles in My Pocket (my fav scrapbook store in town) to try and find inspiration for Ryan's 40th b-day invite. Well, I finally got the inspiration I needed. I'll be sure to post the final product once I get them done. (hopefully this weekend).

As I was sitting here (not wasting time) on the computer, I ran onto this wonderful quote on a blog I read from time to time of Ali Edwards.
I found it to be exactly what I needed to read today.

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury; and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasion, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.

William Ellery Channing

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Got the Bug....

So today the bug has hit me....
No, not the flu bug or even the diet/exercise bug
(although I better get that one soon).
I have the organization bug!
So far I've been through Parker's room, the Laundry Room, and all the games.
Cleaning, purging and organizing! (Look out DI...here I come)
Since I didn't start until 8:30pm, that's all I've had time for.
I wish I didn't need to go into the office tomorrow so I could keep going strong.
I just feel the need to get rid of the clutter around here.
Maybe if I didn't have so much stuff I could keep it clean easier.

Speaking of bugs....
There is a new contest on the Bitten by the Bug site.
You have to create a card in the shape of something....anything.
I'm experimenting with a couple ideas so will post them once I've finally decided what to enter.
Hopefully they won't overlook me since I won their last contest with my pie favor boxes.
I kind of enjoy having a challenge to create something.
I do need to come up with an idea for Ryan's 40th Birthday party invites.
I was going to do a surprise party, but thankfully he was on to me so I don't have to.

Now I just need to catch the scrapbooking bug.....
well, maybe after the organizing bug has run it's course then I can relax and really create!

I'm gonna Pump You Up!

Ok...so my plan was to start fresh and new yesterday with eating better and exercising more. Well, Monday didn't start off so great, but today I made it back to the gym and the Body Pump class I've been attending. It did feel good to work out again, but I'm sure I'm going to be pretty sore tomorrow. I did pretty well eating all day until my healthy dinner plans were foiled and we ordered pizza instead. Must keep trying...Tomorrow is another day.
See, my plan is to wake up at 6, get Miranda out the door at 6:45 (Ryan takes her) then hit the treadmill until 7:30, shower, get Parker to school then off on my day by 9am. It all sounds good in theory, just need to put it into action. I was doing that very routine last fall, but haven't done so well lately.
Miranda has been real good to wake up by herself so far, (good thing too because I'm not liking the 6am thing).
On Monday we had Parent Teacher Conference with Mr. Maranto, Parker's teacher. He had nothing but praise and good things to say.
They just finished some testing and Parker scored the highest out of ALL the kids at his school. He also is on the reading level of 12th grade. WOW...yes, he definitely gets that from me. I'm so proud of him.
Just before winter break he took a test in Science on the water cycle. Well, he didn't do very well and it brought his grade to a "B" . It is a very high B mind you, but a B none the less. Parker was just panicked that he might not get an A on his report card, (he gets that from me too) so he asked his Science teacher if there was any extra credit he could do to make it up. She gave him a book to take home over winter break and told him to do some of the water experiments and questions and bring them back for credit. So that's what we did. Well, come to find out, no one did well on that test, so today she sent home a list of extra credit options for the entire class to do. So Parker has already done 4 of them, and only has a few more to do. I think he deserves extra, extra credit for coming to her in the first place before she decided to give everyone the option of extra credit.
Ok, I'm down off my soap box.
I'm off to bed so I can enjoy this last night of not being sore, because I know I'm going to feel it tomorrow....and the next day...and the day after that...and....

Scrap Cards

Just thought I'd post some cards I made using the scraps left over from my orange "swap" cards. All of them have pockets inside for gift cards. I find I give a lot of gift cards lately.
The left over strip cut from the 12x12 cardstock when I make 8 1/2 x 11 size paper is the perfect size for these type cards. The tiny scraps leftover from the pattern paper mean I have to be creative in each design. The eyelets on the "birthday boy" card were even trial runs for my card so I could practice using the crop-a-dile to set the eyelets.

Sweet Sunday

Well today was the first day on our new church schedule. We start at 9:00 am and have the reverse schedule with Sacrament last. It was actually pretty nice to have everyone up and going. We were even 10 minutes early!

I finished my cards for the January card swap. The theme color is orange. I can't post yet so it will be a surprise to all members of the swap (there are a couple who read my blog) (Hi Nat, Mom & Heather) They are pretty cute if I do say so myself. I'll be sure to post them later on the day of the swap.

The kids are anxious and hesitant to go back to school. Miranda isn't too excited to start waking up at 6am again. Parker just needs the social time with his friends. I swear that boy needs to be entertained 24/7. The past 3 days both Parker and Miranda have played with Brecken ALL DAY. It was good because they were all entertained and I could get some things done without feeling guilty. (gotta love that mother guilt)

I was able to squeeze in a nap today after lunch. I may have a hard time going to sleep tonight so I think I'm going to make a scrapbook page or two tonight. Wish me luck!

Much to do....

Well, we didn't end up going to Cedar after all. Ryan got busy at work and I got busy around the house. I did quite a bit of cleaning today, but still a lot to do.
I really have a hankering to do some scrapbooking, but I can't seem to relax and focus when the house is a mess. Guess that's why I rarely scrapbook anymore.
There is a site called Big Picture Scrapbooking
They offer online scrapbook classes. Well, this month they offered a free "class" challenge to make 31 layouts in the 31 days of January. They have daily drawings and a monthly contest for those who post their layouts each day for the month. I signed up to do it, but have yet to create a page. (you don't exactly have to do one page each day...just so you have 31 by the end of the month). Anyway, I'd love to get motivated and get the creative juices flowing again not just for cards and such.
In 2006 I had a goal for the year to create 52 layouts for the year, or one page a week. I didn't quite make that goal that year (about 20 short). I suppose I could give that a whirl again this year. I just need to not purchase any more supplies and use the abundance I already have.
ORGANIZATION is the key! I really need to do some purging and organizing, not just with scrapbook supplies, but everything else in the house. Take one in...send one out! (much easier said than done).
I'm afraid I may have a bit of Granny in me and can save things just because I might need it someday. In all honesty, I usually end up buying something else anyway.

Well, many changes are going to take place starting on Monday...I'm going to enjoy the weekend. I have many goals and challenges or "resolutions" if you will, for myself and family. Just going to start tackling one thing at a time.

Happy 2008

Well, what a way to start the new year... not blogging until the 3rd of the month.
We went to Cedar and had a great time with Mark & Heidi. We played games til the disco ball on Times Square dropped. I forgot to take my camera over to their house, so I'll have to get Heidi to send me some she took so I can post them. On the drive back to Ryan's parent's house that night it was 7 degrees. Yes...I said 7 (single digit ...SEVEN) degrees.
Burrrr....waaaay too cold for my blood.
I guess I can't complain too much about the cold weather here.

I haven't had a chance to really dig into the house cleaning yet. Yesterday I was at the office getting the bills ready, and today I went to Henderson to help my mom with a wedding cake.

Miranda had an exciting day yesterday.... She has been wanting to take voice lessons for a while now, and I finally remembered to call and get the information. So yesterday she went for a trial lesson to check out the teacher and vice versa. She thoroughly enjoyed herself and impressed the teacher with her abilities and knowledge of music and singing. (Yes, she gets it all from me...I taught her everything I know). So it looks like we'll be signing her up for weekly voice lessons for a while. I sure hope she likes singing because that's all she's going to be doing for a while. Between voice lessons, 2 school choirs, 3 Broadway classes, and the "Handy" choir she's got her work cut out for her. I'll be packing on the car miles running her around too. It's quite a commitment to take 2 hours (with drive time) 4 evenings a week to get her to her classes on Mon, Tues, Weds, and Friday. Thankfully school and "Handy" choir are closer.

We were thinking about going back to Cedar this weekend and hit the slopes at Brian Head. The kids and I would take a day of lessons then Ryan would join us later to ski. But it looks like a fun storm is hitting the mountain, so we'll have to postpone that trip for a bit. The kids are quite excited about learning to ski. Just hope they don't get discouraged when they fall all the time. I suppose when they see their mother fall more than they do they can't feel too bad.