still me

summer hair

sn’t it funny how it just seems like such a pain to actually do your hair in the summer? Maybe it’s the fact that you don’t really have to get ‘ready’ for the day, in case you end up in the pool, or just lounging around the house. I have been letting my hair grow out a bit, as I have a certain haircut in mind, and quincy is trying to grow her bangs out…which presents problems as well. I keep seeing all the cutie headbands out there, but without fail, I totally get a headache when I wear headbands, cause they are just too tight.
So, I decided to make my own-custom fit to my head! I have all these cute new ribbons that have just come out… at least I am hearing that people are starting to find them in stores… there are a whole bunch of different kinds, and so cute… on this little spool, that you could store on a dowel or something. I gotta rig something up for all of them! my favorite is the skinny dots, and the tulle… I used the strawberry colada ribbon to make these matching headbands for quincy and i… I even sewed on a couple mini-florals and a button in the center. all i did was measure my  head, and quincy's and sewed a little piece of elastic between the 2 ends.  matching colors of elastic would be better. might need a little trip to joann's.  I think I will make one in every color! So cute…easy to wear summer hair!

I bought one just like it at j.crew for $26… man, I need to make a bunch and sell on ebay or something!
So I just have been cleaning up my studio- I stayed up late scrapbooking samples for my summer CHA catalog, and made a giant mess. I made 3 cute layouts, and this morning, when I was checking my email, and my sweet Capri baby pulled an entire cup of water all over all 3 layouts… they are toast.  Man, it put me in a bad mood this morning!
So, the clean studio is lifting my spirits… and I am back to re-creating the ruined sample pages. It’s fun to play with the new stuff coming out! I wish I could show… but not just yet!

dynasty iron doors...

Usually, when you are in the business of something, you are the last one to benefit from the products or services you are involved with… like if you are married to a plumber, usually… you live with drips. Or if you are a home builder, your home has little unfinished parts and pieces forever.(Or even if you are heidi swapp, you still can’t get ghost wings or butterflies-among other things- cause they are on backorder!)Well, for me, since Eric developed this new garage door, he’s been telling me that we were getting some… and I just figured that it was one of those “someday” kind of deals. And actually, he did order one for us, and it did come…but it never made it up. Instead was used for shows and testing! Well, last weekend, our “someday” came! We got our beautiful new garage doors installed.  They are so awesome! Too bad they only show on the side of the house!  You can only really see them when you pull all the way around, but they look awesome, and I love the top glass part cause it allows so much more light into the garage.  We are excited.. just had to brag ‘em up a little!! They are now in full production, taking orders and things are really happening! It’s so exciting… and it’s fun to see so much time, and effort starting to pay off!

have a happy memorial day... we are not going anywhere... we are keeping it totally LOW KEY! i think we are the only ones left in town! instead of taking a vacation... we are just going to do like in "what about BOB?"... (remember that movie)... and 'take a vacation from my problems!'... try to enjoy a little bit of NOTHING. (sounds fantastic!)

Welcome summer!

In celebration… I decided to create this very functional and FUN centerpiece for the island in my kitchen. I saw something similar to this in the Rachael Ray magazine this month… I don’t normally look at this mag as cooking isn’t my thing (see last post!!) but my mom was in town and she loves it. this was something that they showed for a dinner party w/ kids…  that you could line the table w/ butcher paper and let them color during dinner etc.  well, I decided that it would be the perfect cure for boredom for my kids. They love to sit and draw, write and color. Nothing is more inspiring than a whole bunch of art supplies and a stack of white paper!  I bought this serving tray at target, along w/ the plastic cups, new markers, pencils and crayons… and well, I had to buy the gobstoppers cause they looked so cute with the dots on the tray. I think it’s important that the kids practice math, journaling, spelling… that kind of thing. I am trying to come up with a ‘routine’ that even I can stick with that will include some constructive activities…
But when all else fails… quincy quiet for ½ hour coloring is golden!  Easy enough.
I am loving the bright colors! Just had to share…

dream dinners

I knew that may would melt away as it has been PACKED full of stuff… wondering if I have ever crammed so much into one small month! even still, these last few lingering days have so much going on.  my head is spinning! We had a Creative Escape meeting today, and went over all the kits, all the classes, all the ordering, kitting, the preview day (where we have all the volunteers take all the classes- and basically do a ‘dry run’ of the event)… It’s exciting to see how much further ahead we are this year, than we were last… and at the same time, realize how much more there is to do!  I love it though! The classes and projects are going to be awesome! We have planned all kinds of new surprises (I love the surprises) and it’s cool that we all know each other better-as a team and can work together so well!  the hardest thing is still doing ALL the OTHER stuff that is required in our regular jobs! It’s a lot… but so worth it! 
So I got home tonight, it was 6:30pm, and I had  no idea what I was going to do for dinner and everyone was of course in stage 4 of hunger… so I pulled out the DINO-nuggets and campbell’s soup… as I was waiting for the heating up process to take place, I came up to check on my emails, and noticed these 3 emails from “DREAM DINNERS”…I thought it was so weird. The first one was confirmation of my account. The second was a confirmation of my order, and when it could be picked up… and the 3rd, a receipt… I was to pick up pork chops, pot roast and chicken enchiladas tomorrow between 12-2:30…  I had no idea what it was from…as I scrolled a few more emails down, I clicked open an email from my mom… and among other things, it said this:

I have a little surprise for you.  As we drove to the freeway I saw the Dream Dinners place again so I called there just now and have ordered you 3 dinners that they are assembling for you.  All you have to do is pick them up tomorrow (Thurs) between 11:30 am and 2 pm.  They are my treat (hopefully your kids will think they are a treat).  If you can't get there for some reason, call them at 641-6050 and work something out.  I ordered: 1) pork chops 2) Sunday roast beef 3) chicken enchiladas.  Enjoy!!!  Let me know how you all liked them and maybe this is something I could do instead of coming down to cook for you.  Enjoy!!! XOXOXOXO Mom

All I could do is SOB!  THANKS MOM!  What a very thoughtful thing to do… nothing would help me more right about now, and lighten my load just enough to make it seem bearable!  Then… I sat here wondering why that never occurred to me!! seriously… I think I just make everything SO DIFFICULT!

I did manage to put together some little “thank you” gifts for my kids’ teachers. Tomorrow, school is officially out! I have such an appreciation for my kids’ teachers… they have all been excellent and loving with my kids. I am so thankful for the tremendous  effort that they make on their behalf…I got a big fluffy beach towel, some sunscreen and a new magazine! Here’s to hoping they will each spend a day or two sitting, relaxing by a pool in the sun!

cory's baptism... and pirate pages!

What a busy week and weekend. I am seriously exhausted. Like deep down tired… I want to just put life on pause and crawl in my bed for 48 hours… then hit play again! Man, that would be so nice. Thursday mom and dad, and cam, rane and collin came to town for cory’s baptism that was Saturday. It’s so fun to have them come! I have just allowed everything to take a back seat, and I have just joined them on vacation a little! in fact, Friday… we sat by the pool ALL DAY! I haven’t done that forever… and got a bit of a sunburn even. I kept thinking to myself… why don’t I come out here more? Answer: I have too much to do. (lame answer).  Friday NIGHT was father’s and son’s… the kids had a blast, and were so happy to have cam and collin around! I was happy to have all the boys gone! Amazing the peace and quiet resulting!! The remaining party went to the mall and Cheesecake Factory! Very enjoyable.
Saturday was Cory’s baptism at 2pm… eric got him a new suit, and he was SO excited to wear it! he looked so handsome… so grown up! Baptisms are so wonderful! I sat there just feeling amazed that he was really 8, and it was really time.  it was so nice to have our families there. It made me realize how proud I am of him… what a good kid he is, and what a clear understanding that he has for what he was  doing and why! I admire his little soul and character. He’s just such a great kid.

I even worked on scrapbook pages of the pirate party last week… they pages turned out so cute. I love having a ‘theme’ to play with.
So onto another super busy week! Holy cow- school gets out Thursday YIKES! That means it’s FULL ON! I am really worried about the summer balance schedule. It’s going to be a trick.

 

quite the Q weekend

Happy Mother’s Day to all you mom’s out there! It’s been a good day today! Not because there were any amazing gifts, or meals or flowers or anything like that… but just because it’s a sweet day to recognize women…as mothers… and be given an extra tight squeeze and be sung to by the primary children at church!
I used to not like mother’s day… and I remember thinking that a nice mother’s day would be a day AWAY from the children… with no hair to comb, shoes to tie, diapers to change, meals to prepare, fights to break up, toys to pick up etc. etc. etc.  I think I also used to sit in church on mother’s day and think about all my inadequacies as a mother…  dwell on my weakness, lack of patience and wish I was a ‘perfect’ mother… whatever that is!
I feel different now.
I think that I have accepted that I will never be ‘perfect’… and that motherhood just gets more challenging, more complicated as the children get older… I guess when I also tend to think of it as a day for MY mom! So mom… happy mother’s day. I love you!! I appreciate you… in a way that probably required me becoming a mother myself!

Mother’s day was only PART of our crazy weekend!
Qunicy’s 6th birthday was Friday and her little party was sat morning. we had a ‘glamour’ party! And I have to say, it turned out SO fun!
I only let quincy invite 5 friends, I swear, she  had 30 girls on her guest list! She helped me make these cute invites- I got the pillow envelopes from Paper Source forever ago, and was happy to have a cute use for them.
The plan for the  party was to give each girl and “up-do”, take photos, decorate a frame to take home, and eat decorated ice cream sandwiches.
To decorate, we needed a little station for the hairstyles. I hung a mirror in the kitchen and put mini-lights and a feather boa around it.  em helped me get enough ‘fake hair pieces’ from targets all over the valley for each girl.  Then em let me use the paper lanterns she  used for girl’s camp…we hung 23 little paper lanters with big pink tissue paper flowers attached all over the kitchen… dang they turned out cute! 
i decided to make the ice cream sandwiches from my home made choc. Chip cookies… and WOW they were so much better! The little girls loved them.

all in all, I probably had as much fun planning and preparing for the party as the girls had experiencing it! quincy was so happy, and so thankful for my efforts! Hard to believe she is 6!

welcome home 'e'

My house is so clean… it’s so awesome!
I spent my morning actually putting stuff away! I am totally a ‘stasher’… I mean, I don’t like messes, but I am also not very “organized”, so usually if I am cleaning up, I am just re allocating stuff to places out-of-sight, but not necessarily put away. I broke down this morning and got it done. I did the one-room-at-a-time method. Usually, I have that syndrome of starting somewhere, and getting distracted but something in the next room and then the next. Never really  completing something. Today I was the ultimate in disciplined! I carried a laundry basket w/ me and gathered stuff that needed to be moved, and put away. Then my cleaning lady came, and cleaned! And guess what, I even let her into my scrapbook room! This is a huge step for me! usually it’s so bad in here, that I don’t have her come in at all, it’s just too far gone! LOL. But I was able to straighten it up to the point that it could be totally dusted! Gasp. I think it’s been A LONG TIME since actual dusting took place. I think that it made my cleaning lady so happy to get a crack at it! I  got super ambitious and even washed my sheets. I guess MONDAY really got to me! to top it all off, I decided to go to the grocery store. a clean house WITH food? Maybe you are wondering, what is the occasion!? (my kids were!)
Well, eric has been in Australia for 17 days.  And he comes home in just a few hours. He and my brother-in-law Clark went ‘down under’ for a dive trip that they have had planned for months.  They booked to go with Mike Ball diving excursions on a live-aboard for 4 days along the Great Barrier Reef.  On the 3rd day of the trip, eric was having some trouble equalizing, and I suspect that may be when he ruptured his inner ear!
The inner ear is the part that is responsible for our balance! About that time, he was very dizzy, and spent the remaining 36 hours of the rather rough ride in, barfing and spinning! Once they got on shore, they saw a Dr. that recommended surgery… but that would require a 3 week recovery before he could fly home (yikes). He opted to wait the weekend and see how things went. He had to be laying flat on his back to not be spinning and was finally able to start keeping a little food and liquids down. Holy cow- I was totally stressing the 3 week delay in his return, but I felt so bad for him, cause I could tell he was in bad shape.  He and Clark were planning on flying to Brisbane, to finish up their trip, but since eric couldn’t fly, nor could he sit up, they opted for the 30-HOUR train ride that they were able to book a sleeper car.   Once in Brisbane, they met with another ear dr. and he put ‘grommets’ (I think tubes) in his ears… and told him he could come home in a week. By this time, he was feeling muchas better and  LUCKILY was able to stay with the STUCK family in Brisbane… Chanel had just been here visiting, and it was such a twist of fate that eric wound up being able to camp out with them for the extra-unexpected week.   I am so thankful to them, for taking good care of eric, (and clark)… for all their generosity and Chanel’s good cooking (thanks for making me look bad!)
It’s amazing how helpless you feel from across the world!, and even more amazing how the internet makes the world so small!  I am so thankful to be getting eric back! We have missed him SO much! I can’t believe how much I depend on him for physical and mental support! (I HATE taking the garbage out, and forgot twice… UGH).  The kids kept saying ‘if dad were here, we’d be wrestling right now!’… I think it’s going to be WWF here tonight when he finally gets home!  So thankful that it wasn’t worse, and for all those who helped me out in his absence!

happy NSD!

Good morning… and it’s a beautiful one here in AZ! My house is quiet for now… (I love that)…the kids just schooched out the door to  school in the nick of time, and since Capri was up for about 2 hours from 2-4am, she is still soundly sleeping! I feel so lucky! I am getting myself pulled together to hop on a plane to philly for QVC national scrapbook day!  I am flying in, going on air, and heading right back to the airport! Just a really  quick trip! I think you can look on QVC.com to see what I am presenting. I am only presenting one item from what I understand, although with QVC, you just have to  ‘roll with it’… but it’s the first time for a ‘silhouette’ kit… and it comes in a really super cute storage box. I would like several of the storage boxes alone… cause they fit lots of my products that come in a 6x12 format…anyway… they are all self-adhesive, all white and there are words and images and stuff… it’s a good kit!  I am sure there will be a lot of great stuff to buy for NSD! They usually go ‘all out!’.
Janet has been here for a few days, and she, em and I have been in full-blown creative meetings! We are working on CHA winter…It’s hard to fast-forward my brain that far and write down “winter 2008” at the top of my sketches! Yesterday I caught myself imagining what my life will be like ‘winter 2008’ with Capri as an 18month old, and a 6 month old baby! I am sure it’s going to be nuts. Lol. In any event, I am so excited about what is coming together for the  winter release… I am feeling thankful for some fun little bursts of ‘creative genius’ –wondering why I have never thought of this or that before. It’s funny how I really never know exactly what it going to come together until I am completely focused on the process. And that is exactly how I am feeling! And I am even dreaming about it… everything I see is inspiring me and flipping the switches in my mind. I love it when I can get myself that focused. Unfortunately, it requires me turning off other areas of focus… I’m behind on a few important obligations that will need attention after QVC is over.  Quincy turns 6 in a week from today (gasp), and Cory is getting baptized the following weekend. And then… (yikes) school is out. how can that possibly be? time flies! 
It is mother’s day here pretty quick… and I have to share the link to my mom’s blog… only cause she just started it and I am so proud of her for being so computer savvy!  I already shared this with my ‘year to remember’ class…  this what i gave her for mother's day...it's pretty funny how she describes me and my 'gift giving' habits...
alright, i am outta here..