some days inspiration is easy to find...

and then sometimes i just can't make up my mind...color or b&w??

it doesn't seem like much

but its been so fun playing with this machine! everything pictured was made today with just some scraps...and some of them have more than 1, they just aren't pictured! (click pic to enlarge)

still lots to learn...but this thing is dangerous!! lol!

come to mama...

my machine is on the truck as of 7:01 am for delivery today! woohoo!

being productive...

but only for a minute! lol! here are some more pics from beijing:

PICTURE #1: IF YOU EVER NEED TO CALL ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS IN BEIJING TO SET UP A DINNER DATE, JUST HIJACK A LOCAL'S CELL PHONE!

Picture #2: EGGS ARE EVERYWHERE! (they are hardboiled)...BUT ALWAYS PLENTIFUL FROM STREET SIDE VENDORS!

thats all for now!

guess who's coming today??

the dry wall man...woohoo! things are moving at a rapid pace now! by this evening the basement bedroom and bathroom will have walls!

pics to come soon! as soon as i can motivate myself to upload them! lol!

playing tag

i got tagged by my sweet friend meredith. i am supposed to list 6 quirky things about myself.

i.know.

only.6.

anyways...here goes:

1. i love ketchup, even eat it on my scrambled eggs.

2. i absolutely can not stand anyone else to do the family laundry or cook in my kitchen. (working on the kitchen one, but hey, i'm territorial)

3. i "nest" once or twice a month...so those are the times i run around like a wild woman cleaning and organizing. best to not drop in during non-nesting times:) lol! you might be in for a rude awakening.

4. i absolutely can not stand being late to anything.

5. i can not stand fish. not the smell. not the feel. not the taste.

6. i always wanted to live on a farm. raise animals. manual labor all day. i know i am insane.

ok...so i will have to think of some people to tag...i am far too tired tonight to think anymore!

and because i hate not including pics...here is an all digital layout i created tonight. made it for a cyber crop challenge. you had to use an owl on a layout. so there it is. enjoy!

saturday morning wrap up...

last free weekend we have without anything planned before we head to Disney!

ella decided to cut her hair yesterday with scissors. little turkey.

we had our 1st freeze of the season the other night. brrrrrrr.

my "it's almost time for dh to leave funk" is starting. ugh.

i aged this week.

thats about it. will share some more pics soon.

testing 1...2...3...

we finally have cable, internet and phone back! what, you may ask caused us to lose all of this???

HURRICANE IKE!

it roared thru here sunday night and i do mean ROARED! they had not warned us it would be this bad. 90,000 without power, 12 ft storm surge on lake ontario (did you know you could have a storm surge on a lake??) 50-60 mph gusts and lots of tree damage.

i am thankful i don't live in texas and my heart and prayers go to those who have it SO much worse than me!

anyways, we went about 9 hours without power and 30+ without phone, internet or cable. THANK GOD the internet is back! lol! i had no way of finding out what was going! it was driving me crazy! now that we had this little wind storm...i need to work on the emergency kit! i hope this isn't a preview of the winter to come!

anyways...guess what i did last night while i had no tv or internet??? edited more pics!

here's a few more random ones!

my little rocker (don't tell her its a ukelele)

this is little one's 1st day of preschool...

older dd b-day cake...

here's my fav! dd blowing out her candles...

**not recommended** for the faint of heart!!

some more pics from beijing...

here are some of my best friend dangling herself from the GREAT WALL!

she survived, i promise:)

here are some street shots:

houston we have a problem...

last night in the warm darkness of the night, our sweet SPAYED guinea pig gave birth to babies!

still trying to figure out how that happened.

one survived, the other was a still birth. so before my eyes were really open this morning, i was disposing of the one that didn't survive, removing the placenta and removing the dad who was all of a sudden attacking the mom.

then i jumped on the internet (thank god for google)...and discovered that the females are VERY fertile the 1st few hours after birth. uh-oh! not. good.

so they will remain in separate cages for the time being.

and i will NOT allow myself to fall in love with that adorable, sweet little baby guinea pig. i will not!

the birthday girl's big day...

yep, i now officially have a 6 year old. what a busy crazy day!

started the morning off with abby saying happy birthday to herself (crazy nut!)...then begging to open presents. i gave in and let her open 3 (then stretched that to 4)...then had to put my foot down and get things rolling for the morning.

birthday girl *not happy*

so we ran around, got dressed, ate, showered, teeth brushed (ding-dong) construction guy thats tearing out our bathroom and finishing our basement is here to start work...kids running around crazy, time to run to the bus stop...POURING rain...abby on the bus...time to take pics of ella (its her 1st day of preschool *sniff, sniff*)...get her in the car, drive her to school, run to walmart, grab some necessary items, go home, catch my breath, time to go back and pick ella up, head back to walmart to pick up abby's cakes (one for school and one for home)...run thru the drive-thru, head back home, stop at abby's school...drop off cake and supplies, back in the car heading home...get home, finish eating lunch, start tackling odd jobs around the house...fast forward time to pick abby up from school, throw (not really) ella in the stroller...stop at sweet lady's house who let me photograph her poppy's awhile back, give her some zuccini bread...head onto school...starts raining (crap)...get abby, head home, get begged about a million times to open the rest of her presents...open presents..fix her chosen dinner (french toast)...then onto the birthday cake and then the pinata (oh yes, she wanted a pinata!)...

and now its all over. sleepy girls in bed asleep and i am heading that way myself. long crazy busy day. i will download the pics off my camera tomorrow and then post them here. with our construction dude showing up at 8am, i can't afford to stay up late for the next few weeks.

tomorrow should be slower (i hope!)

ok, so i didn't actually go to bed. i wanted to put at least 1 photo on here. but i can never add just one. so here are 2 from my trip to beijing.

enjoy~

last call

tomorrow my baby brother leaves for war.

last night was his last call to me.

i am a mess of emotions, but prefer to function daily in denial.

in my heart of hearts i have to believe that everything will be ok. that a year from now we will be celebrating with his homecoming and that he and his wife and little girl will be able to pick up where they left off.

and since i refuse to worry until i have something to worry about...i leave you with this classic pic. (click to enlarge)

circa early 90's...our favorite time of year. making christmas cookies!

thinking really does hurt!

lol! not really, but i have had a headache all day and i like to blame it on thinking about the busy month ahead!

*dh comes home
*basement gets finished
*abby celebrates her birthday
*going to disney
*getting everything in order before dh leaves on his big trip

ugh...there goes the pounding in my head again!

going to go look for some happy pics to post:)

1st day

1st day of school and thankfully everything went off without a hitch. no crying hysterics, no refusing to get on the bus. just drama free.

with lots of hugs and kisses. especially hand kisses. if you have never read your kid The Kissing Hand, you should. its become a ritual for me and my oldest.

and being the sappy woman i am... i had to choke back some tears that tried to burst out of my eyes as the bus pulled away. its not easy putting your kid on a bus and walking away. ever.

cutting deep

tonight i was *trying* to get the girls to go to sleep. they kept goofing around and getting out of bed with a million and one excuses. this is their new thing.

i think they like torturing me.

last night i couldn't get my little one asleep until after 1000 pm.

so today, i didn't push her taking a nap. hoping it would make bedtime easier. i was wrong.

once again it took 1 1/2 hrs to FINALLY get them to sleep. but not without getting my heart ripped out and stomped on the floor.

this last time i was in their room i was talking to them about why they needed to go to sleep...so they won't be cranky, so abby will have a great 1st day of school...so we can all have a really good day tomorrow. and then abby says: "well you're gonna have a good day because i won't be here"

talk about cutting deep to my heart.

after i swallowed back my tears, i asked her why on earth she would say something like that. she knew she hit a nerve. she got all shy and covered her face. i told her i honestly wouldn't be upset with her answer, i just really wanted to know why she thought that. she wouldn't give me an answer.

so then i told her how much i miss her when she's gone and how i can't wait to see her when i pick her up and hear about her day. i honestly don't know where or how i have screwed up as a mother that my daughter thinks i would be happy to have her leave. i know as parents we all get burnt out, and that is especially true as a SAHM in the role as a full time single parent most of the time. but i don't think she would say it if she didn't feel it. even if i don't agree with it, its her reality.

and that hurts. deeper than i ever imagined a 6 year old could hurt you.