Cat Chow Fresh!

Ran to WM tonight to pick up some food for Mr. Cooper. He even more annoying when he gets down to the last few pieces. He'll follow you around and rub against you non-stop all the while looking pitiful. Tonight I got home and of course he must have smelled it the minute I walked in the door because he about knocked me over. While filling the plastic container I keep the extra in, I managed to dump a couple cups right into the washer. Genius I am - I thought maybe I could just put the cat in there and he'd eat it. (Hey, he drinks from the toilet, I thought he might want to eat out of the washer) He did NOT go for that! I got most of it out, but I have a feeling my next load will be Cat Chow fresh!

The clearance section is right by the cat food so I took a peek. Glad I did! I picked up 11 packages of black Dymo label tape for 50 cents each...sweet! They are usually around $3 a package and I go thru tape like crazy when crafting. Also picked up some metal organizer desk thingies for $1 for scrap goodies and 50 cent adapter for some of the kids' video games. Unfortunately I got stuck to a smelly person while on my treasure hunt, but that's the price you pay sometimes.

Tomorrow I'm off to the zoo for Parker's field trip. We'll see how the weather is. I need to pack us both sack lunches, delish! Also supposed to have a bball game tomorrow night, but that's probably iffy too. E's on Tuesday got postponed. 125 first graders at the zoo...this is gonna rock!

Go Fish

The "camping" at Grandma's may have been moved inside for Saturday night, but we did manage to get some fishing in. The kids even went and had a good time. Parker was the first to catch a fish...a bass even! Poor Steve didn't get much fishing done, between helping P and E and helping me. I'm not squimish about worms and fishing, so I don't mind getting my hands dirty, but I swear about everytime the darn fish would eat the hook and that I can't handle. We caught quite a few fish. Emma was in charge of the basket, but eventually it got too heavy and she even stepped in the pond once trying to get them out. In the morning Steve and a few others got up early to get a little more fishing in..so at least he did manage to get some decent fishing time in after all.

After the fishing and Smores (Mom had her very first smore) we got a game of Big Bertha in (of course I didn't win) and even played some Apples to Apples. (Of course Steph won). P and E did sleep in their sleeping bags upstairs, so it was like a mini campout. They kept rolling out of their sleeping bags and Emma ended up with her head under the bed and Parker woke up in the middle of the night because he couldn't figure out where he was.

The next day we went to Littlefield's for the usual Hansen Picnic complete with visiting the animals there. The weather was decent, hot even. All Parker wanted to do was see the pig. At the park there are buffalo, goats, turkeys and last year there was also a pig. Parker was so excited he was still there this year. He gets the biggest chuckle that the pig snorts at this leg. The turkeys weren't noisy like last year, but Parker did find a dead toad that he even picked up...eewww.

Today was Great Grandpa's 80th bday party. We went to the Memorial service in Brayton and then headed to grandpas. There are a lot of little cousins and so the kids had a good time. I had another hot dog (my 3rd for the weekend) and Steve's poke and pour cake looked to be a success. It rained a little that morning, but was nice later on so the kids were able to run around outside. Back there and here we managed to miss the wind/hail and other bad weather that has been hitting around here lately.

Excess Baggage

Well after about 452 trips up and down the stairs...the suitcases are packed and the van is ready to go. Because the weather is questionable over the next couple of days, you couldn't just pack summer stuff, you couldn't just pack warmer clothes. Plus we are planning to fish so you have to also bring stuff that can get dirty! Then we'll come back later on Monday exhausted and depending on how pooped I am stuff may sit by the door for a day or two!

Packing for a trip is very similar to packing for a crop. You bring way too much, you don't know what you'll need when you get there, you trash your room/house while packing and then you have no desire to put everything back when you get home!

Always Low Prices

I have a love/hate relationship with Walmart. Love - that bags of chips are $1 cheaper than Fareway. Hate - there are never enough check out people and when you do get up there, they must comment on everything you are getting. Or telling you how tired they are and when they are getting off of work. (The last comment could also apply to Fareway) E and I ran there while P was at TKD tonight so we were on a strict time schedule. Of course the 3 checkers had people backed up so I braved the self-checkout. I only had around 20 items, although I generally only tackle it when I have less than 5. Last time I got up there to ring up E's flip flops and no tag! This time, everytime I would scan something, the skip bag thing would come on the screen and then say you need to get assistance. Of course the assister was helping the other 3 machines that were also having problems. Then I figured out if I waited 20 seconds, the assistance thing would go away. So what felt like 20 minutes later we were done. I even braved ringing up bananas!

When we pulled into the parking lot Emma says, "Yeah...this is the place with the always low prices!" "Is everything made in China here?" Something she got at school today was made in China and she's asked us about 100 questions tonight on why things are made in China. I left out the nitty gritty crappy details and just told her that there are a lot of places to make things there. At this age, you still sugar coat things a bit.

Tomorrow both kids have field trips to the park, so I need to remember to screen them up. Who knows with the weather here. Today was cold again, yesterday bright sun and warm. The cafeteria is making them sack lunches, so at least I don't have to tackle that!

Stopped for gas today since it was "only" $3.69 here and was higher than that in DM. I'm going to need to get a Le Car at this rate! The van's engine light has been going off and on forever and so we took it in today so Steve took me to work today. All I can say is that gas can be $13.69 a gallon and I don't think we can ever car pool together. I just have to be in control and drive myself! (Plus he's a bit crazy with the brake and steering wheel sometimes, but don't tell)

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Emma is a daddy's girl. She has picked up a few of my traits - moodiness, craftiness and sleeping-in-ness. She is also an outdoor girl. That, she did NOT get from me! She also loves to garden and plant stuff (not me again). This year she has her own section of the garden. She got to plant all of her favorite veggies she likes to eat - green beans, peas, cabbage, carrots, spinach. She even made herself a sign - how cute!

Sickie update - all appears to be well! After the whole ordeal with one of the medicines and the insurance company only allowing capsules, Monday night she took it in pudding and also a nasty smelly green liquid one too. She slept great that night and woke up ready for school. I really wasn't thinking she'd be ready, because Monday night she still looked awful. Last night she didn't want the pill broken up into the pudding (it must have been nasty) so instead she swallowed it with water. Gosh I think I was 10 or so before I figured out how to swallow pills. She thought she was the cat's meow after that!

Sounds like we have a full social calendar for Memorial weekend. Going back home most of the weekend - camping, fishing, picnicing and a birthday party.

Top Chef is on tonight. The only reality TV show on right now I watch. I'm having serious withdrawl. Can't wait till The Mole starts in June! (Old news, but was bummed that Skankster won Survivor)

Waiting is the hardest part......

Poor Miss E has been having some "throw up" issues. The whole thing is weird. She has been waking up in the middle of the night and throwing up (but only on the weekends). It's happened a little bit the two weekend before and now this weekend each night she's been sick. During the day then she's been perfectly fine. The poor thing was exhausted this morning and so went to the dr. Plus she is no longer wanting to eat anything. When it was first happening we thought she'd eaten too much junk and maybe upset her tummy. Luckily I was able to get in to see the doc I like this morning. Of course since he's so thorough he's always behind schedule. First we explained to the nurse, then the med student, then him. They all seemed puzzled (but didn't actually say that). She had an x-ray done of her tummy. He wants to hold off on during a bunch of blood work unless it's absolutely needed. They think it might some mucus/drainage stuff or acid reflux that's causing it (That's kind of what Steve and I were thinking). Of course after the xray we had to wait a long time in the exam room for him to come back and in the process Emma fell asleep on the table. Her medicine is to be taken before bedtime so we went ahead and headed home instead of making her wait at the pharmacy forever. She proceded to walk in the door and collapse on the couch. I carried her upstairs and she snoozed for 4 hours and just got up a bit ago. While I was typing, the dr's office called and I guess the insurance company won't give the one medicine in liquid form, only capsule (unless there is proof that she can't take a capsule...duh she's 5!). They said she can take it in pudding. Right now I still can't get her to eat much so this should be interesting. She is supposed to eat bland stuff for the next couple of days (BRAT diet) so I made her some banana chops and toast chops. So far 2 little banana chops down the pipe. She tried to drink some milk, but that did not cooperate. The xrays didn't show anything horrible (I was trying not to get upset and was worrying it'd be something horrible and Emma did so good laying still for it). In a bit we'll run in and get her meds. Yeah for drive up pharmacy! Stuff always happens when Steve is gone..although usually it involves something breaking on my van instead.



Since I haven't blogged in awhile, I'll do a quick recap of the last week's activities. This time of year is the "perfect storm" - to quote Pam from "The Office." May is always the craziest month for us kid-wise.

Sunday - Last day of Sunday School party, then had E's baton/tumbling/dance recital thing. She looked so darn adorable! I was a little nervous that she'd get sick and miss it. I about died when they came out and I didn't see her. But turned out that Cinderella's butt was in front of her at first! They were mice from Cinderalla. She did awesome and kept a smile on her face. Her skills have really improved and she knew the routine. It also helped this was her 2nd year. At the same time of the recital was P's baseball game. Emma's baton part was at the beginning of the recital so Steve raced over to see that and then he and Grandpa Blue House went to the rest of the game. Gma Blue House and I stayed for her tumbling part. E then had a game at 4. The poor thing was pretty tuckered from all the activity, plus she'd been up in the middle of the night! But she was a trooper. She konked out at 7 without an argument.

Saturday - Soccer for noodle in the morning and then P had his Cub Scout picnic where he got promoted to a Wolf Cub. He was so excited I thought he was going to explode. He is already pouring over his Wolf book and looking at all the arrows/points he can earn. Knowing him he will become obsessed with it. He's already talking about one day how he'll been an Eagle Scout. They also flew kites at the picnic (It was very windy!! But they both did great. Those $3 kites from WM rocked! Emma's didn't come down once and she informed us that she is a "Natural Born Kite Flyer." When someone else's kite string broke though and they lost their kite, they panicked and said they were done.

Friday - P had his Olympic Day (Track and Field) at school and I took off work to go. He was uber excited I was there and begged me to stay at school with him all afternoon too. I know one of these days he'll be too embarassed to have his mom around! Olympic Day was only in the morning though and I didn't want to disrupt class in the afternoon. He ran the 100 dash and Mr. Legs won his heat. He's always been a fast kid...obviously getting that from his mother! They don't get ribbons or anything, it's all just for fun. He also did a couple of field events, but when you have bright sun, hundreds of kids in matching shirts, I lost him in the crowds and totally missed them. He doesn't know that though! The thing was extremely disorganized and all the kids were thirsty from running and it was pretty hot on Friday. They had warm Gatorade for the kids but they didn't hand that out till after they ate lunch and gave that to them with their melted ice cream treat. Everyone was sticky! Luckily I had a water bottle rolling around in the van so I hurried out and got it (blocks away). That night then was Miss E's dress rehearsal. Also disorganized! She was supposed to be at 6 and it was 7:30 before we left. Thankfully I brought Gameboys and pretzels to tide them over.

When it rains it pours because also on Monday Emma had her Spring Choir Concert at school. They did Frog and Toad and doing the actions looked to be her favorite part. She was also excited Weds because that was Open House night at her school, so she got to go around see things. Seeing the art room was at the top of her list. Parker also helped with the tour. Rest of the week - the usual flurry of activity - baton, TKD and baseball. I know there are some funny anecdotes to share, but when I wait this long to blog they're gone! I'm on the laptop sitting on the couch with Emma, so later on sometime I'll post a variety of pics from this last week.

I did get some scrappy love. I'll be having some cards and tags in the winter issue of Paper Creations. It's a quarterly magazine. Haven't scrapped since the last crop I went to, but I did tidy up my room a bit while E was snoozing today so I can actually get to the table. Everytime I do that I asked myself why do I keep buying? I have more than enough stuff. I need a 12 step program.....

Happy Birthday Great Grandpa Yellow House!

Here is a big happy birthday "shout out" to Grandpa Hansen for his 80th bday today! We are having a bash for his bday over Memorial Day and that should be good times!

I should post on what happenings have been happening this week, but to be honest I'm exhausted, so you'll just have to wait until tomorrow....

Have Keyboard Will Travel

Heading back from visiting G and G Blue House today for Mother's Day. I'm blogging from my new laptop I got for Mother's Day! (Ok, I'm really going to have to start being nicer to Steve!) I've kept a signal the whole time although the bumps are causing me some issues. Somehow I sent a message 3 times to a scrap magazine..embarassing! I had mentioned that I wanted one since I am hardly home and it's be nice to use while I'm waiting at various kid stuff through out the week. He listened! I'm trying not to angry with any tech issues with it!

Almost home and have 3 hours of Survivor to watch tonight and also hoping my old school VCR taped the Housewives...although that show stinks anymore, but I keep watching.

I Just Write The Checks....

In the last 4 weeks I've written checks for the following kid "stuff"

*Fundraiser pizza cards (although we sold/bought enough that at least don't need to spend $30 on the dance recital DVD this year. Last year we had two different recitals so we spent $60.)
*Flower for recital (I got sad eyes last year when she didn't get one) At least didn't need new $10 recital tights this year!
*Both kids' spring school pics
*Both kids' baseball pics
*TKD Classes (had already prepaid for all of their other sports/dance stuff earlier this year)
*Two Cub Scout camps
*Orange Belt test
*Both kids' book orders x 2
*Two sets of dance pics
*Both kids' lunch tickets
*Parker's shirt for Olympic Day
*Class gift for P's teacher
*Two kid haircuts
*Two pairs of baseball socks and a new pair of baseball shoes for E
*Discounted tickets for Adventureland this summer since we aren't doing a family trip this year
*Daycare - although it's waaayy cheaper now that they are in school

I have two AWESOME kids and so I don't even flinch when I'm always writing a check. Happy Mother's Day to me!

It Once Was Lost, But Now Is Found...

Parker's missing library book has been driving me nuts! I never remembered seeing it in his backpack, but figured I must have pulled it out and it got lost in the the clutter somewhere. I've been looking everywhere and the teacher didn't see it in their classroom anywhere either. Poor thing didn't a library book the next couple of times he went either. Then the other day he comes home with a new book and I thought that meant the book had been found. Nope, then I get a slip home a few days later (finally - a little irritated that they never sent a note home in the first place, I didn't even know the book I was looking for until I finally contacted the school. The ironic part is it was title Self Discipline) saying it's still out. I checked with the librarian again and guess what? It was on the library shelf all along! I'm guessing he checked it out and then put it back...sigh... At least the mystery has been solved anyway.

Emma had her first tball game tonight. She looked so cute. I haven't gotten any pics yet, but I've got some time. Of course I'll put it off and then wham! The season is over. I was a little worried she'd just mess around most of the time, but she ended up being the kid that paid the most attention. She did bam-bam (they hit a wiffleball) the last couple years so that must have helped. Plus she's surrounded by boys and so I'm sure she wants to impress. Parker had a game last night and was excited that he had a pretty good hit. In his age group, they get pitched to and you can strike out or get out at the bases, but still don't keep score. Everyone gets a turn. We now have a repreave in games till next Thursday.

Got our new carpet yesterday. So soft, stain free and smells so new! We're moving a bunch of our furniture around in the downstairs rooms too so everything isn't so cramped. It'll be nice to see something a little different.

Reminisce Cards

** Card removed for publication in Paper Creations Magazine Winter 2008 issue.

** Card removed for publication in Paper Crafts - Quick and Easy Special Edition.

** Card removed for publication in Scrapbook Trends - November 2008 issue.

I made some of these Friday night at the Memory Bound crop and some Saturday at Archiver's. They are made with a variety of newer and older lines from Reminisce. On some I added a few extra embellies. Most sizes are either 5x7 or 4 1/4 x 5 1/2, but there a couple odd sized ones as well. The Vegas paper is brand new and coming out soon. Reminisce is an Iowa based company so it's fun to work with something local!

SEI Cards

I made these last night at the Archiver's crop. I used the SEI Jolie Chocolat goodies that I got in the mail the other day from Paper Trends (for a card I had in their recent issue). I added a few other goodies from my stash too. I added a little bling and I got some good use out of the little ABC Doodlebug rubons I got from the Hot Spot area too. Cards are either 5x7 or 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.

Technology Who Needs It?

Well I haven't been able to blog the last few days since something weird happened with the security certificate on the computer. I couldn't post on a number of websites. I could do email etc, so at least I wasn't totally cut off from the outside world and this kept my withdrawl pains to a minimum. I look to be back up and running so I'll just give you a recap of the week.

The weather here still generally stinks. No snow at least, but a lot of wind and rain. A couple days weren't too bad this week I guess. Parker had 3 tball games and we had the usual usual kid stuff this week. Spent this morning at very WINDY tball and soccer practices. I won't bore you with any more details since one week is generally very similar to the rest. Emma is rockin' the new hairdo though!

I spent last night at the Reminisce crop at Memory Bound and tonight at Archiver's. Both were good times and I actually got quite a few cards made. If the wind conditions go down tomorrow I'll try to get some pics of what I made to share. I also way over spent this week on scrap supplies in general. I will admit I have a sickness and need to do something about it...or I need to actually spend more time in my scrap room using some of this up!

Our new carpet comes this week in the living room...yeah! I am so embarassed at how our old carpet looks. Most things in the living room are now in the family room, so please no one do a pop-in this week!

I'm tuckered out from all this late night cropping so off to bed.