The Black Eye

Well, my youngest got his first shiner last week. The note from school said "he ran into a second-grader". There were no more details than that. I told him he needed to make up a better story so he says his sister did it.
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Good Stuff This Friday

I realize that it is Monday and the 3 people who read this blog have been anxiously waiting to see what I found Friday. It was a pretty good score. I think I'm gonna have a party just so I use these cute vintage invitations!
I also got a couple of sweaters, 3 books, 2 antique frames, 3 stationery sets and lots of stuff for Easter-all for $25!

Rotten, Terrible, Yucky Day Made Better With Soup

I really, really, really HATE winter. Really. I can't think of anything good about it. Not one thing. I am cold and sick and the sun didn't even shine today. I had to go to the Dr. and wound up getting a couple of shots in my butt-well, hip actually, but I still had to pull my pants down some. I was flopping around on the couch this afternoon, watching TV, feeling miserable and wishing it were 100 degrees outside when there was a knock at my back door. I must say I was a little irritated-I couldn't imagine who it could be or what they could want so I wrapped myself in my blanket, went to the kitchen, peeked around the corner to try to see who it was without being seen. Much to my surprise it was my wonderfully awesome incredible friend! She had gone to the bakery and got soup and a sandwich for lunch! She even brought me a Diet Pepsi!! I must say I felt much better after her visit. Some people just have the knack for making others feel better. Lucky for me I get to call one of those people my friend! Thank You, My Precious Friend Julia-you made my day better with soup. You are a dearly loved treasure!

Collections

My boys like to keep everything. Everything-sticks, bottles, bones, paper, feathers, bullet casings-you name it. I spent the last 2 days sorting out their 'collections'. The youngest one is the most vigorous collector. He even had Nana save a bag full of chicken leg bones. He is always asking 'can I keep that?' I must say I am a little concerned about this. Below is just a small sample of his collections:I have been trying to get rid of that red paperweight for months, but he always manages to dig it out of the trash. I guess I'm just gonna have to let him keep it.

The middle child is a collector as well but not quite as hard core as the youngest. He at least keeps his collections neat.
One man's trash is my kids treasures.

Too Much Paula Dean and Project Runway, Possibly.

Monday the kids were off school. They couldn't go outside for too long because of the crummy weather so they were forced to play in the house. My daughter and her friend decided to cook some stuff up in the kitchen. It wasn't very tasty (and the boys decided they liked MY cooking afterall) but it looked pretty. They must have forgotten to add BUTTAH.

They did this all by themselves. Presentation gets 2 thumbs up.

After the cooking episode was over they moved on to fashion. Who knew a garbage bag could turn a little boy into Little Red Riding Hood? Notice the criss-cross straps and pleated bodice.

I do believe it may be possible that Paula Dean and Project Runway just MIGHT be on TV around here a little too much. Just Maybe.

It's Girl Scout Cookie Time!

It's that time of year again. Yes. Girl Scout Cookies are here. Every year our council of Girl Scouts has a skating party in order to get ready for the big event. That was last Saturday. Luckily we had no injuries this year and the girls are rarin' to go.

We sat at the grocery store for a couple of hours this afternoon trying to hawk those cookies. Some people were so excited to see them and others tried to run for the hills. I was loving the folks trying to skulk by unnoticed. I could see them looking out of the corners of their eyes for the best way to avoid all those cheerful little girls-it was impossible though because we had both exits covered. Once eye contact was made, one could feel the panic rising in the poor sap that only came to the grocery for a gallon of milk. "Would you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies" says a sweet little voice. At that point the poor victims had no choice. They either had to be jerks and say NO or fork over $3.50 for some cookies. What a dilemma. One of them thought they could outsmart the little smarties by saying "No thank you Sweetie, I just bought 100 cases from my granddaughter". Then it turned ugly-"Who's your granddaughter?" asked a green-vested girl. The jig was up. Red-faced and flustered, that one bought some cookies.

The girls love selling cookies. I don't know why. You can see the gleam in their eyes every time they sell a box. So please, I beg you-buy at least one box of cookies from every Girl Scout you see. Thank You.

Glitter Junkies

My friend and I have joined a Valentine Sweetheart Box Swap (it's on my blog somewhere if you look around) and have been having so much fun. One craft leads to another and days later we are still covered in glitter-woohoo. This time the mess was made at my house. We were at it all day! I am still picking glue off my fingers and seed beads out of my hair (how they got there I don't know-really.)

While rummaging around in her husbands shop one afternoon, Julia found a ton of little sample tiles of counter tops or something. She decided they'd make excellent tags so that's what we did.

That one's my favorite.

This is AFTER we cleaned up!

When the kids got home from school they wanted in on the action too-the glue was squirting and the glitter was flying. They were all getting a little loopy from the fumes of the Sharpie markers, but oh what fun they had!

Another Friday!

Friday was good-Thursday not so much. I was sitting at the computer listing things on Ebay like a madwoman when the phone rang. It was the school secretary telling me I need to come get my youngest son because he just threw up all over the place at Mass! There was a funeral directly following Mass and the Priest and the teacher were trying to quickly get it cleaned up. Can you just picture it?! I have had at least one kid sick everyday for a week! I does appear to be over-knock on wood. Luckily my DH is home this week so I was able to do my Friday shopping. I found some really good stuff! The well children got out of school at noon on Friday so I did have to cut the day a little short. My favorite find was a big pink fluffy robe and 3 pairs of vintage earbobs. My ears will sparkle while I am schluffin' around in my big pink housecoat~grin~. I also found some old wrapping paper and a ton of seed beads-yay me.

When the day was done at home I went to Julia's to work on our sweetheart boxes. We made a huge mess but our boxes are turning out pretty good. Just a few details and they will be ready to mail. I don't want to give too many hints about it in case my swap partner is looking, but I will say it is feathery and colorful.

Can You Hear It?

Listen...Can you hear it? It's the Hallelujah Chorus! (For the full effect go over to the side where my music is and click on it) Know why? The kids finally went back to school and I got my house clean! Woohoo*high five*

Don't get me wrong, my kids are great and I am blessed that I get to stay home and take care of them, HOWEVER, I really do enjoy my quiet time during the day. School started yesterday, but the girl stayed home because she was sick-tonsilities, strep throat, sinus infection, something along those lines (the doctor is not very precise). Some antibiotics made her not contagious so every last kid of mine was at school today. I finished up with putting the Christmas decorations away and cleaning. Not a very exciting day by some standards, but for me, today at least, there are not too many things as fabulous as having a clean house! I am not delusional and I realize it won't last past tomorrow, but that's OK.
Clean kitchen:

Clean bathrooms and laundry room:

Clean living room:

$2 Worth of Fun

I LOVE old paper things like magazines, post cards, pictures, diaries, books, etc. Things like that just get my imagination going. I love the graphics and the words and the feel of the paper. We don't use words now the way they used to back in the day. Something about the choice of words in those old things seems more careful, more thoughtful. I found several old magazines at the flea market this morning and squealed with joy. Luckily the vender didn't hear me or I'm sure she would have gone up on her prices. The magazines were $1 each! I found a 1939 Cosmopolitan and a 1935 Ladies Home Companion. I spent a good hour just flipping through the pages looking at the ads. I learned a thing or two.
1. Swooning is one sure way to a man's heart.
2. You CAN get a snazzy ride for under a grand.3. Nice girls aren't stinky.
4. Men adore the delicate, flower-like fragrance that surrounds a girl after a bath with Cashmere Bouquet Soap! Whatever happened to Cashmere Bouquet Soap?5. You'll never get a man to marry you if you have bad breath.6. If you are the lucky girl that manages to snag a husband and he starts neglecting you-it's because you stink.
7. Laundry makes you ugly. 8. I've heard the expression "he/she doesn't know shit from shinola". I am so pleased to finally know what shinola is!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! I hope everyone has great hopes and plans for 2008.

We started the new year off by doing laundry and having the kids clean their rooms. It was more fun than a barrel of monkeys-NOT! But at least PART of the house is sparkly for the new year.

On New Years Eve Julia and I went shopping-we went to Target, Kohl's, Steinmart and the music store. After that we picked up my daughter from Nana and headed home. We saw the back of this truck and thought it was pretty funny~it could be that we are just easily entertained-what do you think?

Where customer service is #1 and #2! Hahahahahahahhahahaha!!!

After the cleaning frenzy the family went Geocaching. For Christmas my DH got me a handheld GPS. We usually letterbox, but thought we'd give geocaching a try. There are lots of cache's and we spent HOURS out searching. We found about 12-what fun. Here is a picture from our first find-don't even ask why the plastic bag is on his head-I have no explanation for that.

I was amazed at how fast the kids picked up working with the GPS. They did have the most excellent teacher though.

All that stomping around in the woods was kind of tiring for the little guy.

We were hot on the trail of B-Diddy, but never caught up with him/her. Maybe next time~