For Today... (from The Simple Woman's Daybook)

Outside my window... the shades are all down because it's HOT HOT HOT!

I am thinking... of all the things I want to get done today.

I am thankful for... a nice weekend spent with Owen and Morgan.

I am wearing... still PJ's and my crocs.

I am reading... trying to start the Memory Keepers Daughter (again) for book club.

I am hoping... to start feeling better and getting better sleep.

I am creating... plans for new layouts and stuff for the etsy shop.

I am praying... for direction.

Around the house... toys. Always toys. So I'm trying to put things back in order today!

One of my favorite things... Word World. Such a cute show.

A few plans for the rest of the week... Work tomorrow. ECFE girls night out on Thursday.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

Hope you all have a great Monday!

This week's Thursday Thunks...

Here are this week's Thursday Thunks questions. Because my blog is nothing if it's not about me!

1. Are your ears dirty? No. I try to have clean ears all the time. Really. This is a weird obsession of mine. I tend to check Owen and Morgan's ears for cleanliness too!

2. Would you rather be stung by a scorpion or bit by a snake? (Don't say either...no one wants to be in pain, that's the point. Pick one.) Well, I don't very well know! I've never been bit by either so I don't know which would be more painful. And I guess it would depend on the snake too. I'd like the least painful option and the least deadly and most treatable. So, which one is that!?

3. Do loud noises make you snappish? (i.e. A loud restaurant, screaming child next to you, booming stereo from a neighbor's house?) Yes. Yes. And YES! I have a little bit of auditory sensory irritation. I was the kid in the class irritated by the pencil scratchings of the person next to me during test taking days. I can't STAND when people chew with their mouths open. (I've ended relationships over this). Any kind of repetitive sound, especially if it's very high pitched drives me batty!

4. PETA- thoughts on this org.? Well, I don't know much about the org. But I think we should be nice to animals. Except squirrels. But I won't run those over either.

5. Would you rather be the discoverer of the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot? (Imagination!) The Loch Ness Monster. Because I would probably just see if from the shore instead of coming upon it in the woods. Who am I kidding. I would not be wandering in the woods to find Bigfoot anyway! Unless Morgan made me go. Then I'd be complaining too loud for Bigfoot to stick around.
6. When in a public toilet and it's not flushed: do you flush & use or move on to a clean one? I flush (depending on how grossed out I am) AND move to a different one. Unless it's the only one available. I have an issue with public toilets too. Which I won't go into because it's long and complicated. Like most of my issues!

7. Neighbors are having a noisy, party bonfire, what do you do? Hopefully I am there. Then I enjoy the party.

8. Do you play Monopoly? If so which version of the game? Not since I played with BJ, Nathan and Craig until a rediculously late hour in the morning because Nathan will not give up a game until the bitter end. Even if he is clearly going to be the winner. It was the Star Wars edition. I tried to auction off my remaining aircraft to get more money to get back in the game. It didn't work. I've not played since.

9. Are you a remote hog? Not really.

10. Do you like the smell of paint? Not particularly. Now markers and ink pads are another story!

11. My questions obviously suck this week. {I've had a bad week.}
So do you think Kimber should have...
~smoked pot before doing these questions?
~drank liquid courage?
~begged Berleen to do them (she's better at them anyhow)?
~just piss off! I could have done better!

Pot. Definitely pot! I have this illusion that smoking pot would be wildly funny! But I didn't think the questions sucked either! I'm easily entertained!

A funny for Friday...

Overheard in the bathroom this morning...

Owen: "You have a penis too daddy?"

Morgan: "Yes, I have a penis too."

Owen: "That's your penis?"

Morgan: "Yes, that's my penis"

Owen: "Wow."

I told Morgan one of his manly dreams had come true. Someone said "wow" when they saw his penis! I suppose it's not part of the dream that it's a 3 year old!

I love to listen to the little conversations they have in the morning while I'm still in bed.

We are off to take care of Nikki & Michaela today. We are going to have lunch with Lori and Maggie later to celebrate Nikki's birthday, which was on Wednesday. She's the big 30!

Thursday Thunks...

I found this Thursday Thunks blog and thought it would be a fun post for today. So here it is!

1. What is your least favorite candy bar? That would have to be Whoppers. And Almond Joy.

2. If I were to call you, what would you say? Hello. (If I bothered to answer the phone!)

3. What is your favorite type of leaf? Maple. I love the shape of them.

4. When was the last time you....
- had sex? I'd have to ask Morgan. He keeps track of that.
- swam in a lake? Last summer when we went camping with The Johnsons.
- went barefoot outside? Last week at Kristine's house. She has nice grass! Our grass is dead. - -ate peas? Last week when we had stray and hay tortellini for dinner.

5. Since Father's Day is right around the corner, tell us about the person that you are celebrating. We will be celebrating Morgan and his dad. Morgan has a list of things he wants to do. We will call grandpa on the phone since he is in MT.

6. Were you dropped on your head as a child? Not that I recall!

7. How often do you clean your toilet? At least once a week. Boys live here!

8. Have you ever been sunburned? Tell us about it. Have you seen me!? Yes, I've been sunburned. Two terrible times stand out in my mind. Once up north my milky white thighs saw far too much sun. And in Mexico I got stuck out on the ocean for an hour and my back fried! Both were incredibly painful. I try to stay covered up as much as I can.

9. On average, how many hours a sleep do you get a night? Anywhere from 3 to 7. I'd prefer 8-9.

10 How many hours did you get last night? 7, I think.

11. Take a picture of something. Post it. Not the best picture I've taken of O but man he makes me laugh!

12. Are the bottom of your feet dirty? Nope. I've got socks on and have all day.

13. Do you know the names of every member of the family who lives next door to you? To the south of us yes. And behind, and across and up and down most of the street. There are three guys who live on the north side of us and one of them I've never met. The other two I know.

Happy Thursday!!

Friday!

I'd like to say I love Fridays but really, it's not my favorite day. Mostly because Morgan can not get home at a reasonable time on Friday. So by 5:30pm I'm frequently dangling at the end of my very short rope. And trying to maintain the one frayed nerve I have left. I could totally do without Fridays.

Today hasn't been too bad though. It's nice out. That always helps. Owen had PT this morning. Which he wasn't too cooperative getting ready for. The appointment went well though. Then we had lunch with Mimi & Naunee. That is always nice. Mimi brought Owen a Buzz Light Year action figure. He is really cool! Owen LOVES him! I think the rest of us do too!

Yesterday we went to a nature center for a picnic lunch and a hike with my friend Lisa and her kids. I think it may be a bit weird in the fall when they start school. Owen loves spending time with them!

We hiked around the lake and then saw wild turkeys at the end of the trail! I had a terrible time getting a picture of them. They were not far away but they wouldn't hold still either and they were in the woods so I couldn't get a clear view of them.

Tomorrow I get to spend some scrappy time with some girlfriends and then Sunday we have a stamp & scrap sale we are doing. Hopefully I will make a little money off the stuff I've purged for the sale! I need to see what else I can clear out!

How many words can you think of for...

BATHROOM? This how many words game is something The Girls and I have been known to play. On occasion. Usually when we are all in the car. Maggie is the least willing participant. It's usually for something there are lots of "inappropriate" words for.

But I often think when I ask where the restroom is in a public place that lots of people ask where the "bathroom" is. Which is technically incorrect. Since a bathroom should have a bath. Or a means to wash ones body. So it got me thinking about how many different terms there are for the bathroom. Here's what I've come up with:

1. bathroom
2. restroom
3. water closet
4. loo
   
5. shitter
6. crapper
7. biffy (if it's outside)
8. ladies room
9. powder room

And now I'm stuck. I thought I had come up with more when I was pondering this the other night. But either I didn't come up with as many as I thought or I've forgotten them. So if you know of more leave a comment!!!

It's not all roses...

I used Owen's napping picture to create this layout. The prompt at Gutter Girlz for May 15th was "It's not all roses". And that made me think of being a mama. (If you click the images they will appear larger.)

The title words were created with diecuts from the cricut, foam stamps, and rub-ons. The "NOT" is stickled in brown.

Here you can read the journaling better. The heart is cut from a dark red felt with my old sizzix. I still LOVE that big red beast!

This is one of my favorite parts of the layout. The white dots are from a piece of bubble wrap that I pressed onto my white ink pad and then the paper.

When I showed Morgan the layout he said, "I think this is one of the best ones you've ever done." Wow! Quite the praise coming from my man!

Spring pictures...

I haven't posted very many pictures lately. And I haven't been taking all that many either until May came around. Then I felt like getting the camera out again. I don't seem to find as many things to take pictures of in the later part of winter.

Owen fell asleep last week after we came home from a day at Lisa's house. I asked him if he wanted to go and finish napping in his bed or watch some TV. He opted for the TV where he fell asleep in about 5 minutes!

This was taken last week when he was playing in the pool for the first time this year. There were also 3 other boys in the pool! They had a great time!

One of my favorite things of spring. Lilacs!

Now that the lilacs are done the iris are blooming.

And this is one of my gnomes hiding out between the hosta.

I get a little obsessed taking pictures of the dandelions in the spring. I love to get that perfect focus. And this was it! I was really happy with this one once I uploaded all of them to the computer.

Today I went to babysit Nikki and her daughter for a bit while her mom went to an appointment. She has been home since Thursday and is doing well. She is rather weak and tires easily and has to take an astounding variety of medications but so far she's doing well and her blood levels continue to improve. Thank you to all of you who are keeping her in your thoughts and prayers.

And a quote to share for Wednesday:

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. - Marcus Aurelius

Such a wonderful way to begin a day.

And the winner of the blog candy is...

Kelli!!! At Kelli Stamps 4 U...and U can 2! Thank you to everyone who stopped by the check out my card and leave a comment. I am still working my way through the blog hop! It's my goal to stop by all the blogs and leave a comment.

Hope you all have a great Tuesday!

In honor of...

all those who are serving our country and have served our country I am participating in a bloghop this Memorial Day weekend. The bloghop is sponsored by cardsforheroes.org. Their mission is To support our nation’s armed forces by sending blank greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them. To date they have sent 140, 875 cards. That is amazing! You can read more about it by going to the website. As for the bloghop you can just keep linking from one blog to the next to see all the cards created and all the wonderful people who are participating. The hop doesn't officially start until around 2pm (CST) so if you are here before then you may want to come back later too! If you start here at my blog but want to go back to the beginning of the hop then CLICK HERE. There are 130 bloggers participating in the hop!!! This is my first card for CFH, but I plan on creating a bunch more. And if you are one of my non-blogging friends stopping by and would like to create cards to send please let me know and I would be happy to send them!

Here is the card I created for the bloghop. The Freedom is from the Graphically Speaking Cricut cart. The stars are a punch. Pattern paper is by Reminisce and it has a nice shimmer to it which you can't see in the picture.

After the hop I plan to send it to cardsforheroes to send to someone as a thank you. I think it's important for our military to know how valuable and appreciated they are. If it weren't for them who knows what our lifestyles might be like.

Your next stop on the bloghop is Christy Sheffield's blog, Addicted to Creating. She created a beautiful card for the hop! And while you are there check out some of Christy's other creations. She does beautiful work!!

Please leave a comment about my card or your thoughts on Memorial Day or whatever you would like. As a gesture of my gratitude for you stopping by I will be randomly picking a name from the comments (Tuesday morning) for a little RAK . A Close to My Heart card making kit! You will receive everyting you need to make some cute cards! Which you can then send to CFH!

My little superhero...

One of my very favorite pictures of Owen right now. I used a cute frame in a set I got at 2P's. I downloaded 3 new sets today! Can't wait to start using them. I'm printing a few pictures to bring to my friend Nikki who's in the hospital right now battling leukemia. As some of you know she's one of The Girls (Maggie, Lori, and Nikki). Three of my dearest and bestest friends. Anyway, I thought she could use some happiness in her room so I'm brining some pictures of O and some lilacs and the 3 month pictures I did of her daughter (Baby Q).

A momentous day...

Today is a big day for me. Why you may ask? (And if you didn't or don't care this is not the place for you!) I MOWED THE LAWN!!!! Yes, I know it doesn't sound like a big accomplishment but the truth is I have never mowed the lawn before. I've pushed it a couple of times. Like a swipe across the yard. But I haven't actually done the task of mowing the entire lawn. No, not even as a kid. I was not allowed. My mom was afraid I would lose some toes. Yes, this sounds a little irrational. But it happened to her childhood friend and then for some reason she decided I wasn't going to use a lawn mower. And I didn't. And I've been totally fine with that. My sister mowed the lawn though. Perhaps my mom didn't care if she lost toes. Or maybe (and this is probably it) my sister bugged her enough times that my mom finally just said yes. Oh, and Miranda has a longer attention span than I do.

So fast forward a lot of years to today. We have a new lawn mower. As of last summer. The previous one finally got to a point where it was just not working and we invested in a new one. It's not a fancy one. It's a push mower and it mows the lawn. The fanciest thing about it is that it bags the mulch stuff. Now, Morgan usually mows the lawn. But it difficult for him to get to this during the week because he generally doesn't get home until after 6pm. (Despite the fits I throw about him considering coming home earlier.) By the time we've had dinner and he's had some time with Owen and we've put Owen to bed it's too late to mow the lawn. So this week the lawn was getting to the point where it needed to be mowed. Well, not the grass but the MF weeds in the MF sodded part of the lawn that the city put in when the road was redone several years ago. The city picked the cheapest, shitiest, weed infested sod they could find and put it in everyone's yard on our road. The people who have a lawn service or get their yard treated or water like mad don't have weeds. Us regular folks who don't give a rats ass about grass have a crap-ton of MF weeds. (MF stands for an expletive that I can't type out or I will feel bad about offending you.) AND when the weeds get too long the city will sometimes notice and send us a letter about noxious weeds and how long they are. Which makes Morgan mad. And me too. Since it's the city's fault the MF weeds are there in the first place. I'm working on forgiving the city for this err in judgement. But it's hard since we were assed almost $4K for the new road. The least they could have done is picked some decent sod. ANYWAY... the weeds were getting long. We don't like to get the letter. So I volunteered to mow the lawn. Even though I'd never done it before and I was a little nervous about being able to start the lawn mower. But since it's a new one it started just fine. (Yes, I remembered to check if it had gas and oil. It needed gas so I put some in.) I may not have done as fine a job as Morgan does but I got the job done and now the city can't send us one of their nasty letters. Unless it's already in the mail. In that case when I get it I think I will scan the photo they always send along (of the long weeds) and photoshop me into the picture giving them the finger and send it back! Or send a picture of the mowed lawn AND me with my friendly gesture. I know, real mature, but it's a sore spot!!! And I'll end there. Because I could go on and on about my beef with the city and their many errs in judgement!

A few thoughts for Thursday...

The boys are outside and I've had a bit of time to work on a new banner for the blog. It was time for a change. Then I decided to post a few thoughts. Nothing all that deep or revelationary.

• I don't like soap operas. I used to watch them but I don't anymore. They irritate me. And for the longest time I couldn't figure out why. Then I realized it's because no one is happy on them. I like happiness. I like the happy ending. I would love a soap opera where people got to be happy a lot.
  
• I am really thankful and appreciative for all the moms I've made friends with since Owen was born. They are a real blessing. It's great to be able to spend a day hanging out with Lisa or Liz while our kids play together and we chat and scrap and just enjoy each others company.
  
• I am so happy it's spring!
• I'm glad Owen's getting the potty training thing!
• Owen is a little bit more fun everyday. Even if he is challenging too.
  
• I've got a great husband. He is a blessing.
• I've got to get my butt in gear and lose some weight and get in shape. I need to get my head around that.
  

And that's about it. Happy Thursday. All most Friday. (Which I'm also thankful for!)

Super Owen... to the rescue!!!

This is Super Owen. He is three years old today! (At 3:50am to be exact).

For Super Owen's birthday we had a Super Hero party on Saturday. He was Super Owen. The only Super Heroes Owen knows are Buzz Light Year and The Incredibles. So we went with a general theme and the kids all got to be super heroes. I made them each a little mask and Owen his own special Super Owen cape. I took the pattern from a cape that one of my friends had, which is her husband's cape from when he was a child. Their son now wears it. He's the red streak in the photo below.

I also made Owen a shirt with a three on it. It went well with his Super cape. As you can see from the two photos below, he loved the cake! He requested chocolate.

We also had burgers and brats and other food fit for little Super Heroes. Then there was some sandbox play and some super hero fun in the front yard. A fun time was had by all. And then the Birthday Hero took a nap.

To celebrate Owen's actual birthday day we are having cake again. And giving him the presents we got for him. He will be super happy about this. Naunee will also be coming over tomorrow while I work and Mimi will be coming for a visit too. And we have the rest of a movie to watch together.

Mostly, I just can't believe he's three already. There are parts of his birth that I've forgotten (the exact timeline of events) and parts that are still crystal clear (throwing up blue popsicle). And the first three months were really tough. But then we turned a corner and whoosh, here we are! Three years later! He is a joy and a delight and a challenge all at the same time. Everything a child should be. And for that I am grateful and thankful everyday.

Toddler tidbits...

On Saturday Owen did his #2 business in the potty chair again. I yelled for Morgan and his mom to come look. My father-in-law did not come to visit this time and he'd been asking my MIL every time she talked to him how many pictures she'd taken. She's not real comfortable with the digital camera yet so she hadn't taken a lot. She thought it would be funny if we sent him a picture of Owen's latest "accomplishment". We did, he wrote back, "serious pile."

On Monday Owen did his 3rd #2 business in the potty before I left for work. My sister and I were talking in the living room when Owen came running through yelling "I POOPED AND PEED! I POOPED AND PEED!" He was thrilled. So we went in to see and he said, "Take a picture!" I guess that's what happens when you've photographed his first two "masterpieces"! I did not take a picture.

Yesterday while driving in the car I put the window down. Owen tends not to like having the breeze from my window and asks me to put it up. Which he did. I put down the passenger side one a bit instead. Then he asked me to put down his window. So I did. He put his hands up and said, "I like fresh air too! I blows around my hair!"

We had our last toddler class today. We will no longer be with the same children or mamas for our class next year. We are all doing something different. It was a bit of a bittersweet thing. We are planning to get together throughout the summer and then as mamas one a month. I feel very fortunate to have formed friendships with such fun and wonderful women. Next year Owen will be doing a preschool class with one other boy from the class, which I am happy about. They are a lot alike and get along well. It will be nice to have a friend in the parent class too. It's 2 day a week preschool with one day being 1/2 with me in the room and then 1/2 with me in my own class. I still feel like I need that support! And the second day will be a drop-off day! Owen will love that. But he will be disappointed that he doesn't ride the bus yet!

Owen's birthday is in six days. His birthday party is on Saturday. He will be having a couple of his friends over in addition to family. Our theme this year is Super Heroes. I am making a cape for Owen and masks for him and the other children. I don't know what else we are going to do but hopefully it will be nice out and they can play outside!

Random schtuff....

I'm not feeling like writing about any one thing in particular so I thought I'd just post some random thoughts.

Today was Owen's first accident free day since we re-started potty training last week. It's been 1 week. He did his first #2 in the potty chair. I was a big deal. Literally and figuratively. And I photographed it, mostly so I could show Morgan. And Owen showed his grandma.

Morgan's mom is visiting for a few days. We've been prepping Owen for her visit since he doesn't see her often. We showed him a picture of Morgan's parents the other night while we were talking about this. He pointed to grandpa and said, "what that name?" and I said, "that's grandpa."And Owen said, "I like him".

Today was a beautiful day. Even a bit too warm. It was 81˚ at about 7pm. It's cooled off to 69˚ now and should only be in the low 70's tomorrow. More my temp. It was great to have all the windows open while I was cleaning though. Nothing like fresh air and a good breeze to air out the house!

And for the randomest of thoughts tonight. I don't like to talk on the phone. I often don't answer the phone during the day unless I have an idea of who it might be. Or I don't answer because I DO have an idea of who it might be! I hardly ever answer during naptime. Either I'm napping too or I am getting stuff done. I am also terrible at returning calls. I tend to forget. Or put it off and then forget. Or just dont' want to do it. And it the worst with people I don't know. Like calling to get information. Or to update our insurance! I've been putting that off for like a year! Or to make appointments. I make Morgan call the handy man. He's a very nice guy. I just don't want to make the call. My favorite person to call though, is my uncle. He doesn't actually have a phone connected to his land line. So he never answers it because he can't. I just leave him messages. And if it's necessary to call back he will. But mostly I just leave him a message about what I need to (usually a family gathering) and he shows up. And I go over in my head what I'm going to say when I call someone too. Especially if I'm going to leave a message. Because I don't want to sound dumb. It takes me forever to record my greeting at work. I need to get it just right. No mistakes. There isn't a greeting for our voicemail on our landline or on my cell phone. As I've gotten older the whole phone thing has gotten worse. Or developed. I talked on the phone all the time when I was younger! But now I just prefer not too. Except certain people. Some people I don't mind talking to. It's just one of my weird quirks!

I was up before the sun!!

Thanks to Owen, I was up at about 4:30am. And being me, I was unable to go back to sleep. So I got up and finished up Owen's birthday party invitations. All 4 of them. It's going to be a small party! 4 Kids, 9 adults, and some ear plugs. I got kazoos for the kids! My mom is thrilled!

After finishing the invitations I decided it looked nice enough out to go for a walk. Or the temp was right. Since it was still dark out. Morgan hadn't yet gotten up so I told him I was going for a walk. He presumed on the treadmill and I said no, outside. He requested that I take Ludwig. Since it was still dark, or somewhat dark. Ludwig and I had a nice walk. I'm sure he would have liked to sniff and pee on more things but there was walking to do.

Now I'm drinking a nice refreshing glass of water with Bragg's apple cider vinegar in it. It's a bit...vinegary, but supposedly it's supposed to be energizing. That's what the bottle says. I heard about it from my boss. Who is always telling me about some cleansing thing. I draw the line at her latest kick though. Sauerkraut. No thank you.

Today is a busy day. We have toddler class this morning. And then I'm working this afternoon. Morgan is going to a happy hour thing after work so it will just be O and I for the evening. We will have to find something fun to do.

I went to a girlfriend's house last night to find something pretty to wear to this benefit thing I'm going to on Friday. I came home with a couple options. Both are very nice outfits. It's just that I'm unhappy with what I have to put in the clothing! Ugh!

Oh, and I have to get cracking on some cleaning. The house is a mess and Morgan's mom arrives tomorrow. Nice of Morgan to be out all night!

Potty humor...

This morning Owen and I went into the bathroom for our first of many morning potties. He on the elmo potty, me on the big potty. (If this is too much for you STOP reading! But afterall, everyone potties! And poops for that matter!) Owen goes, I go. Then he shouts, "PUT YOUR PENIS DOWN!" (From the beginning we've been encouraging him to aim down. So we tell him to put or point his penis down). Then he gets up and says, "mama, you put your penis down?" Then looks there and says, "where's your penis??" Upon determining that he didn't see one he said, "turn around. What's in the back?" (Like perhaps it was on backwards!) So I had to explain (again) that I don't have a penis. Only boys have a penis, girls don't have a penis. I didn't go into details about what girls have. Since toddlers are visual learners I'm not going to get into that discussion. Then he said, "big boys have a penis too!" Yup, all boys have a penis. Glad we cleared that up. For today at least.

Incidentally potty training is still going well. At least at home. He's not keen on the big potties at stores or church or Mimi's house. Thank goodness Mimi still had a potty chair! With a lid even. That was pretty fun for Owen. (She doesn't have my Fisher Price A frame house but she has my sister's potty chair!) Last night I bought a seat to put over the big potties. He's using it at home now. Hopefully it will work out and about too. He's getting good at holding it though. He didn't pee at all when we were at church yesterday. #2 yes. Pee, no. I still haven't figured out how to get him to do the #2 in the potty chair. He used to do it. When we first started potty training like 4 months ago. But now he won't do it.

Alright. Time to print birthday invitations. Hopefully the printer will cooperate.

Update in a list...

• Potty training is going well! M&Ms were the key! Or that and Owen being a little more ready. But the M&Ms have taken away his resistance. He is his mommy's son!
• One of my favorite friends was diagnosed with leukemia a few weeks ago. She is currently in the ICU battling an infection. Please keep her in your prayers.
• Spring is finally here! Today is a rainy day but that means the grass will be greening up nicely this week.
  
• We are busy planning Owen's third birthday. It will have a superhero theme. And I mean superhero in a general way since he doesn't really know who the superheros are. Except Buzz Light Year. I'm going to make him a cape! He likes to be Super Owen!
  
• My MIL is coming to visit this week. Arrives Thursday and leaves Monday. I've got cleaning to do.
  
• We only have 2 weeks of toddler class left. This makes me a little sad. We both look forward to class each week.
  
• I gave up running. I like to run but my body (or mind) isn't ready for it right now.
  
• I'm a slacker when it comes to Weight Watchers. I just can't seem to stay on track. This makes me mad. I should be able to do this. But I have so little confidence in my ability to do it. And I really love chocolate. And cheeseburgers. And potatoes of all kinds. I am not good at moderation.
  
• My creativity has been waning lately. Although on Saturday I made some cute onesies for one of our pastor's son's. I have one left to finish.
  
• We are starting to plan for some of our spring/summer house projects. We lost a lot of equity in the house and weren't able to refinance and take any money out so we are going to have to be creative. Thank goodness for an uncle who is a contractor and his handyman friend, who are both reliable and trustworthy. And for a neighbor who is great at tiling and likes to do it and has offered to help us!
  
• Owen has been playing outside a lot with friends. The last couple of months he has turned that corner where he is learning to and likes to play with other children. It's fun to watch. He is also developing his language skills something fierce!
  
• I have to find something pretty to wear for an event this Friday. I hate spending money on new clothes to fit my wide waist and butt. And being short makes it difficult to find something that looks decent. Wide and short makes it most difficult!
• We had a great Easter. Owen was so fun to watch finding his Easter eggs outside that the Easter Bunny left. Everytime he found one he said "Oh! Look!" or something cute and surprising! I wish I'd video recorded it rather than pictures. They just don't convey the wonder and joy.
  

A tag for Thursday...

Janet tagged me to do this Photo Tag. Here are the directions:

The tag how-to...

1. Go to the photos folder on your computer.
2. Go to the seventh folder of photos.
3. Go to the seventh photo.
4. Put the seventh photo on your blog along with a description.
5. Invite seven friends to join.

I have not checked to see what is going to end up here. So here goes...

And the answer is nothing! There is no seventh photo in the seventh folder! There were only 4! I've been very lax on my photography lately. I charged the battery for my big camera last week and it sat on the dresser in our room for a week after I charged it. I just put it back in the camera today!

I've been working a lot at the mortgage office. We are very busy. We (my boss and I) have 9 loans to close next month. That's almost double what we usually do in a month. AND the entire office is swamped. We use another planner's processor and after today she wasn't taking anymore loans to process for April. So we are in a bit of bind.

And after the retreat I've just been slow on the creativity. I did get some new cuttlebug embossing folders that I've been playing with though. I love them!