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!

Once upon a time...long, long ago...

Or, when I was a kid! I thought it would be fun to post some of my favorite toys from my childhood. Did you know they are now VINTAGE toys!? Which I guess makes me vintage! I'm not sure how I feel about that. And if I'm vintage that makes my sister "retro" and my mom "classic". Oh, and this all got started because Fisher Price is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year with the re-release of some of these toys. It was the family farm that sparked this little trip down memory lane. We saw it at Target yesterday. It's not nearly as great as the one I had. (Which Owen plays with at my mom's house!) The farm building is tin and the people are huge! Which I guess is not unlike what has happened to people in the US. All the Fisher Price people used to be small and now they are huge! I guess to be safer. Because all those kids kept cramming those little people down their throats and chocking.

So here are some of my favorite toys from my childhood!

We have the little snoopy pull toy here at our house. He's lost the string and the shoe and a little bit of his paper.

I think this record player is still around somewhere. Morgan's parents have one at their house too.

The farm is at my mom's house. The door moos. That was my favorite part. Oh, the silo is gone. My mom said it fell apart.

This is/was my favorite!! I LOVE this castle! And I'm happy to say Owen plays with this at my mom's house too! The new FP pales in comparison to this castle. The trap door, the dungeon, the secret room behind the stairs. It was the best!

This train is at my mom's house too. And I think there are about 5 of them in Owen's classroom at ECFE.

I loved this too. My mom didn't keep it. But some of the little people are still around. Morgan's parents have one at their house.

Morgan's parents still have this one too. We don't. I loved all the moving parts!

This little music box, as you can see, plays singing in the rain. It may be around somewhere at my mom's house. We have this toy box that is still as big as it was when I was a kid. And there is a ton of stuff in it! I loved this music box and the song. I still love this song!

I don't know if this is still around. I haven't seen it so it may have been sold at a garage sale. But this was a ton of fun to play with too!

And who didn't have a corn popper!?

And last, but not least, the A Frame House. Sadly this is no longer with us. My mom sold it or gave it away. I loved this one too. I wish we still had it. It was a great house. My grandparents had an A frame house too. Maybe that's why it was so endearing. It also had clear plastic doors that for some reason I thought were so neat!

Fisher Price just doesn't make toys like they used to! Oh, and some of these toys are worth a mint if you have them or can find them and they are in good condition. Which I think is why they are worth so much! Mine were all well enjoyed! (I found most of the pictures at www.thisoldtoy.com)

Now I'm off to check on the potty trainer who is sitting on the potty chair watching The Incredibles. He had on Incredibles underpants today. They unfortunately, didn't make it past breakfast.

Better images...

I scanned my 8 1/2 x 11 layouts and am re-posting them so you can see that they actually are nice! I have to re-photograph the big ones and I am not up for that tonight!

The silver strips on this layout are aluminum tape. Supposed to look like a mirror.

We have started potty training again today. It's not going to bad. Owen has had a few accidents but I suppose that's to be expected. By this evening I was starting to feel like I am not ready for this! Hopefully with persistence he will get the hang of it.

A fun time was had by all...

These are the layouts I completed at the retreat this past weekend. I have one left to finish up that isn't pictured here. I was really pleased with the amount of work I got done and the quality of the work. They really look much better in person! The pictures I took of the layouts themselves are terrible! Which I didn't realize until I was resizing to post them! So please look past the terrible images. I also blurred the photos on the Toddler class layout as there are other people and children in the pictures whose privacy I want to protect.

I had a great time. Got lots done. Relaxed. Slept in. Took a nap on Saturday. Went for a walk on Saturday. It was great. Now we're back to Monday. It's rainy and dreary outside. I will have to keep pulling up the little bits of sunshine from last week and the weekend I stored just for such an occassion!

A weekend away!

Happy Friday! I'm leaving shortly for a scrapping retreat with my friends Lisa and Dawn and a bunch of other women! I'm almost packed. Morgan took the day off so I could go. I've got about 15 layouts planned and few cards to finish up for a swap. I didn't over plan but did bring enough supplies so I won't feel like I need anything from home. And with 16 other scrappers there someone should have whatever I am missing!

This is my first retreat. I've been looking forward to it for weeks! Creating, hanging out with friends and relaxing!

The boys will have a great weekend together too!

Photo Mojo...

What better way to get your photo mojo back then to go somewhere beautiful and bring your camera? Yesterday afternoon I met Lisa at the Como Conservatory, one of my favorite places, to wander about and take pictures and just hang out for some girl time! We had a great time. It was super busy because yesterday was one of the first really nice days here this year. But we got some good pictures and had a nice time chatting. A great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Oh, and I did I mention we didn't have any kids with!?

Here is a selection of what I shot.

And I couldn't resist snapping a picture of these! A young girl walked in wearing these with dark wash jeans and a hoodie. I don't think they really matched her outfit but they were funky! And if I had the legs I'd wear a pair in red!

The weather here this week is supposed to be beautiful! Lots of sun. Warm temps. Spring may just be arriving! Although it's still March so anything could happen! But for this week we will enjoy it. Today it's supposed to get to 60˚! Bye-bye coat! Hello sandals! In a little bit Owen and I are going to go for a walk. I will get some exercise and Owen can watch birds with his binoculars!

Tagged!

Bonnie Rose tagged me to do a little challenge. It is as follows:

Take a picture of your self right now, no primping or preparing. Just snap a picture. Load onto your blog. Tag 3 people to play...remember if you are tagged on another blog we will all be heading to yours to see if you played along.

Grrr! So I decided to do it despite not having had a shower or make-up or any of those special things that I would do were I to leave the house. Or let someone in the house. Well, actually the appraiser was here and I didn't do those things. And when I say special I mean wash-up, brush my teeth and put on some powder and mascara. Oh, and chapstick. And maybe do something with my hair. Maybe.

So here's the picture.
And here is me looking presentable.It's not as much work as it looks! And I could really use some lip color!

Something I love...

1. Bowl of clouds, 2. Funky Cloud Shadows and Rays, 3. Every cloud should have a silver lining, 4. Layers of Clouds, 5. Clouds on the lake 7-15-06, 6. Lonely Tree with Cloud and Dandelions, 7. refraction of clouds over my garden, 8. 31 days in May 30 , 9. Clouds and Tracks, 10. Blue Sky and Clouds, 11. Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining, 12. Clouds

Clouds are something I have always loved to watch. My favorite are the big puffy ones that roll through the sky on days when the sky is bright blue and the sun is almost blinding. In MN those days frequently happen when it's really cold out! But they happen in the warm months sometimes too. At my grandparents house I used to lay outside and watch the clouds. At home too, but we had a lot of really big trees so they were sometimes hard to see. The clouds are something I look forward to in the spring. Tomorrow it's supposed to get up to 35˚. The 10 day forecast is looking good right now with warmer temps and sunshine! I can't wait! I'm tired of wearing a coat. I'm tired of gray and brown in the sky and landscape. I'm tired of being cooped up in the house. I know we can play outside in the winter too but it's just not the same. I'm a spring and fall kind of girl.

Owen has been a character lately. Here are a few of the things he's been saying:

Today after work my sister was telling me of how he was hauling toys out but wouldn't let her play with any of them. I told Owen he needed to share with Naunee, she likes to play too. He responded, "I try to share, but I not".

When I got home from book club tonight I could hear him in his room asking Morgan where I was. I peeked in and he said, " I was wanting you! I losed you for a little while."

He was looking for something that my sister had put away and of course it wasn't jumping out at him. She told him it was in his room. So he said to her, "I use my eyebrows to look."

He's also getting better as using his manners. Especially "thank you" and "no thank you". Please is a little trickier but he's getting there. I asked him today if he wanted his blanket while he was lying on the floor pretending to sleep. He said, "no thank you. Thanks! I not need it."

I'm glad tomorrow is Friday. It's been a slow/busy week all at the same time. There has been snow and really cold weather. I'm ready for spring (you probably got that already!) and some sun and warm weather.

A list of wishes and gratitudes...

Wishes:

• I'd like to use the bathroom ALONE more often. Boys, regardless of age, have no sense of privacy.
  
• No more snow. I want spring to come. I'm tired of the blahness that can be seen outside everywhere.
• I wish Owen would get interested in using the potty chair. I made him a chart to earn stars. We'll see how that goes.
  
• Morgan's boss to get a different job or an attitude adjustment. The man's an absolute jerk. And that's one of the nicest things being said about him.
  
• Did I mention spring already??
• More sunshine!
• Creative inspiration.
  
• Continued weight loss and ambition to eat well and exercise.

Gratitudes:

• My boys. I love them. Even when they don't value privacy and modesty.
  
• Morgan having a job. Even if his boss is a jerk.
  
• My job. My boss is great!
• Good friends. Great friends. I have great friends.
  
• Disposable diapers. I'm glad I'm not washing diapers out in the toilet.
  
• My own treadmill so I can run inside when it's cold out or Owen won't get in the chariot.
  
• My MAC.
  
• A craftroom where I can spread out and leave stuff. Where there is enough room for me and Owen to work.
  
• Mimi and Naunee who take care of Owen so we can have a date night or I can go to work. Or just have a break!
• A home. Food. A car.Insurance. All those things that I take for granted that so many other people don't have.

And now I think I need to change a diaper (I heard the familiar noises of Owen doing something in his diaper) and call the insurance company about a claim! Hope you all have a great Monday!

Hello March!

Last week I decided to give up sweets for Lent. It's an ambitious goal for me. Since I'm a junkie. And I went cold turkey. But after day 3 I started to feel okay. And now it's been 6 days! Sunday I decided to start Weight Watchers online again. I had done it last year for a few months but was very unsuccessful mostly do to my lack of commitment to it. But a good friend went back too so I'm hoping we will both be successful and supportive to each other. Today is day 3 so it should start getting easier after this (if my 3 day theory proves correct!) and it definitely helps to be off sugar. I've also begun a running program to get in shape for a 5K in April. It's called the couch to 5K in like 10 weeks. Or something like that. If that goes well I want to train for the Twin Cities 10 miler which is in October.

Not much else going on around here. I'm working on cards for a swap. Planning layouts to work on during my first group scrapping retreat in a couple weeks. Training Owen to stop doing things that annoy me. Hopefully his future wife will thank me! Today he wrote on the table in my craftroom while I was getting something ready for dinner upstairs. He looked at me, guiltily, when I came back in and I said, "are you supposed to write on the table?" and he said, "no" and I asked him why he did it and he said, "I was just trying something out". I'm glad he's a smart and clever kid. Really, I am. But somedays it would be easier if he weren't so smart and clever!

And now, because it's almost 11pm, I'm off to bed!