Back on the UPs!!!

Well - I cannot tell you how great you women all are! I know we all go thru this stuff and I am glad to have all of your support!!! Very sweet of all of you! I am back on the ups as my title says today. After posting my post yesterday my sister called me last minute and asked if we wanted to go up north with them this weekend. She said my parents were going and were going to stay at a hotel near a cabin in the woods that my brother-in-law's business partner owns! It is a beautiful log home and we will get some AMAZING photos (the real amazing photos will come from my sister and brothers digital rebel though - not my camera - LOL)! Anyway, my brother and his wife are coming up tomorrow as well. So this is the much needed break and I am so excited! A little swimming at the hotel, a little Rhino riding, and lots of food and fun! Can't wait. So I really just wanted to check in and tell you all I am okay, and we have a fun last minute weekend planned! I wish you all a great weekend too! Talk to you all on the backside of Monday!!!

P.S. Guess what I got yesterday?!! A Western Digital MyBook Premium 360GB external hardrive!!! Weird thing to be geeked over, but Kyle is going to have my old hardrive since he had to turn in his work laptop, so we put all his stuff on my old one and he picked me up a new one! We also had to transfer all his i-tunes stuff - which let me tell you was NOT FUN!!! I don't suggest switching i-tunes to a different computer if you can at all help it!

A Bad day

:::WARNING::: This is my everyday life blog which means I include the good, the bad, and the ugly. SORRY - I apologize in advance for this post. I really am writing this for me today - just to get it out.

Well, yesterday was just a bad day. I feel a touch overwhelmed lately. I don't know why. I feel down. I feel like I can't do anything right. I can't parent right, I can't be a good wife, I can't be happy. I tell myself everyday to clean up my act and I can't. I have NEVER been a good one for self control. Let me tell you NEVER. I eat what I want when I want. I can't stick to excercise. I can't stick to my Bible reading, or devotions. I just have no "sticktuitivenss" (like that word! :)) I tell myself I am going to be better, and I just don't. I tell myself to stop nagging my kids and husband and a minute later I turn around and NAG. My kids are always crabby. I have not been blessed with happy go lucky kids - constant whines and cries. Part of it is my parenting. And I am adding another into the mix - oh my - I could cry right now! Well, Life goes on. I will get over this. Hopefully it is just my pregnancy hormones and I am in week 12 almost so those should get a little better, right? Everyone looks forward to the second trimester! I hope my hubby can forgive me for nagging - he's not a fan of mine right now, nor are my kids I am sure. Forgiveness is such an amazing thing that I still can't quite grasp. Just the other day I was trying to tell Braelyn that even though she said sorry that when she keep repeatedly doing what she continually says sorry for that it makes the "sorry" a little less meaningful. Then I sat at lunch today and thought about how we continually let God down and he continually takes our "sorry's" and forgets about them - like they NEVER get less meaningful to Him even when we say sorry for the same thing over and over. Ugh - amazing and yet unbelievable almost. My hubby might have that same frustration with me when I continually apologize and ask for forgiveness and then I do it again a day later. never ending circle kind of. So if anyone has any life changing information for me - like a way to really get me to stick to things that would be great! :)

I am really quite an optimistic person most of the time - REALLY! I would consider myself pretty easy going. I normally look at big events in life and tragic things in a somehow uplifting light, so this is not a normal thing for me. I hate it. Anway - on with life - enough complaining. Glad I didn't get tagged with that no complaining tag today!!!

We really have no plans this weekend! It is supposed to be a touch chilly again here so mayeb a little outdoor play, but mostly inside I bet. I work again all day tomorrow and then the first three days of next week. I may have to talk hubby into a road trip next Thur. night thru Sat. or something! Do a little hotel action somewhere just to get away!

Again, sorry for the long annoying, down post. I will survive!!! :)

2nd Post of DAY - A LO!!!!

WoooHooooo!!!! I did a LO! I thought I was losing it for a bit there! I did get inspired again by the new stuff from Shabby Miss Jenn Designs! This is the Mia kit. Full credits for the LO can be seen here! I started working on this LO tonight at about 8:15pm (kids got chucked in bed at 7:30 b/c they were CRABBY!!!), and finished it up at about 9:30. I went to save it and noticed there was a file open behind it (the original template before I duplicated it), so I clicked on that and hit the X on the file. OH MY GOSH - it shut down my LO that I had not yet saved. I was just getting ready to change the image size to 8x8 instead of the original template size of 12x12. Urghhh. Anyway - at lease the second time around went much quicker, and by then dancing with the stars was done so I could really put all my attention to it. So - this LO took a little longer than normal, but wow was it worth it! I am in love with this LO - not to be boastful - I am just saying it makes me SMILE! OK - there is a storm brewing here tonight so I am going to shut down my computer and unplug everything for fear that I have bad luck already tonight! LOL! Hope you enjoyed the two posts in one day - so not usual! Bye bye!!!

Checkin things off my list!

Well, I have been checkin things off my list today. I have not gotten anything major done, just

a lot of small things! A few more things to do as you can see! Dinner tonight is Tuna Noodle Casserole by the Campbells website. We actually like this dinner - although a lot of people would turn up their noses - LOL!

I have a few pics to show off. Not that my camera takes good pictures, but they are pictures nonetheless!

Kyle and I on my birthday - before our date.

Kyle's mohawk/fauxhawk! He's such a trooper for putting up with a cosmetologist wife who always wants to make him look more cool than he already is! :)

My stylin little 2 1/2 yr old - so cute! She has on her little headwrap made by her auntie Shawny - she wore this to church and everyone loved it! I bought a few of these head band thingy's at Charlotte Ruse too the other weekend - have been loving them!

Selah Reese - just being her!!! Love how this pic turned out actually, so far I have just run NeatImage on it and that is it - will look great after a few touch ups! Look at those teeth! This girl is so dang smart - and naughty. LOL. She repeats almost EVERYTHING we say - like she can say all the words we can. It is amazing to me how big she is getting. Braelyn didn't talk as much or as young as this little stinker - she will be a run for our money!

And my two girls - going for our bike ride. Selah would not keep her helmet on - it didn't help that is hardly fit - she has a small noggin! Aren't they cute though - they loved the ride, and Gauge our dog joined them right in there - LOL!

Well, my time is fleeting to whip out a LO - I better hurry while the girls still sleep! Thanks for stopping in!! Have a beautiful day.

Amanda

Fun weekend is sadly over

So my fun birthday weekend is sadly over. It was a pretty god weekend despite having Braelyn run a fever for a lot of it. :( She would spike a fever at night and then be fine during the day. Kind of weird, and she seems totally fine now. So I didn't get as much sleep as my body wanted, but got to do a few fun things. Fri. night was dinner with family at my moms as I mentioned. KFC easy/good. Sat. I got to do a little bit of shopping by myself (about an hour or so), and then I picked up lunch for us and after lunch we went out as a family to Target and Meijer. We did a few things to the girls' rooms. Braelyn got a new nightstand and lamp b/c she hadn't had one and really needed on for reading and books and stuff. Selah needed some curtains for her room, mainly to make it darker in her room. We made the mistake of not getting room darkening blinds in her room, like we did in Braelyn's. So their rooms each have a sort of "new" look. Sat. night we did end up going on a date even though Braelyn was running a slight fever after her nap. Luckily Grandma and Grandpa didn't mind watching her still - so nice of them! We went to dinner at a local pizza place that we never get to go to, and then got some Cold Stone Ice Cream and took it and sat out on the pier by the beach. A fun cheap date! We were home by 9:00 - no movie - which is okay. maybe another time! It was nice to just hang out with Kyle and it was a beautiful night!

Yesterday - OMG - it was so so nice!!! Spring FINALLY hit Michigan. I mean like shorts and tank top day!!! We went to church, came home had a roast for lunch, and then did outdoor stuff. After kids' naps we took a long bike ride to go get ice cream and then played at a little park nearby. The kids loved the warm weather you could tell!!! All week is supposed to be nice so I hope that it is here to stay and that the 30 degree weather is out for good! So all in all it was a good weekend. I did not get to spend as much time scrapping as I would have liked to, but oh well - we had GREAT family time and that is the best!

Busy week here - Kyle is working a bit extra on a side job. I have to work an extra day this week which always overwhelms me a little. Next week I have a weird schedule too b/c our office manager (the only other girl I work with) is out on Spring Break vacation, so I need to fill in since they need a lady here! So I will be a busy bee this week and I am sure my house stuff will fall by the wayside in the next two weeks! OH WELL!!! :)

So I just wanted to stop in quick and tell you all how my weekend went. I realize how KIND and GENEROUS you gals are - either by wishing me Happy Birthday on the forums or here, or by the little gifts a few of you sent me. They are all much appreciated! My hubby didn't get me anything which we agreed on and I did a little shopping lately which I don't normally do, so I was good with that, but it sure was nice to get SOMETHING!!! You gals are great! THANKS!

Have a great week - I am sure I will stop back in tomorrow or Wed. with hopefully at least ONE LO!!! I need some scrapping therapy!!!

Bye!

Secret to why it's a big weekend!

::: MY SECRET:::

So, it's a big weekend for me as I have stated in my last post! Tomorrow I turn 27! OK - so it really isn't that big a deal, but kind of fun. Birthday's are always good I believe - no matter what age. It's fun to be alive and think that 27 years ago my mom was on her way to having her fifth child. WOW - I can't even imagine. And she was just the ripe old age of 26 I believe! I don't know much about my birth story nor do I have many pictures. Being the fifth child that kind of all gets blurred I think - and I can see how it happens. For goodness sake my poor SECOND child didn't even get a birth announcement like the first - LOL! OH well. Anyway so yeah - it's my birthday! I wish I was all creative and could come up with a little contest or something - some kind of giveaway. Maybe if I think of something by tomorrow I will do it. Fun thing is is that I get to share a birthday with Shannon - owner of Digishoptalk! She is an amazing person to run such a successful internet site for us digi gals! Happy Birthday Shannon. I know there are a few other digi-gals too that share this birthday - was it you Janet - I know you said yours was coming soon - am I outing you?!!!

:::BLOG:::

On to other things. Did you see I made a new blog banner?! That was with Shabby Miss Jenn's Poppies kit at Shabby Miss Jenn Designs. Had a lot of fun with that kit - will be using it for a LO for sure! Anyway - I am not sure yet what size to creat my banner at yet - so I am not sure yet if I like how it is sitting, but I will probably leave it since I make a new one every 2-3 months!

:::FOOD:::

Have you all gone out and bought this stuff yet???

Now we don't use a ton of Parmesan cheese really. I had bought this - ,must have been right when it came out b/c I was making a spinach artichoke dip and my sister told me that fresh grated parmesan is best b/c the powder stuff is just kind of dry and crumbly. So when I was at the store getting my ingredients I found this. It is so cool! It is fresh parmesan that has a self grater. Now we use it quite a bit - on spaghetti and on top of salads - I feel like I am at a restaurant where they ask if you'd like fresh parmesan and then they tell you to tell them when to stop! So fun. Braelyn loves it too now - she can do it all by herself.

KraftFoods puts out this amazing magazine that I got in the mail today. It is totally free - you just have to sign up and it has such great easy recipes in it. Stuff kids LOVE! I am a very simple type food person. Meaning don't dare take me somewhere fancy where they use special sauces and stuff like that. I want a good plain steak with A-1, baked potato, corn, just normal food. Another staple for me is Mac-n-Cheese (can you tell I like Kraft foods in general), chicken fingers and a good plain iceburg lettuce salad with cheese and croutons (ranch and french dressing only!). So this magazine is just right up my alley! My hubby really likes it too - fun to look thru! Go sign up!!!

:::WEEKEND PLANS:::

Tonight is dinner at Mom and Dad's with some of the family just to get together and say Happy Birthday to Paige - my niece. She turned 8 yesterday! I am sure I might get one or two happy birthdays too I guess :). Tomorrow will be a low key day. Maybe some outdoor play if the rain hold out. A little shopping to finish up some things we got last weekend. At night Kyle is taking me to a movie - I get to choose. Not sure which one yet. I am thinking Reign Over Me or Premonition. We will grab just a light salad somewhere for dinner b/c I am all about the popcorn at a movie, and well we can't be out all night b/c of the kids - LOL! Sunday will be church in which I get to sit in on again and the pastor talked a little about the sermon with us at our small group last weekend and it sounds very intriguing! Selah will be going to nursery for sure and Braelyn down to Children In Worship so that I can really listen! After church we are going to my in-laws for Sunday lunch and cake to celebrate my b-day again! Fun weekend! I hope you all have just as fun and fulfilling weekend!!!

Thanks for stopping in!!!

The last few days I have just felt very un-inspired digitally speaking. I have opened photoshop numerous times, and NOTHING. Not even when I opened a template to start with. I do not get this a ton, but man has it hit me. Part of it is probably the fact that I still have been VERY tired at night and cannot keep awake past 9:30 if I am sitting on the couch! Part of it is I am just not motivated for some reason. I needed some fresh fun stuff to play with and some new pictures, better pictures. Low and Behold today I got an email from none other than Shabby Miss Jenn. I don't "know" this Miss Jenn personally (although she sounds like a fabulous gal to meet), but we have kind of gotten to virtually "know"one another thru our blogs and scrapping. Well, Miss Jenn sells some great digital products at her shop, and she just asked me if I would like to be on her creative team!!! So this is my little TOOT of the day!!! I was jumping in my chair when I read the email! I have been eyeing many of her kits and for those that know me you know that I don't really buy a lot of digital scrapbooking supplies. Just every now and then and I try to just really use the goodies I have from my teams! So, I am so excited and honored that Jenn asked me to be on her team. I am now getting inspired again!!! Be on the look out for some new LO's coming soon!

So, my brother Dino is a blogger and I happen to think he is the most intellectual person I know. He had kind of a neat blog post last night. Read it if you get a second. He is the type that likes to hear what people have to say about the stuff he writes about. As you will see if you visit - I replied with my agreeances and my disagreences (I know those aren't words - I just made them up! He's cool with that! He tells it how it is though from his point of view and that I can appreciate. Love ya Dino - LOL - bet you didn't think I would ever send people your way - LOL! (especially since you didn't put - Hi Manda instead of hi Mom - come on now I comment she doesn't - LOL - still a little offended)

So I am going to lead a little Digital scrap booking class - I think at my church! There are some gals that have a lot of interest in it, and I have already sat with two of them recently to show them more. Now I am no Photoshop genius by any means, but I know I am good enough to teach people the basics!!! So I am working on a game plan as far as teaching goes and so if any of you have any suggestions please do tell. I know Kari leads some classes and maybe she can tell me a bit! Nina - I might even want to enroll your help for this!!! We can make it a partnership! Anyway - so I will keep you posted on how that is coming! And if any of you that read this from my area are interested just let me know!

That's all for today folks. I will stop back in on FRI. to go over my weekend - it's a big weekend for me for some reason - stop by Fri. to find out!!!

OK OK - I will leave you with one photo!!! LOL! This is from last Sat. when we went to the mall shopping the girls rode on the carousal! That's me and Selah and then Braelyn is right next to us looking the other way! Best picture we got - LOL! Have I told you I hate my camera?!