Really I do Clean...

My mother can attest to the fact that I wasn't the cleanest of children. I would get the weekly announcement of my room looking like a tornado hit it. I have grown up a bit since then and figured out that my kids are for the most part taking after me. Yes mom, I did have kids just like me to show me how messy I was.

Today I got the cleaning bug. I wanted to tackle the kitchen floor. I just couldn't take the left out shoes and wrappers that always find their way to the floor instead of the garbage. I figured I might as well clean under the appliances while I had the broom out. The fridge was no problem I usually pull it out every couple of months and sweep. On to the oven! I popped off the bottom cover of my Jenn-air. Now this appliance gets less attention, mostly due to the fact that I hate getting down on my hands and knees to clean under there. So as I'm cleaning under the oven I find a head of garlic, used napkins, twist ties off numerous loaves of bread, a completely hair covered glove and this...

A grilled cheese sandwich complete with leftover lei flower and dog hair dust bunnies. I'm sure you are wondering how in the world this got under there. Well our oven has a 3 to 4 inch gap behind it. it was supposed to be a in the counter kind but the last owner had built the space for a stand alone kind of range, leaving a huge gap between the wall and our oven.

Now I wouldn't leave this just laying under there so I went to the experts... the kids. I asked them how on earth this got back there and why didn't they tell someone. I got this answer," oh, that's Emily's. She flipped it back there. She told dad, but he told her not to worry about it." Huh? not worry?? I'm thinking this was told in one of those moments where parents must be concentrating on something else. The something else being World of Warcraft. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have been able to figure out how to get it out from behind there anyway.

Paint and a dead phone!

There are tons of things to change here... the carpet, the tile, the counter tops, replacing all the brass lighting... my list could go on forever! And after three weekends of Lloyd wearing his work pants we finally agreed on something to change and we really did it!

We painted the master bedroom! Not a huge change as you can see but the paint in the entire house reminds me of the pastel movement of the 90's. I call it.... dusty rose. And as much as I enjoyed the 90's I didn't want my home to be stuck there.

I took the edges and Lloyd had the roller. We knocked it out in about an hour. It still needs another coat but the change is great!

Only downside to this is that the fumes were a bit much for us so we ended up on the couch downstairs last night. It's nice to have a couch to fit both of us but it wasn't my bed so I tossed and turned all night resulting in oversleeping and not getting to church.

So Lloyd, being the nice guy that he is, did a load of laundry this morning. I didn't know what he was up to... just heard the washer going. When it was done I went to move it and look what I found at the bottom! Last night I was so tired I forgot to put my phone away and Lloyd didn't bother checking the pockets before washing the jeans.

I guess we're both at fault here. Sometimes I wonder if he does this on purpose, just to get out of doing the laundry. You know, screw up her phone and she'll make sure I don't do laundry for at least six months. This way I can play my game for sure after I get home from work. Yeah, men are sneaky like that! ;)

Nah, I can't complain he's a great guy and even though he makes mistakes sometimes, I love him to pieces. I'm glad he thinks the same of me too! I wonder what kind of phone I'll get next?

She's 14!!!

My how the time has flown! She's growing up faster than I want. Once we talked about her favorite toys. Now it's clothes, music, her friends, dances, and the hot cellist of her dreams.
Emily turned 14 on Tuesday. We had a quiet celebration at home that day. She got a purse from the boys, a jewelry box from the girls and a Zune from us. I'm glad we got it for her.... now I can have mine back! Thanks Mom and Dad for the cards. Did you notice Mom??? She's wearing the ear rings you sent!
She's probably gonna kill me for posting this picture but it's the best one I got that night.

Pumpkin Pickin'

Monday we went to the pumpkin patch. The kids had a blast walking the field in search of the perfect pumpkin. Zac's had to be the biggest, Emily's had to have no bugs, Ally and Kylie just wanted something they could carry and Jess' had to be dirt free. Jess was the last to pick. The girls would point out pumpkins every step but he kept telling them he wasn't going to pick one of those because the girls picked them. He wanted no help and ended up with a pumpkin thats skinny on the bottom and big on top. I'm still trying to think of how that one's going to be carved. I really loved going with the kids and Lloyd. I think next year we will get even more pumpkins!

Gettin' some work done

I've been trying to get some of my swaps done for A halloween swap that's due in... um, oh yeah! three days! Am I done? Nope! I feel bad but I just have been in a slump. I found my way out though, so I'm back at it and creating some fun items for this swap and a cute page with the AMM September kit.

It's been so quiet today here. there's been no TV on up here. Just music and games, reading and peace. Ahhhh... So nice. I hope you are all having a fabulous Sunday!

I'll try to add the pictures of these things as soon as I can... the site is being cranky at the moment.

What's my motivation...

I don't know but for the last few days I have had the blahs. I don't feel like cleaning, cooking, reading, scrapping. I will do those things when I have to but in all honesty I'd really rather not. Some of it may be because it is so messy everywhere that I just don't know where to start. I also haven't gotten to finish anything I've started. Another part of me thinks it's because I didn't make the design team I tried out for. Lloyd says it's their loss (man, I love him) but I can't help wondering what it was that they were looking for that I didn't have.

The kids are off track now (maybe that's another reason too). If you have no clue what I'm talking about I'll explain. We have year-round school here. my kids go to school for nine weeks and then are off for three. Kinda weird bu I guess year-round and traditional each have their pros and cons. With traditional they are in school about nine months and off for three whole months! With Year-Round my kids are off and on all the time and I guess my favorite perk is that IF we ever go on vacation during the time they are off it will most likely be when other kids are at school so places will be less crowded.

So can any of you awesome people who visit here help me out?!? What do you do to get out of your Blahs??

Meet Bud!

Yes this friendly giant moved in with us a couple of weeks ago. Ally has really wanted to play an instrument since Emily brought her viola home last year. Somehow Em convinced all the kids that it would be cool to have their own quartet since then, so now all the kids have picked out their future string instruments.

When Ally brought home a flier from school about a new program hosted by the neighboring school she was so excited! A before school program for orchestra! Lloyd and I knew she wouldn't rest until we caved. She diligently gets up at 6:30 every Monday and Thursday for her new class. I get to carpool with some of the other mom's since I can't see her or some of the other kids hauling their instruments all over the school and on to the bus!

So I've got two happy girls with dreams of a whole quartet. Ally playing the bass, Kylie playing the cello, Emily on the viola, and Jesse with a tiny violin. Would you let your kids have a string instrument? How about that bass? :)

Wild weather and a bit of scrappin'

Gosh where to begin. :)

Friday was a fabulous day full of scrapping and shopping. I went to the Expo with my friend Shauna and her family. it must be fun to have family who likes to scrap too. We got there around 10ish and stayed until 9 at night. it was a so full of scrappers and girls looking or great deals.

We had a lot of fun though. First we had to check out all the vendors to see what amazing deals we could score. I don't know if my scrapping tastes have changed or there's just not as many great buys out there but we seemed to only find a few hot things. Scenic Route had some cool kits and I got some screaming deals on a few of the Provo Craft metal tins for altering. Whoo hoo!

I got quite a few LO's done while I was there. Which is amazing in and of it's self. I'm a slower scrapper so some of my friends can get 4 Lo's done and Me... well, I get maybe 1 1/2. Friday I got 5 done! wanna see??

Yep I got all those done! The one of Kylie in the snow isn't completely finished. I need to get a fine tip black sharpie to write on the transparency.

I really like the one of me and my sisters. I got to play with my Heidi Swapp butterflies and my AMM August kit! Just beautiful colors and great embellies. I love the one of me and Lisa Bearnson. my first scrap celebrity!

It was a great day filled with fun and scrapping. I'm so glad I got to go!!

Saturday was a weird day. Over night the temperature dropped over 30 degrees and we were all bundled in our winter coats... if we could find them. If you look closely in that first picture you will see SNOW!!!! Yes, SNOW!!!! Ok it wasn't sticking but it was cold enough to make big heavy flakes fall from the sky. The kids thought it was cool though, but I'm wondering where Fall went? we usually get a few weeks of Autumn... nothing grand llike the east coast but nice days in the 60's or 70's... cool but still sunny. Is this just a hint of whats to come? A wetter winter? More Snow? I guess we'll just see.