Scraphappy

Travel Bags

if/when you travel with the kids, what do you bring for them to do?  i'm putting together little goody bags for the girls to entertain them on the airplane.  got new crayons & containers, a bunch of plain and florescent stickers to color and stick, new notebooks, tiny play doughs, a new DVD to watch (will bring a couple extras, too - GAP, can i borrow the player pretty please???), and they both have new Leapster video games to play (yeah, i guess it's about that time to get them at least introduced to the technology).  should be an interesting adventure, the flying, at least.  frogger is the one that may be a little tedious considering all he wants to do is motor, climb and play everywhere he can get!  good times.

did some yard work today - we had some concrete guys come out a couple of days ago and do some leveling for us, so i had to fill in the adjacent flower bed and ended up pulling some weeds while i was at it.  sure is nice not to trip over this one spot on the sidewalk anymore... or have to watch the girls get frustrated because they forgot about that one spot and got stuck on their scooters.  level is GOOD.  fresh dirt is good.  sunshine is good.

going to head to the pool in a bit with the kiddos.  they've been begging to go for a week now (well, if you don't count the days they were sick and couldn't think straight), so figure it's about time to take 'em. 

BTW, did you see CD's new CK article on creating flowers?????  it's got a bunch of new & creative ideas!  check it out.

happy day.

Household Items

finally, i can (*sigh*) and feel that things are back to normal...at least for the most part.  the girls are chipper and the frogger is feeling MUCH better.  i was getting super worried about the little guy - he didn't eat any kind of meal for 3-4 days, so his energy level was quite low for long enough to really worry me....  sometimes sleep is just about as good as medicine! 

so, did you know...
- you should drain your water heater at least once a year so it helps to clean out any settled sediment
- you should check and/or change your air filter(s) in the HVAC system every month to ensure proper filtration and air flow
both of these are things i guess i knew in the back of my mind but never really took action on....   as you can imagine, we have had techs out for both the (ack! 14y/o) water heater and the HVAC system in the last couple of days.

we're heading on the first of a couple of summer adventures next week.  florida, here we come!  it will be the first big family trip the girls will be old enough to remember, so they're super excited.  picked them up some cute rolly-backpacks today at target...  they were so very excited to see them when they came home from school.  both girls already have planned their entire list of things they're going to take - will be interesting to see how much gets filtered out. 

picked frogger up some shorts... i couldn't resist.  he's got a bunch already, but these are so darn cute!  also got him some new swim trunks & one of those SPF shirts so his cute little belly doesn't get totally baked early on.

picked up another 2 swim suits for myself... i already have one, but figured why not...  not exactly huge favorites of mine, but it will do for the beach and current budget!   i got a different bottom for the blue/brown - more like a skirty type.  i like the patterns.  i never understand why anyone would design swimsuits with horizontal stripes for women.  anyway,  i don't worry about it much - the attention will be on the kiddos, anyway!?! 

so, with the painful death of Hello, if you were using it, where are you heading now?  i'm not sure about some of the IM options i've seen - have heard goober is crashing systems.  i'm going to stick with Yahoo IM for a while!  i've used it for 10+ years with no issues, so i really have nothing to complain about.  i've heard that MSN now has a screen shot option, but if i really consider it, i don't use screen shots all that often anyway.  not like my chatting experience will stall because of the lack of it! :) 

happy day.

quick update

hopefully we'll be back to normal tomorrow...  two ER visits later...  ugh.   hope all you mothers out there had a wonderfully happy day!  mine was fab - beautiful day outside, beautiful family inside, just so totally blessed.  couldn't ask for much more! :)

MIA

sorry i've been (and will be a bit) MIA.  family in town and everyone (including adults) has some nicccce stomach virus. ick.  need some serious scrap therapy!  :)

One project down..

ever feel like you're juggling one ball too many?  well, the last little bit, i've felt like i've been juggling three or four balls too many!?  lol. 

in all seriousness, i've managed to get almost all the small projects (these are non-scrapping projects)  i've been working on lately done.. now i need to finish the gardens and figure out where to go from here!  my latest completion....  the powder room - i'm SO in love!!!  color, color, color!  these pics don't quite do it justice, but the color is called Lake Breeze by Valspar.  it's a really almost a robin's egg blue.  our whole house was done by the previous owners in great, neutral, sell-able colors.  i'm trying to slowly figure out what i want to do and tackle one thing at a time...  i also replaced all the fixtures - lights, faucet & drain, towel bar, toilet handle & roll keeper, cabinet handles.  just something about that gold/brass colored stuff that doesn't do it for me!  check it out (this is as close to scrapping i may get for  just a bit)....  i love before & after pics! :)

have some relatives coming into town for a week.  should be a really great visit - the kids are super excited.  also planning DD's birthday party for this weekend.  not sure yet what we're going to do besides pizza, an "angel" cake and ice cream.  mind you, this doesn't mean an "angel food cake!"  DD has been very specific that she would like a cake in the *shape* of an angel?!   got to get going on this one - doubt i'll be able to pull it off like i managed the monkey cake for the last birthday!!  we'll see.  if anything, will make for some great pictures! :)

question for any willing readers - have you been on a tropical get-away?  if so, where have you been and would you recommend it to others?  we're considering an adult vacation for later this year and can't decide where to go.  we've been to st. lucia (loved it), cancun, cabo... would love to hear opinions of any other options!!!  a cruise would be fun, too, but i'm not sure which i would prefer - that or just a stay put place....

anyone blow their budget on {i}NSD?  i didn't!  whew.  i only spent $20ish and am pretty pleased with my purchases.  i've been hoarding goodies (both paper & digi), so i think i need a week's vacation from life to actually put some of this stuff to good use!! :)

Get the party started!

happy {I}NSD everyone!  for those who may not know - {I}NSD={Inter}National Scrapbooking Day!  what a fun day to celebrate the art, not to mention take advantage of some of the great sales, at least in the digi world!

to get things started, i have some items of interest...  first, we're having another Prima Hybrid blog party as well as huge NSD crop along with some great prizes!  i have THIS TEMPLATE FREEBIE to share (ETA:  thanks for the interest.  the link has now been disabled, but do check back for other freebies on occasion!) .   please leave a comment if you decide to grab this - would love to hear you stopped by and would love to see any layout you create with this template!

after you grab this, don't forget to hop over and check out some other free templates from the other PH ladies by following these links (stuff is only planned for this weekend, so don't miss it!) -  Di, Andrea, Kristin, Jess, Cindy, Angel, Patty, Melinda, Monika, Margie and Cathy.

if you're interested in more templates, i've got a new set available at The LilyPad...right here.  these are all layered PSD files with accompanying JPGs in case you want to go that route.  if you like these, don't miss the other sets also available!

  

leading into the next big announcement - it's our big, quarterly sale at TLP this weekend!  everything in the store is 30% off with a bunch of retiring products marked down to 50% off.  be sure to check the retiring bin to make sure there's nothing you want to add to your stash before it's gone forever!

we also have welcomed our guest designer for may, the fab Amy Hutchinson!  don't miss out on our new BYOC goodies, including some fun burst papers!

would love to hear/see if you hit any of the other NSD sales for some retail therapy.  i've been to The Digichick and Catscrap....  not sure where else i need to go - will have to check my Kaboodle!  :)

Off...

...on a mommy night out... 

what to do, what to do?  what would you do/do you do with an evening to yourself - no husband, no kids?  i'm probably going to hit the gym first - missed out on my normal morning workout due to dr appts and such.  so, after that, we'll see where "strawberry shortcake" (aka my car) takes me!  :)

if you haven't picked it up already - do go grab a copy of the May Digital Artist Magazine - it's jam packed full of goodness, articles and tutorials.  also has a great, new (and free) kit by Nancy Rowe Janitz of Scrapartist!  don't miss it.

made hotel reservations today for summer CHA in chicago - now i just need to get the appropriate child care set up comfortably.  we'll see how that goes!!  looking forward to this trip, so hopefully it will all come together nicely.