Scrappy Time

Don't be jealous! Promise me you will not. I am going on a whole weekend (Friday morning - Sunday late afternoon) Scrapbooking Retreat. Some of you might be thinking that this would be heavenly, but I am a little ill-prepared. My biggest problem is that I don't scrapbook or haven't in several years. My son who is eight has a first year scrapbook and my daughter who is six has been a little neglected. So, in lieu of that. . .

I have gone digital. I will miss the hours of cutting, pasting and pop dotting, but I have to be efficient. This weekend I will devote my time to Blurb. Blurb is a site where you can import (not upload, which is great) your pictures to make a scrapbook. Another alternative is that you can make cookbooks from your favorite recipes or even make a book out of your blog. It is a really cool site. I imported about 4,000 pictures the other night which took about 1.5 hours to do (meaning: finding, picking and importing pics). That is a huge time-saver in light of the hours upon hours it has taken on other sites like shutterfly and snapfish. I can't wait to tell you how it turns out and all of the details.

Another thing is that if anyone knows how to auto-pilot blogspot I would be extremely indebted to you. I want to be loyal to my readership, but I am a big blog dummy when it comes to techy stuff. So, if you know how to make posts happen when you are not actually around I would love to find this information out for the future.

Have a great clappy, scrappy weekend!

Signs of Life

While most everyone around the country is shoveling snow we are mowing our grass. Just kidding. . .not mowing yet, but I have discovered some bulbs that Hansel and I planted late October, early November are sprouting. I never believed they would come up. Someone had told me or I read somewhere to plant better bulbs than Wal Mart offers, but I did not feel like spending a fortune on bulbs. Also, I have never planted bulbs before. The main reason I have never planted bulbs was because you cannot plant bulbs in concrete, a tribute to our former life in an apartment in Dallas. Well, I am just too excited. Soon we should see some pretty little daffodils and tulips. Yay!

An exciting story and a big tip for you!

It seems like I collected most of my wild stories when I lived in Dallas. Bare with me for a few minutes and I promise to get to the Works for Me Wednesday part.

A few years back, I lived in downtown Dallas. At that time I had the "blingiest" purse known to man woman. Just imagine in your mind for a moment, black lining with every color of the rainbow sequins draping the outside. You know the kind. . .the kind that was popular back then and the sequins fell off all over the place, but you carried it till it shed every last dangling sequin. I bought it at Sam Moon. Aggh, do you see the drool when I think about Sam Moon. Anyway, I loved my purse as well as my cute pink Liz Claiborne wallet.

Not as much as I love my life though. I was enjoying a nice fast food dinner at Taco Bell with my kids, a girlfriend and her 3 kids. If you know me, you know I was talking more than eating and was not paying any attention to what was going on around me. That is when I felt a push from behind me and saw my dazzlling diva purse go right out the door. Two guys had come into Taco Bell, scoped out the place and snatched my purse.

The point is that when guys like this snatch your purse and run out your money is sure to be going out even quicker. Before I got home, my debit card had been used. I canceled all of my credit cards as quickly as possible, but there was one thing I did not cancel. You're not going to believe it.

. . .my library card. I did not cancel my library card. In Dallas, they notify you if you are late on returning your books via email. I had a book out, but it was just this one book and so I ignored my emails that kept coming. Finally, one day they were being so insistent about the emails that I popped one open and realized that there was something odd going on. I figured it was just a mistake on their part, but then started thinking I needed to stop by the library to clear this up. I ended up having to go to the Main Dallas Library to solve the mystery when they informed me that I owed them like $1,000 for over 20 CD's and DVD's + late fees that were out on my card. My mouth dropped and I started to tear up when I realized that they were serious. You see my husband was in seminary at that time and we were Buh Roke, BROKE!!!!

The not-so-kind or compassionate librarian said that we would be turned over to a collection agency if we did not pay it. I could not believe it. This group of scoundrels, the thieves, not the librarians, had charged up my library card. The librarian said that I was supposed to report my card as lost or stolen. I said, "you have got to be kidding me. . .my library card!!!"

We talked with the person that was in charge of this kind of dilemma and she said that we needed to replace $200 worth of the merchandise and they would not report us to the collection agency and this would be over. We got on half.com and found $200 worth for about $85.00. We probably bought it back from the thieves. Can you believe this? So the moral of the story is that when your purse is lost or stolen, CANCEL YOUR LIBRARY CARD TOO!

It Feels Like Two Days - Tackle It Tuesday

Have you ever gotten up so early and worked so hard that you thought surely two days have passed? Well, that was my today (or was it yesterday? :))

These are my results of my "Tackle it Tuesday" by 5 Minutes for Mom. It took overcoming the avalanche, a family sock party as well as standing in line at the post office with my two kids and chatting with those around me to accomplish it. Also, I almost tackled my 8 year old home schooler! :)

Drumroll please. . . .



The avalanche came down. . .it is still being sorted through, but it has been broken down!


No packages waiting to be mailed. They are off! I even sent some things that I had been meaning to mail to family since last June. Don't faint. It could be worse, right?


This is where a great deal of the clothes were this morning. Yay, I can sleep on the blanket instead of on clean underwear. Better than dirty, huh?

These are my helpers! I could not have done it without them.





You know it's time to get off the computer when you can hear yourself snoring. Gotta run! See you tomorrow for Works for Me Wednesday and a post about the Spring's A'comin!

Tackle It Tuesday

Last night we had "Small Group" at our house. Most of my house was clean, but if you would have opened my desk door an avalanche would have poured out on your head. This is the "real" me! I love organization, but every area of my life is not organized or ever will be.

So, that is why I need this humiliation accountability! :)


This is the first area of business.

The good news is that they are all clean!! The bad news is that they need a place to go!

The other dreaded thing I have to do is go to the Post Office to send some clothes back that I bought online. Also, my little niece Bridget is going to be receiving a fun package soon! :) I think the lines are longer now than they were at Christmas. My husband thinks I have a Post Office Disorder because I abhor so it much. I think I do too.

This is the avalanche waiting to smother me. Maybe I should refer to my post on Paper Clutter to help myself out! What do you think?

This is my last area of tackling and I am not sure that I will get to it. I am going to try to give myself lots of grace. Not too much. . .but enough. This is the way I started organizing my car and I will post more about that later.

The other tackles are calling my name as well.
1) homeschool my 8 year old
2) work!

Hope you are enjoying your tackles today! I hope to have pictures of my accomplishments at least by midnight tonight :)!

Menu Plan Monday

Last week, we ate well, but this week may top it! I love planning my menu each week. I know I have said it before, but it is such a relief to me to not have to think about what we are having for dinner each night. I have a plan and for the most part we stick with the plan.

Monday – Chicken Packets; green beans
Small Group at my house
cheese ball/crackers; brownies (I always buy my brownies from a box. I get them at Sam's Club and they have Hershey's chocolate kisses in them = double yum) and strawberries
Tuesday – BBQ/French Fries/Cole Slaw
Wednesday – Farfalle Florentine -
Thursday – Omelets and Pancakes/Apples and Dip
Friday -  I am gone all weekend, but honey check the blog for what you should eat, ok? :) Dinner: Frozen pizza
Saturday – Breakfast: frozen waffles
Lunch: Either leftovers or sandwiches and chips
Dinner: Burger/Fries/Fresh Fruit
Sunday lunch – tomato soup and grilled cheese

Favorite thing I made last week: Frosty Pineapple Salad

My Sunday Best

1) What do you do if you find alcohol in your teenagers car?
2) Do you know your Geography Trivia? (If you called me this week and I was a little distracted this might be why. :))
3) Are you a mom, love to write and looking for a way to get published? Join this essay contest for Mother's Day.
4) Have you been wanting to sell on ebay, but were not too sure how to go about it?
5) What is a great site for fabulous decorating tips?

Would you like to see "My Sunday Best" be a place where you can add your own links? If so comment and let me know if you would like to add your own links. They can be linked to your own site if you feel like it was the best thing you saw on the web all week. I will add a Mr. Linky next week if I get enough feedback.

Have a wonderful week!