So what now?!?!?

Last week we had quite the exciting week. Jerry got the shingles. Not cool. Not fun. And so not the person that needed to get them. He's not the best when he's sick anyways, so with this just imagine how super cranky he was.

The best news of the week though was when I got the camcorder to work. It hadn't worked since the house fire and I wasn't too sure it would ever work but I plugged it in, charged it & it WORKED! And all the tapes so far seem fine. Guess all of them needed some major drying time to work! It means so much to me to be able to look back at those videos and see my babies & hear my babies voices. So so very grateful that I still have these. Now I need to figure out how I am going to transfer them over to DVD.

Well then we have yesterday. Yesterday just topped it right off. Jerry is NOT having any good luck. I'm beginning to believe he has nothing but bad luck now. He was told that he "was no longer needed" at his job. His job that has really been a good thing for him. And the sad thing was it seems to be for no apparent reason. Just Wednesday he received his evaluation & was rated top on everything...and now this. I really can't understand the reasoning behind this man's thinking on how he could justify firing someone 11 days before Christmas. It's one thing to fire someone after just giving them a great evaluation & it's another thing to do that & do it right before Christmas. I'm so sad & stressed & wishing this was a bad dream. But then I keep telling myself that things happen for a reason. Hopefully this works out for Jerry that this quick release gets him starting full time with Frito Lay. He's been working with them for 6 months now part-time and was wanting to work himself into a full-time position. Maybe this is why this is happening. Maybe things will hurry up & be better. Maybe this will make everything better in the long run. Or at least we can hope.

So as I am going to stray away from thinking about all that again, I canNOT believe Christmas is so close. I really don't even know if I'm going to get all the presents taken care of before Christmas. I'm just hoping at least one of the family get togethers happens AFTER Christmas! I know that sounds bad but I really dread facing the cold weather, crowds, and long lines. Next, yeah next year, I'm going to start early. Like January early so maybe by next December I'll be totally set on presents. That's my plan.

I've wanted to do some scrappy things for gifts this year but as it seems, I swear the month of December the time does some sort of warp time speed thing. Like I wake up at 6:00 and before I get a chance to look at the clock again, it's 12:00 pm. Then it's all just a blur - getting home, cleaning up, fixing dinner, helping kids get homework together, getting them rounded into bed and then I end up in bed by 11:30 and wonder what the heck I did all day. But I did finally get something done today. I sat down and finished mother's window. She made comment about how much she liked my other one, so I thought she may like one for herself. Hopefully she likes it.


So now I've got to figure out how to get Dylan to bed, get this huge mess cleaned up, and get my videos onto the computer (if anyone knows how to do this - please do tell, I would be ever so grateful!)!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas....

Just a few fun lights around the house. Now on to work on the rest of my to-do list.

A little creativity going on...

Don't quite know why I've actually been productive this weekend. Maybe because I've waited all week to sit down and scrap (since I was all out of glue). Maybe because this whole digital thing has me thinking differently. Who knows. But it's nice to crank out so much in one day. :)

Here's my first digi attempt (from earlier this week). I still need to practice with it though because I'm not super thrilled with it.



And since I'm pretty proud of my two smart kiddos & how quick they picked up digital scrapbooking. :)

Here's Dylan's:

Here's Kalli's:


And here's everything I got done tonight. Some are better than others but they are done. All 6 of them!!

I'm the biggest geek ....

EVER. Yeah seriously, I am. I'll admit it. I guess I'm just easily amused & excited over the smallest, miniscule little dorky things. Dorky computer things to be exact. Yeah, I got so excited when I figured out that I could run letters/labels/practically anything from the school's SIS system. Then came the Parent Portal thing. Oh yeah - that's cool. Totally cool that parents can look up info on their own kids (even though they probably should already know anyways but that's beside the point). But then today, well today I found another totally dorky thing that I am fascinated with - it's a little program called Gimp. I love playing around with photos and for the longest time I've wanted to buy myself Photoshop. Well that's not ever gotten around to happening so I decided to check at work & see if we had any licenses & if they were available for home use. Turns out - nope, only school license. Bummer! That is until I was directed to this Gimp program. Although I've never worked with Photoshop before, I kind of get the jist of how it's created through there (thanks Michelle!). Well this FREE program seems to be doing some of the very same things that you can do with Photoshop. How cool is that? Free plus seems to be very similar! I am so stoaked. I have ideas running through my head for Christmas cards & even attempting digital (eek! can't believe I'm saying that). Anyways, that's my nerd spill for right now. Fun fun stuff! (Did you see my banner? Totally created with that awesome freebie program!)

And just since I don't like posting without adding pictures, here's a few of my latest creations:

A little late Happy Halloween....

from Ms. Elizabeth Swan (from the Pirates of the Carribean)...

and the cutest Grim Reaper.

Kalli & Dylan got their flu shots on Friday. Dylan was surprisingly brave & wanted to be the first to be shot. He's getting to be such a tough guy. I got to questioning a 2:00 appointment though after thinking about Kalli's game at 5:30 but it all worked out fine & her arm didn't bother her at all. She had her game face on because she had a whole clan of fans. Mom, Jess & Larry were there. Tiffany & the twins were there. Dad & Marsha was there. Plus then Dylan, Jerry, & me. That girl played her heart out. She stole the ball several times & worked the ball all the way down the court a few times. I was just so proud of her & the whole team. They really did their thing & worked together & pulled out 16 to 2! Great game! I just don't know how I'll be able to handle these when she gets older. I'm already on my toes hollering. She's really gonna love that when she's older.

Kalli & I got into the Halloween spirit too and had to do our nails. Candy corn style! Didn't quite turn out as cute as I'd imagined but still cute nonetheless.



And here's a little scrappy creation from today.

It's over...

The insurance paperwork from the fire is finally finished. No more keeping track of all receipts and putting them into the spreadsheet. No more worrying about getting them all in. I didn't get them all in but it's done. It's over. No more insurance! Hooray!

Not much else going on. On Friday I'm taking a much needed vacation day & going to Applegate with Tiffany. I canNOT wait! So many cute things to look at. :) Then this weekend is also the Scraplove fall crop so that will be fun too! Lots of talented girls showing lots of cool techniques & ideas! Come check it out if you get a chance!

And just because I can't leave a post without a picture - here's my super cool girl Kalli:

Why do weekends seem so short?

I never quite understand this. You work all week & then have 2 short days off to try to go out and do something or just relax. Usually what I have planned for the weekend and what actually happens is two entirely different things.

Our weekend started out at Kalli's basketball game on Friday evening. She was playing some of her old softball teammates so she was really hyped up about playing. I am telling you - she was drilling those girls! Kalli was on them & really got them shook up. She even made a basket too so that was pretty exciting.

This weekend was the Ozark Craft Fair. I absolutely love craft fairs but I really hate having to drag my kids through those places especially when they aren't wanting to be there. So instead - we trod off to Pumpkin Daze in Republic. Oh my, apparently everyone headed over around the same time because it was PACKED. Like body to body, you could hardly walk. So we worked our way through the crowd. The kids had a blast getting to paint mini pumpkins, jump in the giant tiger, & get their faces painted. Only thing was we totally forgot about our plans for caramel apples so as soon as we got home, we had to make us some!

Here's some pics from Pumpkin Daze:

Then today was nothing more than a lazy day for the most part. When I say lazy though it's not really lazy. I did like 4 loads of laundry, 1 load of dishes, took a walk with the kids & went to the park, AND went to work for almost 2 hrs to try to get some stuff done. Oh yeah & then afterwards I practiced basketball with Kalli. Wheww! Maybe Monday isn't sounding so bad after all. :)

And one last thing just because I'm in love with the photo & cannot get the song out of my head now - here's my layout for the All About Eve challenge. The challenge was to a layout about music/your favorite song/etc. I love "My Little Girl" by Tim McGraw so I had to use it for my layout.

Jolly Mill

Okay so I had this great idea. Why not get the kids & head to Jolly Mill for some new photos. For many reasons this did not go as well as I had planned. For instance:

1. There was a wedding going on- definitely not a good sign to bring our wild children down there.

2. All that water & stuff to do & we expected them to smile, hold still, & wait for our perfect picture - numerous times.

3. I had to pull the car over before we even got there to get on to Dylan.

And that was just a few.

We did get some pictures though & out of the 100+ that I took, here were a few of my very favorites. What's funny is as cute as Kalli is, she kept reminding me of "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou". Ha! And Dylan, crazy kid it was 80 degrees out & he still put on his stud coat because he wanted to make sure that mom got a picture of him in it.

Aren't they cute? :)

And just because I can't get enough. I bribed the kids with the park for some pics today.

We've got a baller....

Kalli had her first basketball game Friday night and it was INTENSE. I think I was more stressed watching her than I was worrying about their score. She stayed on her feet though so that was good. She is just amazing to watch. She is so focused on basketball. She knows her position, knows where to go, & keeps her head focused on the game the entire time. She even made a great shot from a ways back! They ended the game 20 to 4! Go Lady Houns!! But most of all - Go Kalli! And after our all day garage saling yesterday & then all morning cleaning for me, I finally made time to do some scrapping. Here's my latest layout for the All About Eve challenge! I really love how it turned out - probably has something to do with me LOVING that picture of Dylan. He's such a handsome kid. :)

And here's my layout for the Mojo Holder challenge. I don't really like the way the stamping turned out but it was fun to use the Scenic Route tree paper.

So between her spiking fever...

We had to do a little beautification to make Kalli feel better. :) And here's hoping that tomorrow is a no fever day.

I can NOT believe this....

Well today I wake up to Kalli Brooke climbing in bed with me BURNING HOT! She felt miserable & was clearly running a high high temp - so I stayed home with her. She ran her fever off and on all day & then I started stressing. Jerry mentioned the tick she had found on herself on Sunday. We had gotten it off but just the coincedence of having a tick & then now this fever, it really got me scared. I called the doctor's office and they wanted to see her.

They check her out and see that her tonsils are swollen. Then she gets the strep swab. Ewww! Hate those. Comes back - no strep but they are sending out the culture just to be sure.

Our suspicion was right - the dang tick. She has tick fever, otherwise known as Ehrlichiosis, which, as we were told - is pretty common. Still worries me though because it can enlarge your liver and cause other problems if the antiobiotic doesn't get rid of it quick. Hopefully it clears her up quick because I hate seeing her this miserable.

Poor girl. I really wish she'd quit having crud happen to her. :(

This morning while she was napping, I did a layout for the All About Eve Challenge this week. Not real happy but I'm happy to get something done. :)

Hmmmm....

Man, I haven't blogged in awhile. Not sure what to blog about but here it goes. :)

We have moved to the apartments over in Marionville. Not real thrilled being in an apartment for another year but WAY better place than where we were before. Plus it's been really nice that me & the kids can actually go out & walk at night.

Kalli's been released to normal activities - whatever that is for this girl - and she's already playing on a basketball team again. Heck, even the day we got home from her doctor's appointment, she was in the door already strapping on her roller blades. I am a nervous wreck but she is loving every minute of it.

Dylan is - well Dylan is Dylan. :) He's my overreacting, hyperactive child that I can barely get to sit down long enough to finish his homework. Luckily though, he seems to really know his stuff when it comes to doing his work. It's just getting him to take the time to do it.

Work - yeah work is just about to drive me nuts. We've got this new online version of our student information database & I'm the go to person for anyone with questions. Bad thing is - I've not had hardly any training whatsoever. So, my day usually consists of me getting several calls, me having to tell them I'll figure it out & call them back, then call them back & walk them through it. The worst part about the whole program is that the support SUCKS! I've waited over a week before to have an email answered & that is really irritating. I just hope that we start getting the help we need quicker now (since I'm having to go through the help email rather than the support person who doesn't get back with me).

Not much else going on. I was able to scrap a few layouts while we were internet/cable-less over the weekend of the move so that was nice. Sometimes I just canNOT get a creative thought in my head but at least it worked for me that weekend.

<

So so happy....

Yesterday I finally got my splinter out! Yeah, I know that sounds like I'm a total weiner but I don't even care. That was seriously the meaniest splinter/chunk of log ever!! Back last Sunday when I was helping Jerry do some tree trimming work, I grabbed a limb & somehow shoved a massive chunk of tree into my leg - DEEP! I dug &amp; dug & dug on it & couldn't ever get it out & it got really infected & gross looking. Well then Friday I had a doctor's appointment set up (yea - totally weiner-ish) but then didn't even get seen (a whole nother gripe there!) so I was really determined to get it out myself just because I was on not going back to the doctor's office. This is what finally came out...... (can't you see what a chunk of tree that is??) And I may still have a crater of a hole left in my knee but BOY does it feel better!

Besides that, Jim's now talking like he's going to get himself a place of his own. With the way Jerry's butt-head has been acting lately, I'm more than happy for them to just be roommates together. I don't think I've got them quite convinced of that yet but I can work on it. :)

And here's my new hair! (even though it's a bad pic since it wasn't really fixed & I was all sweaty from the nature walk) I wanted to try something new, so I found something I liked in a magazine & went with it. It's not quite like the pic was but I do like it & really like the bangs.

Today we took a little trip down to Roaring River. We did the nature walk (or let's just say PART of the nature walk) & then went wading down in the creek. We really had a good time. Between Jim goofing off & Dylan's scaredy squeals, we were all laughing so hard we were crying. Here's some of my favorite pics from the day.

Dorky Jerry...

Sicko Jim...

Grossed out Tallie (Kalli's friend)
All of us...
Dylan watching for crawdads...

Kalli's look after falling in the water...

Oh but then get this... somebody ripped off a plastic window corner thingy off my car while we were there. Don't ask me why - I can't imagine anyone stealing this because they needed one for their Rendevzous. I'm just guessing it was someone just being evil & stupid. Now... to find where I order one of those and it better not cost much!

Hopefully this week goes by quickly. We've now got 12 days left in this apartment so I need to get lots of packing done!