Bullet points

*Family arrived from Montana and Georgia this weekend.
*They are not staying with me.
*I spent the last week cleaning, and organizing and throwing out and cleaning some more. It became sort of an obsession. I started with one little annoying corner by the phone in the kitchen and ended up going through just about every inch of my downstairs. My kids started looking at me weird and asking Mommy, why are you still cleaning?? Even Pete was like: dude, why is the refrigerator so clean?? It looks like there's no food in there. That's because I threw all that old junk away that made it look like there was food in there but in reality you would not have wanted to eat it let alone touch it with a ten foot pole.
*Funny thing is, all that cleaning was pretty much good for nothing. Everyone came over for dinner last night. (20 people in all) I spent all day freshening up what I'd already spent days cleaning and then cooking and cooking and cooking some more. They came at six and were out the door by 7:25. Poor Jake was sick. It was a sure way to clear out a crowd, even though it was not my intention at all. Or Jakes. Poor kid just wanted to play. He was devastated when everyone left cuz he hurled. ( I don't blame them ) side note: he safely and quickly made it to the toilet. no one saw actual hurlage.
*The other funny thing is, is that when you get 20 people in a relatively small space, you tend to not see the cleanliness. There's too many people and stuff in the way.
*A clean house can turn into a complete disaster in one hour and twenty five minutes. Even a small fire may have been started. Really.
*Jake is really pretty sick. He was running a temp of 103 all day. I finally got some Motrin down him and that seems to have done the trick. I'm praying no one else gets sick. We're supposed to leave for Tahoe Wednesday afternoon for our ginormous Thanksgiving extravaganza that we've (especially him) have been looking forward to for months and months. *sigh* the thought of possibly not going is killing me.
*We spent all day today watching movies. But I sort of quarantined Jake to one side of the couch as to try and not spread the disease. Is that mean?
*Hoping I get to spend at least a little more time with the visiting family. I really liked the 85 minutes I spent with them yesterday. Side note: these are Pete's cousins that I've never met before. I'd like to be able to get to know them a little bit better. Besides, 2 of them are scrapbookers...heeellllooo.
*Last week was parent/teacher conferences at school and report card time. Jake did pretty well. He's doing much better than at the beginning of the year. i just think it took him and the teacher both a little time to settle in and get a groove going. She seems to be teaching the right things, he's getting the help he needs at school and at home and it's paying off. So that was positive. It's amazing how well they really get to know your kid over the year. At least that's the way I felt when speaking with his teacher.
*Megan continues to make me laugh every day. The things that girl says. I don't even know where it comes from. I need to maybe do a video or something. It's just her facial expressions and the way she talks with her hands. She really puts on a show.
*She's also become the Word Police. About a month ago she got in big trouble for saying she was P.O. 'ed Um yeah. That one was totally my fault. I'm so guilty of saying that WAY too much. So now she either calls everyone out on their foul language oooohhhh mommy dats a bad word! Or if she's not sure she just asks if something is a bad word. Mommy, is shoot a bad word? Is dang a bad word? Is water a bad word? It's ok if I say it? And this goes on all day long.
*Christmas shopping has already got me in a bad mood. When I went out for the Motrin and dog food today, it was total chaos at the Target. The parking lot was all the way full already. The people were in no way in any sort of holiday spirit. There was lots of frantic grabbing and, the most annoying thing ever: standing in the middle of isles hemming and hawing over this light saber or that one, completely oblivious to the other ten people standing there who A) either know which light saber they want or B) just want to get through the dang toy isle to get to the dog food.
*I think I will be shopping at Amazon this year :)

Ahhhhh...Friday.

Well this has been one of the most stressful weeks I've had in a while. Filled with a bit of awkward tension, family drama and lots and lots of kids. Ok maybe not lots and lots, but double my normal number. And that's enough for me. oh and dogs. 4 dogs too. There's not really too much to say at this point other than everything turned out alright. I learned that I need to be a little more assertive. Even though I think I'm wearing my thoughts and emotions on my sleeve, and I think the meaning behind what I do say is obvious, it's not. I need to say what I mean and not worry so much what people may think. (that last statement SO needs to work both ways) And that things need to be thought through a little more. And I knew this already, but my husband totally has my back. Even though sometimes the words that come out of his mouth make me want to crawl in a little hole forever (because i hate confrontation so much, whether it involves me or not), he totally has my back. I love that he's totally ok with saying "blame it on me" because he knows he can take it and maybe I can't. He's also very quick witted. The perfect combo to me, the one who tends to close up like a clam shell.
Anyway, it's sort of almost all the way done and next week we get to go back to normal.

December Daily. Who's in?

First, I want to say thanks for all your kind words on my little pity party the other day. It does really help. It's just something I struggle with every now and then and I just need to remind myself that it's ok, I'm ok and just move on. It's really not worth whining about. It is what it is.
So for the last few days I've been working on my December Daily Album. I had a lot of fun doing it last year (it's one project I actually finished!!) And so, I thought it would be fun to do it again. There was a few things I learned while going through this process last year that I hoped I could remember and incorporate or change in this album. If you're unfamiliar with the process or concept of this project, the idea is to make the album in advance and then fill it in as you document each day in December or up until Christmas.
I wanted this year's album to feel a little more 'homemade' and crafty. So I started by cutting two pieces of red felt with pinking shears and then stitched around the edges. The felt is then glued onto a piece of chipboard. (actually it's an old cereal box I cut up. Reduce, Recycle, Reuse) I stitched on the triangle tree and glued on the '09. It's very simple, but I kind of like it that way. I might go back and add in a 2nd tree. This album is about 8 inches tall by 5.5 inches wide. After the last album I knew I needed it to be bigger. I struggled with too many small pages last time. I also made this one vertical instead of horizontal, which I think will be better.

The first few pages are small still, but I think that's ok. There's not too much usually going on the first few days, and it takes a day or two to get in a groove. This first page is a divided page protector that I cut and stitched to fit. I also added the 'joy' tag that I made myself in PSE. I added quite a few page protectors this time. I really liked the few pages I had last year and wanted to do that again.

Here are some more inside pages. Most of them are full size and just patterned paper. For me I think it will be easier to work with when I get going. I haven't added any of the 'numbers' or dates yet. I want it to be really flexible when I start working. I changed A LOT of stuff from my original album last time.





Here are some embellishments and tags etc... that I plan to use along the way. Nothing fancy or extravagant.
I really love how much color this album has. Last time seemed so muted and just not quite festive enough. I think gold accents would look great in here. I'm thinking of grabbing this Making Memories gold alphabet next time I'm in Michael's.
So that's it. Are you making one? Have you started? Lemme see!!

Because I just can't say this on Facebook...

And I need to vent.
I'm trying not to jump to conclusions, but seriously.... Why am I always the one that can't say no? Or is always willing to help? Why am I always the one that says sure I can do that. Even though I sorta kinda don't really want to? Why is it that I'm always the one that says sure you can borrow that, no problem! {and then never gets it back} or hey I'm going out to the store, lemme see if I can find that for you and i'll even bring it over! or here, I have an extra, you can have it? Why am I always that person? And why is it that whenever I need a favor, (which isn't all that often) it's: ooops, I didn't get your text. ? (and I'm not relying on text messages, i'm just using that as an example)
Argh! Sometimes I just feel so taken advantage of. Or not important. Or maybe it's just they think I won't get mad so they just walk all over me? I don't mean to have a pitty party. But it's just frustrating some times. I really like this person but sometimes I feel like maybe I'll always be 2nd to someone or something else. Sometimes I wish I could be somebody's #1. {besides my husband and my kids and my parents. even though they're the only ones that really matter in the end}
Anyhoo.... That's all I'm going to say about that.