Can you believe we're done with 2007? I must say, for me it started off pretty crappy...but it has ended on a high note. And, I can say so many good things about the year now. Lots and lots of hard work at the ranch, finally seems to be coming to a head...and there seems to be a tiny little light at the end of the tunnel. We made it out on one camping trip wich was really fun and relaxing. Then we went on a real family vacation...for a whole week!...to Kauai! That was unforgettable. And then I got to go on vacation by my self. No children, no husband. No real responsibilities for 3 whole days! And I had a super great time with a good friend :) But probably the best thing for me this year...Well, I realized something when I went through my mail on Christmas Eve...My mailbox was FILLED with Christmas cards..All from friends I've met throughout the year. It made me so happy, I can't even tell you! Thank you so much for our friendship, I really do treasure it! You all mean so much to me...really. But then after looking through my flood of cards, I began to feel really bad. What kind of friend am I? I didn't send out any Christmas cards. To anyone. Actually, I haven't sent any out in years. I think this is why: About maybe 10 years or so ago (I was still living at home with my mom)we decided to hand make our Christmas cards. I was really into stamping at the time so mom and I bought this really cute stamp with a snow man, the we got a nice Christmas message stamp for the inside, a "hand made by" stamp for the back. We spent days and days, cutting paper, stamping, painting, and glittering. It was exhausting. And I don't remember anyone saying anything about them. Not that they would I guess....but I just didn't get any satisfaction out of it. It was work. And I didn't enjoy it. So I think that kind of did it for me. But now I'm feeling so energized about it...Next year I'm sending out cards. Come hell or high water!
So what else is new for 2008? Well, I'm not really a resolution person. I have a hard time commiting so resolutions just don't really work well for me. But I do have a few things that I kinda want to just "work on" this year.
* get back on my 1700 calorie a day thing. This was much easier when there was an acutal goal (Kauai) but I still want to lose another 15 or so pounds. I feel like I need to give something else up...last year it was soda but I don't know....my heart says I should give up coffee...but I dont think I'm ready for that.
* I want to do some sort of weekly journal/scrapbook/photo project. Thinking I might try this.
* Try something completely photo related...take a class (yeah right!), some sort of a challenge...thinking of either this or this. I don't know..seems like a lot of commitment and as I mentioned...I have an issue with commiting!
* Go on another trip by myself. That was just too fun!
* one last thing..I'm just praying, praying, praying for the ranch to open and be successfull. Lord have mercy, if nothing else just pray for that!
What are your plans, goals "resolutions" for 08?
Have a happy and safe New Years!

Merry Christmas!!!

Hope your day was filled with love and happiness!
Here is a slide show of a few pics from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. (Santa brought me a new 50mm lens! I LOVE it!)

I am the biggest dweeb...

Ever.
We drove all the way to the ranch, got out of the car with my camera to take a shot of the newly finished cabins, turn camera to "on" to see "NO CF Card". Dang it! Crap!
It never fails.
So, sorry no pics to share. Grrrr. I'm still mad at myself for that one.
We had a nice day though. A crisp morning turned warm in the sunshine to where we didn't even need jackets. We took a ride around the fence and helped Pete put up the last gate. Ok so maybe I just stood there and looked pretty. But that's helping, right?
I left Jake up there with Pete and Megan and I came home to start laundry and get some more stuff ready for Christmas. I guess the boys will be home soon. Megan is handful though! This girl is into EVERY thing. And if I tell her "no" she just laughs and keeps doing it. She's started to get a few spanks for getting into things she's not supposed to...she cries for a second (only because her feelings are hurt) and then goes right back to doing what she was doing. She wears me out! She is so cute though...if you say "I love you" she blows you a kiss. "mmwah!" I love it.
I'm listening to Christmas music on Yahoo.com right now. I think there is possibly only 3 Christmas songs ever written and all done by various artists. They keep playing "White Christmas" "Rudolph" and "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas". They even play the same song back to back. Enough of this crud. It's supposed to be "classic Christmas" and they haven't even played anything by Nat King Cole. What the heck?
Jake funny-So we're at the ranch today and we go into the bunk house. Pete has it stocked full of food for him and the guys he has up there working. Jake opens up a can of honey roasted peanuts and starts munching.
Me: hey bring me a nut, Jake. Please.
So he walks over, I hold out my hand and he drops ONE peanut in my palm.
Me: that's it?
Jake: well, you said A nut. so I brought you A nut.
Dang literal kid. Just like his dad. Who just happened to find that little scene hilarious. Ha. Ha. Ha.
If I don't post before...Hope you all have a very, Merry Christmas!!!
I seriously can not wait to see my kids faces Christmas morning!

3 More days!!!

Can you believe it? Christmas is just around the corner. Literally. I just bought my last gift today. Yep. Well....it was a gift card and I knew I didn't have to go anywhere special to get it so I purposely left it for the last one.
I feel like I've spent more money in the last month than I have all year long. It's like a never ending thing. Well until now. I think I've been to Toys R Us more time in the last month than I have in my entire life. No joke. Finally I'm done. And wrapped. I stayed up until midnight last night wrapping everything. Let me just say...I am THE worst wrapper ever. I can't wrap a present to save my life! Many of my boxes have little strips of extra paper because I couldn't measure correctly! Oh well. Luckily, not everything will be wrapped. Santa does have some work to do Christmas eve. He and I have a few things to put together before morning. I'm kind of excited. In all the 7 years Pete and I have been married....this is the first time we've ever had Christmas at our house. We've always stayed the night at my mom's and have done Christmas there. I don't deal well with change. And it's hard that this year I won't be with my mom on Christmas day. But at the same time it's also nice to start some traditions of our own.
Mom did come down to spend the day here today though. And she litterally brought a wagon full of presents for us all! When the kids were napping she and I brought them in from her car and hid them in a closet. They are going to be SO surprised Christmas morning! My mom never ever put ANY presents out until I went to bed Christmas eve. And that's how I intend to do it with my kids too. It's that magical element of surprise. I can't wait to see their faces!
We got up real early and me and the kids went to Safeway to get our Christmas groceries. One hundred forty five dollars and an hour later, we were home and mom was here to greet us. She and I decided to make these little heavenly muffins pictured above. You can find the recipe here. (this lady just cook things I like to eat!)They turned out really yummy. Kind of like hot cinnamon sugar doughnuts. The butter and cinnamon sugar kind of make a nice little crust on the outside. mmmmmmm. We ate 5 or 6 and put the rest in the freezer for Christmas morning. They're going to be perfect with warm coffee and hot chocolate :)
I also started my Christmas dinner. I have to work Christmas eve (Blah!I know!) and the day after Christmas so I need to be as prepared as possible now. So, I have my meat marinating (yes for 2 days) and tomorrow I will pre bake my potatoes so I can make twice baked ones. mmmmmmm...
That's about all I got for now. Tomorrow the kids and I are heading up to meet Pete at the Ranch. He's got the fence and the cabins done. I haven't been up in a long time so I'm anxious to see how far everything has progressed.
I have a few funnies from both Jake and Megan...but that will have to be for another post. I'm off to bed!

I think I'm just about cookied out. I've made cookies every weekend since Thanksgiving and I think I'm done. These here are Pepparkakor. I think it's just the Swedish way to say "gingerbread". I could be wrong. Pete has been requesting pepparkakor ever since I've known him...His best friends mother always made them and he has fond childhood memories of it. I'd never heard of pepparkakor before. Anyways, I was on the SIStv MB the other day and came across someone who was making this for her Holiday treats. I asked for the recipe and she ever so kindly emailed it to me! How sweet! Some people are funny about sharing their secret family recipes so I thought this a very kind gesture to a complete stranger. :) Anyways, like I said, I think they're basically just like ginger snaps. But I could be wrong. Point is..the kids love em! Miss Megan pushed a chair to the counter, climbed her little butt up on it and snagged a hot one right off the plate. When I caught her you should have seen her face! She'd stuffed a whole cookie in her mouth and was reaching for another one. She turned and looked at me like "what?". The girl is sneaky! We'll see what Pete says when he gets home from the ranch tonight and see if this is the cookie he remembers.
All of a sudden today I kind of started to panic. Christmas is in 9 days. Nine days. I still have presents to buy. Just when I thought I was ahead of the game, I realized now I'm a tiny bit behind. And then I talked to one of Pete's sisters yesterday...Jake and Blake wanted to play and Sarah needed to do some shopping so we swapped kids for a while....Jake went to her house for a while and then she brought both boys over here so she could go shop. Anyways, she comes back and asks me what Jake wants for Christmas...I say "oh, do you have us this year?". See, we agreed to pick families and then just buy stuff for that family. She says, "no, but I'm going to get all the kids something anyways....Kim is doing it too." Ahhhk! Ok so I can't be the only auntie that doesn't bring something for everybody. Now I've got to go get 4 extra gifts...plus the stuff I hadn't already gotten. And before you say, "no you don't", YES I do. I also feel completely lame for thinking I didn't have to do it before someone else suggested it. So back to Toys R Us I go...
Friday was my first day of working 7-4. Oh my, it was awesome! First off, when I got to the office I felt like I'd been initiated into a new club. The girls who were there already (who are usually in a beeotchy mood by the time I come in at 8)were so happy to see me and were so nice! See I got there before all the crap started so they were all in good moods! LOL!! But the best thing was...I was home and in my PJ's by 5:15! The kids were fed, had baths and in their PJs by 6:30. (ok, so I only made them PB&J...but still!) This is going to make a huge difference in our family life. I sincerely thank my boss for that. Dear Lord, thank you for Su. May she find peace and happiness in the year to come. Amen. For reals.

Brrr!!!

It's cold! It's only 40* right now! And by morning it will be down in the 20*'s. And there's no snow. It's cold without purpose. I'm sure my Canadian and Northern US friends are laughing at me right now...saying I don't really know what cold is. You know what? You're right. But it's still cold to me! I think I'd like to live in Minnesota or somewhere like that just for one winter to see what it's really like...but then that's it.
I'm ready for 80* weather again. Well...right after Christmas. Christmas can be cold, but then after that bring on the heat!
Nothing new here...but I'm gettin booted of the puter.
See ya! It's the weekend!!!

Ok, I'm supposed to be upstairs folding clothes....remember those ones I mentioned piled up on my bed yesterday? Yeah. Those. Procrastinating...agian. But I had to come back and say I'm sorry for calling my boss a B*tch. Well, I still pitty her daughter in laws...but she's kinda really awesome too. Today she asked me if I wanted to start coming in at 7 instead of 8. Seriously, this is like huge! That means I get to leave at 4. Which means I'll be home by 5. Which is an our and a half earlier than I'm getting home now. Yes, I'll have to get up and get the kids up earlier too...but I'm totally ok with that if I get to get home earlier. Pete and I are both pretty excited about it! Yipee!
Ok off to fold before I get busted!

I have not posted in 12 days? Wow. Time flies I guess! It's probably a good thing. I've been in quite a mood. And not a real good one. Don't know what my problem is really...but it probably has something to do with hormones and PMS. She gets me every time. Probably the other reason why I haven't posted is that I don't have a whole lot to talk about. I've been sitting here watching my cursor blink for like 2 minutes, wondering what to type next!
Christmas shopping is almost done. I just need to order Pete's present and get a couple more things for family. I finished my kids up today. I feel so much more organized this year for some reason. I'm usually the one panicking the week before Christmas. But I am the master procrastinator. I can always find something else to do rather than what I'm supposed to be doing or should be doing.
Take for instance tonight....Instead of emptying the dishwasher and filling it back up, I decided to make more dirty dishes by making a batch of chocolate chip cookies. (I had a serious craving! I'm telling you it's got to be the PMS!LOL!) But I did, however, clean up the kitchen afterwards. But now I'm sitting here typing my blog instead of folding the pile of clean clothes sitting on my bed. I tell ya, I can always find something else to do!
Everything else is just kind of going along like normal. We are actually really busy at work...or I should say busier than it's been since I started there. I don't think I've worked harder in the last 9 months than I have in the last week. Don't get me wrong though...being busy is WAY WAY better than being bored! I won't complain about the work load. But I will complain a tiny bit about the sometimes nasty ladies I work with. And my b*tchy boss that came back from LA that I can't stand. She's been running an office down south since July and is now back and back for good in our office. It's just kinda weird getting used to having her back. She's very uptight...expects 110% all of the time. The thing that really ticks me off is that she never ever sees when I'm doing a good job. But she never fails to notice if I screw up...and then point it out to everyone in the office. And then she talks to me (and others in the office) like I'm a kindergartner or something. You know, kind of in that condescending "mother" tone. She's got 2 adult boys and I pity theirs wives. I could not stand her as a mother in law. (dear Lord...please don't make me be like her...and I'm sorry for calling her names on my blog. Amen.)
See, I told ya...I got nothin!
Oh wait! I almost forgot! This totally made my day today! I was picked for this weeks Catwalk at SIStv! It's kind of a big deal for me...even though you know, it's not huge or anything...but I don't post a lot of layouts and it's nice that I got recognized. I don't go out looking for praise or anything, but I won't lie...I sure does feel good to get a little recognition!

Dec. 1st

I've got all kinds of things running through my head today. It's kind of hard once I sit down to actually formulate them into rational sentances. Does this happen to anyone else? It's like as soon as I log in to Blogger, my mind goes blank of all the things I thought I wanted to write about. I'm going to start off with a list of just some random stuff.
*Christmas is coming! I got my tree up today. Actually, Jake and I put it together last night and then he and I decorated it today while Meg was taking a nap.
*She was SO cute when we came down stairs this morning. I had left the lights on the tree on. When we came around the corner and she saw it, she did a big *gasp* and said "woha!" I told her in my happy voice "its pretty, huh?" then in my stern mommy voice I said "DON'T TOUCH". And...so far, so good! :)
*Megan hates to sit down in the tub. I have no idea why. I guess I should just put her in the shower?
*Jake rearanged his room today. Basically he took all the books off the shelf and toys out of the closet and kinda just put em all where they don't go. But he was so proud of himself. He said "momma look, I did my room".
*I need to stop eating crap. It's practically impossible to eat right this time of year. But I need to watch it. I just do NOT want to get those 27lbs back. It's seriously like a huge fear of mine. I think about my weight all the time now. Something I've never ever done in my life. I never had to. I was always a "skinny-mini" as my mom would say. And though I'm not fat now, it seems like I'm always sorta thinking about it.
*Yesterday was a good mail day! I got a big envelope from my friend with all kinds of cool 7 Gypsies stuff: paper and stickers, oh yeah and some HS ghost flowers. I LOVE those! Thanks Chrissy!!!
I also got my order from Old Navy with stuff for Christmas. Even though it wasn't for me, it was still good :)
*I also got the new CK magazine in my mailblox. There's been a lot of talk about this issue because they have kinda rebuilt the whole magazine. I can't say that I hated it. But I kinda don't like it too much. There's an article in there called "Your 2008 Life Plan". I'm not sure I want a scrapbooking magazine to give me my life plan. Do I need a life plan?? I really like scraping, but....I guess I don't view it like the people writing the articles? Not sure exactly how I like the new mag but I'll tell you this....Megan got a hold of it, ripped a page out and colored in it.....And I sat and watched her do it. So obviously I didn't care too much.
*Changing the sheets in a crib has got to be one of the most annoying and time consuming things ever! I just put Megan to bed. And I hate to admit this...but she takes a sippy cup to bed. (never did that with Jake!) I only put maybe 2 ounces of water in it. Anyways, about 20 seconds after I lay her down she started screaming. I go in there and the sippy cup as failed and she's soaked as well as the entire sheet. Who knew 2 ounces of water could make something SO wet? I had to change everything. It was not cool.
*I'm not sure why, but ABC.com is playing the pilot episode of My So Called Life on their full episodes part of the website. Well, of course I had to watch it. That show was on when I was a Junior in high school. I remember really liking it back then. (Jerod Letto was so HOT!) But when I watched it today, I was like whoa...this show is soooo....heavy. It was so very dramatic and...controversial. I mean her friend was getting drunk, her other friend is bisexual. I dunno...but my teenage years were not so dramatic. And I wasn't so depressed. Claire Danes character was really kinda depressing. And her relationship with her parents! My gosh...I'm so thankfull my parents and I had such good relationships. I know many people can't say that about their teenage years...
*I'm going to plug ABC again because they've got another show I really like. Octber Road it's just a good story. And the guy that plays Eddie is pretty hot. That helps eh?!
*24 days till Christmas....are you done shopping yet??
Me niether.

This is Megan "reading" to Jake. She's so funny. She's just recently started doing that baby/toddler jibber jabber talk. You know where they "say" all kinds of stuff with voice inflections and everything, only, you have absolutly no idea what they are saying. Yeah, she's doing that. It's so cute. She does it all the time "da da be bo ba.." And she's also started "saying" what ever you ask her to say. And she's pretty good. Some things she says the exact same sylable, just in a different tone so to her it's a completely different word.
me: say Kitty
Meg: ta ta!
Me: say Daddy
Meg: Da da!
They almost sound exactly alike. Anyways you guys with kids know what it's like. :) Oh yeah! She says Bye-Bye perfectly. Just like that old sketch from Saturday Night Live with the airline flight attendants...remeber that? when they say "ba-bye" member? It's just like that! I've also noticed her comprehention has just really increased in the last few weeks too. She knows exactly what we say to her. She even follows 2 step directions. You know.."pick that up and put it in the box". That sort of thing. She's SO not a baby anymore :(
Not much else is going on around here. But hey, isn't it amazing? I'm posting in the middle of the week! Holy cow! Anyways, I'm trying to get ready for Christmas. I moved my living room furniture this weekend in order to accomodate the Christmas tree. Thatis going up this weekend. I actually like the way I rearagned things. And I'm totally convinced, there are too many dead things in this house. And by dead things, I mean wild life mounts. You know, stuffed deer and ducks and....the list goes on. I'm seriously thinking of charging admission here. The house will be known as the "Wilcox Wildlife Museum". I'm going to have to do an entire post with pictures walking you all throuh the house. I'm not kidding you, it's bad. I wish I had a video camera. (well one I could hook up to this computer) You'd think I'd have creative controll over the place since you know, I am the lady of the house and all. I'm going to have to work on that.
Speaking of Pete, and hunting and all that....The ranch is supposed to open up in Februrary! That's like 2 months away! It finally hit me this weekend that this is really happening. That I'm married to a pig farmer. I got a call here at the house on Saturday...a friend of a friend...He wanted all kinds of information on the ranch. Prices, location, services..yadda yadda yadda. It's the first time I've really felt like I'm a part of this whole thing. It's kind of exciting actually. So we're making up business cards and this weekend I'm going to go up and take some pictures for a brochure. It's been a very long year setting this up and now it's finally becoming reality. Scary and exciting all at the same time.
Well...that's all I got for now. Got to go to sleep so I can be all restful for my boring job. woo. hoo.
ETA: you've got to see this! This is my favorite Christmas song and this version will give you chills! It is REALLY long. 9 min. 9 sec. but I promise you if you hold out for all 9 minutes you will not be disapointed.

Thanksgiving ...

Was SO good. And too short. This is my mom and Mike bringing the bird off the grill. I'm tellin ya, this is THE best way to cook a turkey. Holy smokes, every year Mike never ceases to amaze me with his turkey cooking talents. It was so juicy, and tender...melt in your mouth goodness.
Anyways, as you can see, we went up to my moms for Thanksgiving. It was just the 6 of us...us four and them two. But it was nice. Years ago we used to have big crowds, it used to be a weekend event, you know? Family from out of town here all weekend...Big dinner on Thursday afternoon with a table stretching from one end of the house to the other, movies and games. Leftovers Friday night, more games...then antique shopping on Saturday and counting all the Christmas trees on tops of the cars coming down from Apple Hill (a local area for fresh trees). Those were some of the most memorable Thanksgivings and memories that made this my favorite holiday. Though the crowd has dwindled, the company is still good (and the food more than excellent) and it's still my most favorite holiday. Thanks Mom and Mike for making this year just as special as all the rest. :)
I had to work today. I think that should be like against the law or something. It just doesn't feel right! Plus it messes up the whole rhythm of things when you have a random day off in the middle of the week! And Pete did have the day off today, so that made it all the worse when the alarm went off at 5:30 and only I had to get up. There was no traffic this morning so I made it to work in record time. I actually had about an hour to spare before I had to be in the office. So, I stopped at Khol's. I don't even really like that store, but heck they opened at 4am..they have to have something good,right? Well, I pull into the parking lot and whoa, it's full. But surprisingly, I have no trouble finding a spot. I see the TV station van parked out front of the doors. I walk in and it actually doesn't look that bad. There didn't seem to be THAT many people in there. Boy was I ever wrong! I started walking around and noticed there was actually no one shopping...everyone was standing in line. There were HUNDREDS of people that wrapped around the store probably 3 times waiting to check out. They all had piles and piles and PILES of stuff. And they were all just standing there like a herd of turtles. I've never seen anything like it. I turned by butt right around and marched right back to my car! I still had about 45 minutes to waist before I had to get to the office so I decided to try Michael's. It wasn't too bad but I honestly didn't know what I wanted or needed there so I kind of walked around aimlessly...Ran into Michelle from work who actually had today off...Then I found a shadowbox that I'm going to make up for Megan's room.
So no real Black Friday coolness for me...Oh yeah! I DID go online when I went to work and got fabulous deals at Old Navy. I got each of my kids 3 outfits for less than $100 including shipping! And THEN I went to CK.com and bought Ali Edwards Life Artist book...such a deal! 16.50 with tax and shipping!
So I guess today wasn't so bad.
Except for when I got home...Dang Pete ate all the left over mashed potatoes! Every last smakrel of em! oooh he got an ear full from me!
Tomorrow:
possibly some shopping
maybe moving of some furniture to accommodate the Christmas tree
maybe some more baking
we'll see
Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Jake

Sometimes I forget he's still a little boy. He's such a big kid in so many ways. He speaks very well. He can go potty by himself. He can dress himself. He brushes his own teeth. He can almost tie his shoes. He gets his own drinks from the fridge. This morning though, I looked at him sleeping...he still sleeps with his tounge out like he's sucking on a binky. And I looked at his arms and he's still so tiny. Not tiny like a baby of course, but still a little boy. Sometimes I think I expect too much out of him. I expect him to look after Megan and watch her when they play outside. I expect him to behave when we're in public. I forget he's still just a little guy. Tonight he was all cuddled up with Daddy on the couch. He was so quiet I forgot he was still not in bed. I turned and looked at him and he was sound asleep, snuggled into Pete's arms. It was the sweetest thing! He's still my baby. It's hard to believe he's going to be in school next summer.

Real life. Right now.

There she is...taking every last bit of tupperware out of my cabinet. Again. This is life for us every day.
Hold on, this post is all kind of randomness!
I can't believe it's Friday already. And I've been a bad blogger. And Thanksgiving is less than a week away. I could have sworn we had another week. I'm ready for it though. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I suppose it will be a little strange and a little sad without my grandma though. hmmmmm. Ok I didn't come here to cry. (not today anyways)Let me change the subject...
We bought a new car. Well not a new car. A new old car. A little Honda for Pete. Turns out driving the big ole truck from here to SF every day and to the ranch 3 or 4 or more times a week was costing us ohhhhhh I don't know $1000 dollars a month. Yeah. Need I say more?
Remind me never to go on a scrapbook cruise. I was checking out Donna Downey's blog and she just got back from one. I didn't realize there were so many ummm...old people on cruises. And, I'm totally NOT against old people. Heck no. I guess that's not what I would call a good time. It seriously looked very boring. I could be wrong. Oh and I really have nothing against Donna Downey either (except that maybe she's pushing her "stuff" way too much on her blog) Ok now everyone thinks I don't like old people. My grandma was one cool chick. Seriously all I'm saying was that the pics on DD's blog looked like everyone was about to fall asleep. Donna and her husband were the only ones having fun. So it appeared. Of course, if I were to go on a scrapbooking cruise with say...all my blogland scrappy friends....WELL that might totally be a differnt subject! Now that sounds like a good time!
Yoga pants are the best things ever. I'm not kidding. They are so comfortable. At least the ones I have are. And no..I don't do yoga.
Speaking of exercise...You know how like a month ago I was like "hey my pants don't fit and hey I've lost 15 pounds" or whatever? Remember that? Ok well the truth is, I totally made that 15 pound thing up. yep. The thing is, I don't have a scale. It's one of those things were I just never got one. You know, I didn't put it on my wedding registry so I never got one. So I just figured it was about 15 pounds that I lost. Anyways, the other day I was at my friends house and she's commenting on the fact that it looks like I've lost weight...yadda yadda yadda...She happens to have a scale in her bathroom...long story short: DUDE, I have lost twenty-seven pounds since January. TWENTY SEVEN. 2. 7. wholey crap! I thought the scale was broke. I had to get on it 3 times just to make sure.
While I was at my friends house I took some pictures of her new baby girl. If your interested, you can see them here The first half are unedited and then the 2nd half I kind of photoshopped...well as much photoshopping as I know how to do. But I think they turned out pretty okay.
I'm planning on a pretty crafty weekend. I've got all kinds of little projects started. We'll see how far I get with it. And maybe I'll post again over the weekend. Have a good one!

Wow, Yeah it's been a long time since I posted! The computer has been monopolized by Pete every night this week so I havn't been able to update.
Seattle was so much fun! Chrissy is great. Seriously, I saw her sitting on a bench waiting for me and it was just like I'd known her forever. No akwardness whatsoever. (in case anyone was wondering!) We walked all over Seattle on Friday, (yeah, we were kinda lost) and then we walked all over Bellevue on Saturday (but we didn't get lost over there!) My legs are still hurtin' from it! (uh huh, I'm a little out of shape)Ok they're not hurting anymore, but they were when I wrote this...like 4 days ago. LOL! But it was really a lot of fun. We met Nicole and Jaquiline on Friday night....Nicole is just as sweet in person as she seems on her blog. And Jaquiline and I were on the same flight home back to California! She lives near me in Santa Rosa and told me about a scrapbook store in Berkeley that I'm going to have to go check out. Seattle was a beautiful city, and I really felt at home there. If it didn't rain all the time, I could live there. It was like a little miniature San Francisco..but better! Pete did great with the kids while I was gone...but I guess he hit up one of his sisters to watch Megan on Saturday. That's ok though. :) He told me he could never deal with me being gone for like a whole week or anything. He said breakfast and lunch was no problem, but he'd have a hard time with dinner....He said he'd have to think about it all day, and that he'd have to stop what he was doing in the late afternoon in order to make dinner. Really? ya think?! LOL!! Noooo, I could never relate to that! ha ha! But in his defense, he did a really good job, and I came home to a clean house, freshly mopped floor, and all the laundry washed, folded AND put away (for the most part). So he get's an A for the weekend. :)
The time change has really screwed me and the kids up. I hate when we switch from daylight savings. Yeah, I know we get an 'extra hour' to sleep or whatever...and it is nice that it's not pitch black dark when I leave the house in the morning...BUT it IS pitch black when I get home and I can not stand it! I hate driving in the dark. It took me about 15 minutes extra to get home yesterday. That's a big difference when you've only got an hour and a half to get dinner and baths in before bed time. Oh yeah, and Megan was just fit to be tied Monday night. She was so ready to go to bed by the time we got home. In her mind it WAS bedtime. So I put her down by 7:15 and didn't hear a thing from her the rest of the night.
I think the time change has messed with my mood or something. The last two days at work I've been really cranky. You'd think after such a good weekend I'd be in a good mood. For some reason I'm just not! I guess I should be grateful for this job where they pay me a lot to do nothing. (And I am) but grrrr...I get so uptight when people don't do their own work....or expect others (me) to do it for them. And I didn't know this either...but apparently, I'm a personal fax machine. Yep. And why does the day seem so much longer, even though it's dark earlier? Every time I look up at the clock, I swear it's moving backwards instead of forwards.
Anyways, I can tell my attitude problem is seeping into this blog post so I'll end it here. Here's some pics from the weekend :)
Look! I'm touching the Space Needle! Little did you know, Seattle really IS a miniature city! ha ha ha!!!

Here's Chrissy...isn't she cute? :)

I love this one!

This is from the roof of our hotel-so cool :)

Here's one of me just for giggles...my face looks really red...not sure why other than it was kinda cold up there!


Ok, more later..someone is freaking out right now..it's bed time!

I have been a bad blogger. How is it that a week has past by already? More than a week...it's practically Tuesday. Heck, it is Tuesday somewhere.
I really have absolutely nothing to talk about. (*surprise*) We've been up to nothing except for a evening visit last week from our pastor, my good friend having a baby, regular work stuff, and the ranch. Lord help me...could the ranch be done sometime soon? Not that that will mean anything will change around here I guess. Just more work! But don't get me wrong, it's a good thing. It's hopefully going to get me out of my go no where lame job. So for that, I am thankful. It's just been a long haul that's all.
We're also gearing up for Halloween on Wednesday. Since we moved to this neighborhood we have hosted trick-or-treating for the family. Pete has 3 sisters, they all live here in town, and all have kids. So everyone comes over here for dinner and trick-or-treating. We always have a really good time. But this year because of work and stuff...it's just kind of hectic. I usually try and make dinner...like actually make it, not order out! And I usually do something special for the kids..like last year I made them some gooey punch or you know, something like that. I just can't do it this time..so we're getting pizza! Who doesn't like pizza anyway? So, it should be fun.
As soon as Halloween is over then I gotta get my butt in gear and pack for Seattle! I can't wait!! People at work are saying "oh, so your going to go see your 'Internet friend'" Like, I'm special...if you know what I mean. I just laugh at them. I'm thinking I'll wear a big sign that says I *heart* Scrapbooking! so Chrissy will recognize me in the airport. What do you think?
One more thing before I go...
So there's this guy in my building..he's on the 2nd floor. He's a total butt. I've tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but after today, I'm convinced he is a huge @$$. About two weeks ago I get on the elevator on the 10th floor. I'm riding down with another woman from my floor and she has her hands full. I mean, FedEx box, mail, her purse..all kinds of junk. She can barely hold it all. We stop just short of the ground floor on 2. A man gets in. @$$ man. Now, normally all the men in the building are like, OVERLY chivalrous. Like if I'm standing at the back of a full elevator, they will all part ways to let me, the lady, get off first. Or they will run up behind me just to get to the door to open it. Super nice and polite. But this @$$ man guy...I have no idea what planet he is from, but he is just SO rude. So anyways, me, him and the lady with her hands full get to the bottom floor. He rushes out as fast as he can..but little hands full lady is right behind him. He opens the door, and just keeps walking and the door literally slams right in her face and he doesn't even look back! So I rush up, open the door for her and then say loud enough for him to hear it, "well, wasn't that NICE?!"
I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt that day..maybe he was really in a hurry, or maybe he didn't notice her right behind him...or maybe he didn't see that her hands were full (yeah right). But then today, he did the exact same thing to me! I'm not one of those girls who expects you to open a door for her, or let her get off an elevator before you. I'm not. But it's just not nice to let a door close in someones face. It's just not. Didn't his mother teach him anything? He must have been born in a barn.
The end.
Peace out. Hold a door open for someone tomorrow. :)

You know your a redneck when...

Your brand new plastic, yet fancy, salt and pepper grinders are now held together by duct tape.(at least I used black duct tape, right!?) Yeah, plastic doesn't hold up well on the stove top when you've got the oven on underneath it. Nope. And yes, I just bought these yesterday. Where they expensive? No. Could I go back to Costco and buy more? Yes. But that would be wasteful. And besides that I'm cheap. :| Which leads me to this thought:
Since when do you go to Target to buy $30 dollar jeans? Seriously! Don't get me wrong...Target is probably one of, if not my favorite store. I go there for just about everything. But I also go there for a deal AND I expect somewhat better quality than say something you would find at WalMart or even (blah!) K-Mart. But, that being said, I still expect to go into Target and get some basic jeans for $20 bucks. Am I asking too much? I mean, I could go to Old Navy and get some less than basic jeans for $25, or GAP outlet and get some for $40 bucks. So, why don't I go to those places and get them? Duh...Convenience! It is way more convenient to go to Target than go all the way across town to a different "better" store. Is that what I'm paying $30 dollars for? Convenience? Is it worth it? mmmmm Sometimes. But in the case of these jeans, probably not.
Why did I buy jeans at Target anyways? The answer is quite pathetic. Thursday at work we find out from our really cool boss that we get to have casual dress day on Friday! Woo hoo! Well, the bad thing for me was that I actually didn't even have any jeans at home that I would wear out of the house, let alone to casual day at work. As I'd mentioned before, my jeans were falling of my butt, not to mention the nice holes that had appeared in places, well, that just are not appropriate! LOL! So anyways, at lunch I had planned on going to Target anyways for some necessities and decided to just pick up a decent pair of jeans to wear the next day. So, I got me a pair for $30 bucks (a size smaller than normal!) and guess what? I totally need a belt, cuz these new ones actually still might be too big. Can you believe it? I'm not even trying to lose weight....just still watching what I eat, and still no soda :)But even without a belt, they're pretty cute jeans.
This is totally all I've got! Can you believe an entire post revealing just how cheap I really am?

Photoshop note: Melanie, I will send you an email :)

Another cool one..

Well, I think so anyways. I totally have a scrapbook page in my head using this pic. We'll have to see what comes of it. I had a few inquiries about the actions and links and such. So I will post some here in the next day or so. I'd do it right now, but um...well there's a pile of other stuff that I keep conveniently avoiding that I need to do.
More soon. Peace out.

Pranks, photoshop and other stuff

So, our house got egged. Yeah. Our pretty little red house got egged. And apparently it happened like 3 weeks ago and I just noticed it today. (LOL!) That's what happens when your driveway is in the rear of your house and not the front. My mom, Jake and I went out front today as my mother was doing her yard work at my house. (Luv U Mom!) Anyways, I turn around and see this huge dried up eggy mess running down the front of my house. So me, being a red head and all...I start ranting..."Our house got egged?! Stupid, freaking! GrHA! What the heck!!!" Apparently my kind neighbor heard me (I was so embarrassed!)and came over and told me that it did infact happen about 2 or 3 weeks ago. It was random as about 5 other houses were hit. It was a drive by egging...by some teenage girls. Girls! Gaww I hate girls sometimes. They're so mean. You know, I might have actually seen the humor in it if they had TP'd my house. I've been known to roll a few houses here and there in my youth. But egging? That is just not funny. I mean, we're going to have to paint over that spot. There's no getting it off. It's egg. Dried egg does not come off. So yeah, I'm kinda pissed. And kinda really embarrassed that I didn't notice it until now!
In other news...not a whole lot to report. Jake ended up being really sick last week. I took him to the doctor on Wednesday and he had an ear infection. And sice he had an other one less than a month ago, he's on some pretty heavy meds. He and Megan both still have bad coughs, but thankfully, they seem to be doing better. Thank goodness because I seriously need a break. I honestly don't know how I could handle being home all day every day. Megan is into everything. And I mean everything. All. The. Time. There is constatly a string of stuff all over the entire downstairs, all. the. time. I'm in the kitchen picking up everything she threw on the floor at breakfast, and she's in the dinning room pulling everything off my scrapbooking table. It's a never ending cycle and it makes me insane. And then I get mad, and really it's no one's fault, but it just makes me crazy.
Photoshop: So in the past week or so in my "spare" time I've been kind of messing around with Photoshop. I have PSE5. After doing some research I found out that you actually can run actions in PSE. And I found several free ones to download and I've been playing ever since. It is so addicting and just so fun! Here are some examples:
You may remeber this photo from way back in March:

And now here it is again after I cropped it and added a "soft focus" action:

I think it kind of has a dreamy look to it.
I also found a pretty neet but basic color popping action. Here is the before:
And here is the after: cool, huh? Just subtle enough to notice.

And here's one more just for fun...Pumpkin Patch Guy before:

Pumkin Patch Guy after:

Neat.O.
So do you guys wit DSLR's shoot in RAW or JPEG? Just wondering. Because I don't really know the difference, and during my research I saw several people saying it was better to shoot in RAW. But like I said, I don't really even know what that means. Less resolution?
Anyways, off to put these crazies in bed. Have a great week!

ho hum

Feeling kind of blah right now. Feeling like I kind of want to scrap, but that might take too much energy. Feeling like I need to start some laundry, but don't really want to wake Megan up right now, you know, since her room is right next to the laundry room and all. Thinking, maybe I should mop the floor. Maybe I should clean my bathroom. Maybe I should just sit here and write another boring blog post.
See, this is what happens when I get locked up for...what?...four days now. I lose all ability to do anything but veg. I hate admitting that I'm lazy to all of you. Well, today I'm lazy anyways.
It sounds like an infirmary in here.
Jake has the bug now too. He started looking all glassy-eyed yesterday and I took his temp. Yep 101*. But he's acting just fine. Coughing, yes, but acting like the same old Jake. So we're staying home another day. We're missing church and a friend of the family's wedding today. That's kind of sad...to miss out on something as wonderful as a wedding. But these kids really need to get better. They both sound horrible. I've always had a really bad sounding cough, so it doesn't really surprise me that the kids do too...but man, they both sound like little baby seals barking away. If the coughing and fevers don't subside by tomorrow, they are both going back into the doctor. I hate going to the doctor and being told, "don't worry, it's just a virus, give them lots of rest and fluids, put a humidifier in their room." and then just knowing 2 days later it's an ear infection or something like that. I know that antibiotics aren't the end all cure all, but it's like, could you please give me something to make them feel better?? Not only for their sake, but for my own? That sounds bad. Selfish. But it's true, as a mother you just hate to see your kids sick or hurt. Anyways...
Halloween is coming up soon. Jake could not be more excited about it. Everyday he's asking me if it's Halloween yet. And he remembers last year and our neighbors decorating with "bone hands" and ghosts. "Membo dat momma?!" Jake is going to be Spiderman this year (of course) and I still don't know what Megan is going to be. I thought it would be really cute if he was Spiderman and she was Wonder Woman. I found a really cute WW costume, but it was just too big for her, and with the weather being chilly like it has been, I think it will just be too cold anyways. So I still don't know what she's going to be. Any thoughts?
Uggghhhh, I hear her. She's up already from her nap.

Lovely, huh? This is what I've been dealing with the last 3 days. The girl is sick. I picked her up Wednesday evening and thought she felt warm. When we got home I took her temp and it was 102*! It just kind of came out of no where. So far it's just a virus..no ear infection or bronchitis or anything...yet. I'm supposed to bring her back Tuesday if she still has a fever. Tuesday?? That seems like a long time to wait to me. But anyways, so we basically been shut-in's the last few days. It's making me and both of the kids go insane. Sometimes I question my ability to be a SAHM if I really got to be one. I mean I love it, but at the same time it just makes me goofy. I CAN NOT stand the crap that just accumulates everywhere. It's like a never ending battle. It's like I pick up stuff all day long but at the end of the day there's still a huge mess. It makes me crazy. But what can you do? I'm not a neat freak by any means. But I do appreciate tidy-ness. Something I just can't seem to achieve these days!
I realized today I really need some new clothes. Ok, when does a woman not need new clothes? But really I do. I mean...it's pretty bad when your skinny jeans don't even fit you anymore...cuz they keep falling off my ass. I guess that should be a good thing. It IS a good thing! But I'm sure it looks pretty funny when I'm constantly pulling them up. I just need to break down and buy some that fit. I used to be able to wear jeans everyday, but at my job it's business casual, so it's all about the khaki's. I've procrastinated long enough, I need a pair of weekend jeans that actually fit me. I also noticed today I don't have much winter/warm stuff. I couldn't even find a decent sweatshirt to put on.
Isn't this the most funnest post ever? (enter sarcasm here)This is what happens when you lock me in the house for 3 days! Ok, obviously I have nothing exciting to talk about so I'll sign off for now.
Hey, what are your kids going to be for Halloween?