Grace..Her Name Is Not!

The clutz that I am managed to trip over my own pants yesterday, land flat on my ass, and possibly broke my toe. Yet, my ass doesn't hurt in the least. My leg is sore as hell and my toe is .. well my toe is purple. It hurts less today than it did yesterday. I can't put any weight on it and it's starting to feel a bit numb.

WARNING- If you're grossed out by feet.. cover your eyes now and run away. Quick.. Hurry.. It's coming to get you!!

I took these just now with Dan's cell phone so the quality is crap but it serves it's purpose. You can tell which one it is.

Comparison.. healthy toe vs busted toe. Whaddya think? I think.. I need a pedicure!

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday! Incase anyone was wondering where I've been.. we got a bad virus on the computer. We spent alot of time cleaning it and ended up having to reformat, so that is why I haven't been able to update my blog.

Our Christmas was pretty good. We didn't do anything special really, we stayed home and hung out with the kids. I didn't feel like running around from house to house and eating several meals.

The kids really made out like bandits this year. In addition to various toys that lit up, spun around, and flew through the house.. they scored over $400 in gift cards. I threw a few in that were given to Dan and me and also some cash gifts and I was able to buy a Wii! I got the console, an extra remote, the charging station, Wii Play (w/ bonus remote), and a few games. They were out of the Wii Fit at both Target and Best Buy, so I guess I will have to wait to get that.

Anyone who has a Wii Fit, which games do you like the best? Which ones do you think give you the best work out. I have heard that this could be one of the best fat burners and I really need to get back into exercising more.

We have been playing Wii all weekend.. my arm is so sore. My little ones really like the Bowling and the Golf games. My 6 yr old is killer at bowling. He threw like 3 strikes in a row last night and creamed me and my 13 yr old!

So that was our holiday! How was yours?

I understand *now* why animals eat their young..

Seriously, bad day. I have an appointment I have to take Kyle to in an hour, so he is home, I have 3 who are on winter break for 3 more weeks, and people wonder why I am crazy?? I am seriously considering voluntary commitment.

I don't even think I have anything more to say right now. I'll be back later once the booze and drugs have kicked in (that's a joke peeps.).

On This Day-December 16, 1995

At 1:01 am an 8 lb 1 oz and 19 inch long baby boy came into this world and changed my life forever (and gave me an excuse to eat cake).

Happy 13th Birthday Alexander Cole!!

It's official.. I have ANOTHER Teenager.

This is the youngest pic I could find that got scanned, I think he was about 2.

This was Alex with a teeny tiny, umm Greyson, I think lol. Liam wasn't that chunky. So Alex was about 8.

And this was Labor Day weekend, 2008.

Only For You, My Dear, Only For You

I believe it was Thursday night, my ever so wonderful dear husband of 12 years was watching the Sharks/Ducks game on tv. The cameras pick up this sharks fanatic wearing this godawful hat. The best way I can describe it as some sort of fuzzy, featherboa, pimp hat with a Sharks logo sewn on the front. It was most definately NOT official Sharks gear.

Now, my dear sweet husband who shall (not) remain nameless (aka DAN!) was so distracted by the hat that he failed to notice the image in the background until I pointed it out. Funny thing is.. is it was the first thing I saw. He's been bugging me to blog this so there you have it dear!

Brr.. it's a tit nipply in here, dontcha think??

Home, Really Tired

Well, I am home from the trip with my mom. Yes, that was this weekend. I am so tired. I am so tired that it took me 3 attempts at writing the title of this post before I finally got it right on the 4Th. First it was Tored, then I tried to type To-- again, then it was Tires. And thank god for spell checker because every other word before I hit check was misspelled.

The party was nice. We got there a little late due to our flight being later because we had to make an appearance at my niece's 1st birthday party. We changed in the airport bathroom and did our make up on the plane. We got there in time for dinner, which was soo good. Filet Mignon with Shrimp Scampi.

We had a nice relaxing day today, had a nice breakfast at the hotel and headed off back to the airport. Now we're home and I'm falling asleep, so I am going off to bed. Have a good night and I'll check ya in the morning.

OW!

I must be getting old. My knees are killing me and my butt hurts. For awhile, I couldn't figure out why my butt hurt. I knew my my knees hurt, it's because it's going to rain. I wish it would just hurry up and rain already. My butt hurts, and this is my only possible explanation because lord knows it isn't because I did any exercise!

When my mom and I were on our way to go see Sadie, we got a little lost due to bad directions. Well, we both had to pee. I had a medium soda from Panda Express (which is HUGE) an hour or 2 before. I had to pee so bad that the only way I could think of to not pee on myself was to clench my butt cheeks and girly parts really hard. So yeah, I hurt.

The other day, I had this thought. Yeah, I know.. I smell smoke too. I know that if I can get my husband to agree to this, I'll regret it. Anyway, I am so desperate to get the hell out of this apartment complex and into a house that I am seriously contemplating finding house for rent that has detached in-law quarters. A lot of the newer homes around here have them and I figure that we might be able to afford the rent if we could split it somehow. So I thought if we could find something available like that then we could let my dad rent the in-law quarters and we'd take the main house.

Here's the kicker.. my dad annoys the living bajeezus out of me. I don't really want to do this. I could do it if it were my mom because my mom doesn't hover (read: smother). I think I am over it now, just writing it out helped me over my insanity. No thanks, I'll pass!!

Tag! You're It!

Apparently I've been tagged! So, I guess I'm supposed to tell you seven things about me. Here goes!

I love butterflies.
I love purple
I watch too much TV.
I have been watching All My Children since I was 7.
I went to 4 different High Schools.
I love cheesy movies made for teenageers.
I love road trips.

Who I am tagging:

Heather
Kari
Bobbie
Kaylene
Micheline
Angel
Jennifer

Keywords..

I love looking at the keywords used in search engines that have lead people to my blog. Most of it makes sense, but some are so off the wall that it makes you laugh out loud.

1.scrap for hire-makes sense..
2. paid surveys for kids
3. It's a boy layouts
4. ChaCha
5. "Allstate stan are you in good hands"- Dude.. it's "That's Allstate's STAND!"

Moving on..

6. pure evil butterfly- Ok, now I'm evil??
7. cookery school melon balling- Please see the Melon Ball post for explanation.
8. couch moths- Umm ok.
9. Heather Manning Design- Heather is over there --->

There were alot more but most were repeats.

This was so funny..

The other day we switched our phone and ISP over to the cable company. One feature we have now that we didn't before is the ability to refuse calls from Private or Unknown callers. When they do call, they hear a message that says something like "I'm sorry the customer you are trying to call blahblahblah, please unblock your number and call back."

So the cable guy is here and talking to us and we get our very first call on the new phone (same number, new service) and the caller ID comes up as "Telemarketer". I have been on the do not call list since it came out and never had a problem until recently. Anyway, so I answer the phone but before they can take a breath, I say "Take me off your list". And I hang up.

Alex is laughing at me, I'm laughing at me, Dan's laughing at me, and the cable guy is still talking! Knowing these obnoxious people it was probably someone trying give me insurance quotes or something like that. That's definatley one job I wouldn't ever want. They couldn't pay me enough.

Thank you!

I just wanted to say thank you to all the wonderful people out there who have voted and commented on my layout entry for the Wacom Pen Scrappers contest! Don't forget you can vote every day until Jan 31, 2009. Just click the badge below! Thanks again!

I Love My Job!

I swear I have one of the best jobs. Who couldn't think so when your job not only lets you stay at home in your jammies on your couch, makes you money, and is so entertaining!

I never thought I would say this but.. thank god for bored teenagers with cell phones and text messaging! "Can you tell me what Zyporex is used for?" Now this is either a test because they already know what it is or they heard it mentioned (or found it) somewhere.

"Sure my friend! Zyporex is an acne treatment product."

Like I said.. you just gotta love it!

Busy Day!

In addition to having my son's birthday, I had a dentist appointment today. I thought it would take a lot longer than it did. I was in the chair for all of 15 minutes. We discussed our next moves which are a cleaning next week. I have to schedule my extractions and then we can start the repair work.

My sister in law dropped me off and my mom was supposed to pick me up. So to kill time, I ran over to Target and walked around every inch of that store. I looked at craft stuff, towels, bedspreads,toys, kids wagons, new phones-which I almost considered getting, Wii stuff that I want when I get one finally, and my mom suggested I look at books. Well great.. guess what I came home with? Yep, a new book. It's a Sophie Kinsella novel in the same spirit as the Shopaholic books called "Can You Keep A Secret?"

Then we had to drop some stuff off at her house,run to my brothers and pick up his truck so we could haul all the kids to Coldstone for Liam's birthday treat. Talk about stressful. I nearly had an aneurysm.

Now it's over and everyone is in bed. Ahh, the calm! Have a good night everyone!

Happy Birthday to My Boy!

It's hard to believe that today you are 6 years old. It seemed like it took forever for you to be five and once you were time just flew by and here we are at the beginning of a whole new year!

Six years ago today, my sweet little Liam was born. I never could have imagined how this day would go. I expected it to be a piece of cake, I was in for a treat but it sure wasn't cake! Little did I know, that even if you had tried to come out the right way.. it would have ended up the same way because your cord was wrapped around our neck. Not once but twice!

And this was only the beginning. You have been my most challenging child yet but it's been a good challenge. Life wouldn't be the same without you in it. You make each day interesting.

Happy Birthday my sweet boy.

Wacom Pen Scrappers Contest Entry!

This time it's a scrap contest. If you have time, can you please vote for my layout? This one you can vote everyday, you might have to clear your cache though. It ends Jan 31, 2009.

http://www.penscrappers.com/2008/12/03/ive-fallen-for-you-blythe-evans/

Bad Blogger, Bad!

Me not the service. The holidays always seem to leave me feeling drained and couple that with the beginning of a six week long trip to hell winter break for 3 of the 4 kids who actually go to school. The good news is that one of them is going back tomorrow. His winter break doesn't start until just before Christmas.

This morning I woke up and went to make some coffee only to find that someone drank the last of my coffee creamer, AGAIN! It did last longer than expected, I've got to give him props for that. I had to send poor Alex down to the 7-11 with some change to get me some little to go creamers so I could have some sense of normalcy today. Mom's bringing me some more on her way to work tomorrow.

Mom and I are going to visit our Sadie girl this coming weekend, I think. I may have to ask my dad to come over and babysit because Dan has a race to work that weekend and I just now remembered.

Speaking of our Sadie girl, I've gotten some new pictures of her this time, also with her brother who was in the other pictures.

Anyway, the new monitor came last week. I can't remember if I mentioned it had arrived. I love it. It is so much better than that old CRT we had. There is so much more room now on the desk it's like having all new office furniture without having to buy all new stuff.

Oh before I forget, this week is my Designer Spotlight week over at Oscraps. There is a cool free mini-kit and a coupon in for y'all if you participate in the challenge. Check it out HERE.

Have a good night everyone!

Kids!

Can I vent? I'll be nice I swear.
My kids tracked off today. I am not sure I am going to survive the next 6 weeks. Kyle tracks back on on Tuesday but the other three? They are home til January 2nd.
Thankfully, my sister and mother-inlaw are saints. They are taking the older three for a few days. They'll be spending Thanksgiving over there since we can't get down there this year. So, at least I will get a little break. Just me and the two little ones.. Trouble and Trouble Jr.
What is everyone doing for Thanksgiving? I am going over to my brother's house with my mom to cook dinner. Usually we would be going to my Grandmother's but she moved to San Diego last winter. My sister-inlaw has to work Wed and Thursday nights so Mom and I said we'd cook so she could sleep a bit.
I have a bunch of stuff I need to get done tomorrow since I'll be gone all Thursday. I need to wipe down the kitchen counters, clean out the sink and clean behind the faucet. I am not sure how it gets so dirty behind there.. it is beyond me!?
I need to finish the laundry and vacuum the downstairs. Fun times! Anyone wanna come help me? I'll buy ya a pizza. No one? Damn. Oh well.

A Sucker or Smart?

You be the judge.

Tonight, Dan wanted me to look up how much Comcast was charging for the Starz/Encore channels. Well, that information is not readily available on their website. You have to call.

So I call. The package is $18.99 a month for like 6 movie channels and Starz on Demand. Ok.. well we spend about that every month on On Demand movies, we might as well just get the package and stop ordering On Demand movies one at a time.

Then, she says you know.. If you order a phone, internet, cable bundle you can get the Starz package for free. Well, I really didn't want to because I have been plenty happy with my phone and internet deal. I only pay a flat rate of $50 a month for unlimited local/long distance and about $35 for my DSL. So she says, the unlimited local long distance is only $19.99 a month and with the phone/internet and cable your total bill will be $139 a month. Right now I'm paying about $110 for the cable and $85 for phone and internet.. so it would be a savings of around $50.

I caved. I ordered it, they are coming out next week with the new modem and they are transferring my number from ATT so I can keep the number. But, crap.. I forgot to ask about the phone features because I really need my caller ID. Guess I'll be making another call tomorrow. BLAH!

My Sixth Child...

That would be my husband.. but admit it. I scared you there for a second, didn't I?!?

Last night when I was out with my mom he asked me to pick up two things. A floor lamp and some cornstarch. An odd combination but ok, whatever. I figured he wanted the cornstarch as a thickening agent for cooking. I knew why he wanted the lamp. However, this was not the case.

I gave him the cornstarch and he promptly got up to make his very own "Non-Newtonian Glop" as seen on the tv show Time Warp. When I realized what he was up to all I could do was roll my eyes and laugh. If you';ve never seen or heard of this.. I suggest you watch this video clip and then go make your own glop. It's great to do with the kids. It is pretty interesting and weird.

I told you it was weird!

Moving on, I need to find a new purse. Mine has just about had it and I never take it anywhere anymore and now I lose stuff easily. I was looking for some and came across these diaper bags by Ju Ju Be. Probably the cutest diaper bags I have ever seen!

This is one of their larger bags and they have patterened bags as well as the solids. The larger bags even come with a $10 gift card. Man, I wish that I still had babies just so I could have one!

Ok, the kids just walked in from school so I have to get going. Have a great day!

Sunday Somethings

I hope everyone's weekends are going well. I just woke up, so I'm being a lazy bum. My mom and I are supposed to go to the mall and try on clothes so I have something dressy to wear on special occasions.

We were also going to have my hair styled at the flat iron place in the mall. She bought a flatiron set from them and they have this deal where if you bring in your receipt they will style your hair for free for an entire year. I wanted to see how my hair would look in curls with this particular haircut. It's starting to grow out and I need it trimmed but I can't afford to go right now.

On a totally other note- I have noticed an obscene amount of spam coming though my email lately. I just have to laugh at some of the "subject" that come through on daily basis. Like for example "Jane lost 15 pounds in 5 weeks with tea!" Um ok.. well good for Jane. Then you open it up and they want you to order Phentermine or some crazy weight loss drug.

Then there is the ever so popular extend your penis emails. But incase you haven't noticed, I'm a chick. I don't have a penis. Ah, thank god for email spam filters, they are the best!

Oh well, Dan is letting me use his computer to get some work done so I better go! Have a great Sunday!

More Puppy Goodness

It's really all my mom and I can think about at the moment. It's going to be a long couple of weeks just waiting for the day we can bring Miss Sadie home. Today I was even looking at pretty little dog collars. I really like the blingy ones. I found the prettiest one on a wholesale fashion jewelry site, it's pink.

In an attempt to take my mind off sweet little puppy goodness, I am trying to ChaCha my butt off. I did a good 80 searches today! The end of the work week is tomorrow night at 11:59pm eastern.. so I have even less time to get more searches in. I've already done the minimum needed to make Top Guide but I'd go above and beyond for myself.. and my paycheck.

Tomorrow I am going with my mom to take Lexi to her dance class. 2 year olds in tutu's is the cutest little thing and most of them even take direction well! Lexi likes to interrupt and talk in the middle but she's so cute when she's following directions. I can't wait!

I better get off to bed. Mom's picking me up pretty early. I hope she brings Starbucks! Good night.

Pure Evil...

That is what I am.

I sent my mom this picture at work to tease her.....

And now we're getting a puppy lol. Well, ok my MOM is getting a puppy.. but she's sharing her with me since I can't have one at my apartment. My friend who lives about an hour away.. her dog had puppies just before Halloween so that's where we are getting her from.

Evil evil evil I tell ya!

This pup is actually one of the males but she looks identical to this one.And mom let me name her.. her name is Sadie.

ChaCha Update!

For those who may have been skeptical and wanted an update.. here you go!

I received my first bank deposit for about 3 weeks of work. It was $280! I was able to pay OFF my Target card completely and have some leftover.

I am so glad I signed up when I did because shortly there after they stopped hiring for SMS Guides. I will post again when they start hiring again. As it is they have over 45,000 guides.. I don't blame them for having to put on a hiring freeze. That's alot of cash they are shelling out!

P.S. The new car fund is on hold until after I pay off some outstanding bills :) 1 down.. a couple more to go!

Help Us Win A Wii!

I hate spamming but I entered a "Popularity Contest" to try to win a Wii for my kids for Christmas. I really wanted to get them one on my own.. but I am not sure that I will have enough cash with all the bills I've got to pay. So if you'd be so kind as to click the link below and cast your vote for me I would greatly appriciate it!!

Click to Vote!

Christmas Comes Early..

Well at least for Dan. Remember the thing I wanted to get him for his birthday? Well, I was unsure about buying it because I wasn't sure he actually wanted it and if he did I wanted to make sure I got the right one and the only way to do that was to have him pic it out himself. So much for surprises.

Somehow we got on the topic and then of course he had to have it right now. It was a new LCD flat panel computer monitor. Apparently, ours is "about" to go. Convenient huh? Well, we have had it for 7 years, so I guess it's about time. It'll be nice to design on too.

It's no home theater but he's happy and that's all that counts!

Sunday Somethings

Today I am watching goofy movies on TV. So far I have watched "Save the Last Dance" and "A lot like Love" and now I'm starting in on "What women want". The big kids took 2 of the little kids to the park. Liam isn't feeling good so he's taking a rest. It's pretty quiet here right now. It's also roasting in here. I think I am having hot flashes already. It must be contagious or something.

I don't know if I mentioned it but last weekend my monster microwave that I got a couple Christmases ago bit the dust. I was popping some popcorn and all of a sudden it blew the fuse. Then the next day it was dead. It smelled so bad.. like snowmobile exhaust or something. It was just bad.

I love this movie. Right now it's at the part where he's realizing he's hearing every one's thoughts and he's freaking out. Too funny!

Ok, I'm off to go watch it and take a nap. Doing nothing makes you sleepy.

Congrats Heather!

A big congrats to my good friend Heather who is one of the 10 runners up in the Wacom Pen Scrappers Contest! She won herself a brand new Wacom Bamboo Fun with this darling layout of her daughter Alyce.

Good Morning Sunshine!

Except that it's 5 to noon here and all.

I have been up since 9 though so it's not like I am sleeping the day away.. I am lounging though. Let's talk about funny commercials..

Last night I was sitting here watching tv, you know the commercials with the baby doing online trading? Well the one I saw last night had a little variation to the ending.. the baby spits up! Gross, yes, but still pretty damn funny. Twisted I know. I can't help it.

Another one is the whole Sprint and ATT series, especially the milk minutes. That one makes me laugh every single time. It doesn't matter how many times I see it, I laugh every time.

Yep, I'm a dork.. I can't help that either.

Who's got a laptop?

Anyone out there in cyber land been able to do a memory upgrade on their laptop?

I am thinking that when i pay off my laptop, I will see if I can get them to upgrade me to 4 gb of ram. I would go through geek squad or something like that but I think that if you have work done on your machine (by someone other than Dell) or you alter it in anyway that it voids your warranty?

Anyone know? I know that because I had previously uninstalled Vista and reinstalled XP when it crashed they wouldn't even talk to me until I put Vusta back on. Anyone, anyone??

It's one of those days..

Dan surprised me today and showed up back at home at 11:30 am. Here I sit (working no less) at the computer and the house is a wreck. Not just a little wreck, a BIG wreck. It looked like the living room threw up, then got hit by a tornado, then by a hurricane, and then by a monsoon. And here I sit at the computer.

Tripping over old golf shoes that no longer have matches, someone's underwear hanging from the closet shelves, well I guess it's better there than on someone's head where it usually is.

Insert dead silence. "Hi honey, what are you doing home?!?!!" Uh.. yeah ok.

Thankfully he wasn't mad. Not so thankful he didn't help me clean it up, contribute to it SURE! Clean it.. yeah right!

Oh well, I guess that is what I will be doing while everyone is asleep tonight. Fun time! Anyone wanna trade?

Grocery Shopping Can Be Fun!

Really it can! Especially if you get along with your mom and all you do is make each other laugh.

My mom picked me up tonight (really??) and took me on a few errands. I had to make a bank deposit and pick up a few things from the store. We're at the bank and I asked her for a pen so I could fill out the deposit envelope and she pulls out this itty bitty little gel pen. I said, "this pen is so cute.. it's so tiny!". Apparently, it was one of those promotional pens from her new job.

Moving along, we're at the store and I swear people must think we are crazy. We are heading down the dairy aisle to get to the milk cooler and we pass some seasonal items they had out.. namely the Peppermint Mocha liquid Coffeemate. We both said "Oooohhh" and then I said, I want that. Too bad I'll never get to use it because Liam will drink it before I get a chance. Which she thinks is the funniest thing ever.. because it didn't happen to her repeatedly causing her to forfiet her morning coffee. So I started buying powdered.. that only deterred him for a little while, til he realized it was flavored sugar and then it was on. On like Donkey Kong!

I bought it anyway, I couldn't resist and I figure either way he's going to eat/drink it so I might as well attempt to enjoy it at least once.

Then we get to check out. Mom has the bright idea that we should do the self check instead of waiting in line. Waiting in line would have been faster because we don't have to deal with a psycho machine that doesn't let you move your bags off the counter until the payment has cleared. And it yells at you if you do!

Ah well.. all that ends well right? I'm home.. I have diet soda and coffee creamer. Life is good.

Cherish- Layout

I bet you're wondering why I have been scrapping this one child so much and so often. Well, not only do I love him to pieces, he is just so damn photogenic and has one of those smiles that lights up a room. Anyway, I can't believe I haven't posted this yet. I guess time just got away from me. Oh well.. without further ado.. here's my baby.




Full Credits Here

Random Fact of the Day!

It's been a little while since I've done a random fact of the day so here's something for you to chew on. I swear being on the internet as much as I am fills my head with so much random knowledge that I have to share it with you all just to make room for more useless info. Aren't you glad you're my friend?
Here we go!

Did you know that Persimmon trees are usually either male or female, but some trees have both male and female flowers? On male plants, occasional perfect (bisexual) flowers occur, producing an atypical fruit. Very interesting! I did not know that, did you? Aren't you glad you stopped by today?
Speaking of trees and things that are found in trees.. go on over to Cake Wrecks today and see the latest masterpiece that has been posted this morning. It's a DOO-DOOzy!

Ok, you can now return to your regularly scheduled program.

Don't forget..

About the Shopping Confessions contest!

Sign Up Here! And use my blog URL as the website link in the sign up form.

Please make sure that when you sign up, that you place MY blog URL in the website box and not your own b/c the referral contest is for PU2B bloggers only. Thank you for your help!!

My URL is http://www.purplebutterflydesigns.blogspot.com/

I want my email!!

I was sitting here feeling kinda blah because I wasnt getting any emails so I went to refresh and see if maybe Gmail got hung up and it prompted me for a password. WHAT??!? I use Outlook.. I don't get password prompts.

Turns out Gmail is down and for about 5 minutes I get to not feel like a total loser for not getting any email.. even if it is just spam lol.

Something Funny..

One day, in a land far far away called Sunnyvale, California there were 2 zebras. And these two zebras decided to take an internet wav file and fool around with it adding in some various sounds of gunfire. They thought that it was funny and reuploaded it to the web and forgot all about it.

Thirteen years later, it has recirculated back to the zebras cellphone to bite them in the butt and remind him of that one silly day that they remember so fondly.

The End.