And This One Time.......

And no it wasn't at band camp.

I've decided to reminisce today and tell you about yet another fun thing my lovely husband has brought home from work. This one wasn't so bad though, it was more funny than anything else.

He brought home a clear plastic bag full of pens. Yes, pens. Little cheap pens. There were at least a couple thousand of them. I guess what had happened was a compant had a ton of them made and then they got stuck in their storage vault. I think he said the company went out of business and they found the pens when they cleaned out their vault.

We thought we would have pens for the rest of our lives, however this house is like the black hole and everything that comes into it either gets broken or disappears forever. But every now and then we find a random stray pen.

Horton Hears a Who??

I totally want to see this movie! This was one of my favorite books when I was a kid. I really think my boys would really enjoy seeing it in the theater. Heck *I* want to see it in the theater LOL! There are just some movies you just have got to see up on the silver screen, this I think will be one of them.

A Camping We will go...

My boys have been bugging me to go camping. I haven't been camping in ages. I really don't mind it, it's actually pretty fun even though I am electrically dependant. We haven't been on a camping trip in at least 7 years, the last time we tagged along with my inlaws we still lived in Reno and we only had 2 kids!

My mother in law is one serious camper let me tell you.. the woman is amazing. She's got every piece of camping gear known to man. Last time, I watched her make a pineapple upside down cake over a campfire. Now that is talent. Hopefully she'll plan another camping trip soon so the boys can get their camping fix.

ADSR #2

No, you didn't miss #1. I didn't post it b/c I wasn't really happy with the final page. It was cute but it really wasn't my style.

However, challenge #2 was much more "me". The challenge was to collaborate on one layout with our partners. We each had to do half of the page. Not just you start and I'll finish but literally divide the page in half, any which way we wanted.

Rachel and I opted for the checkerboard approach. She made a template for us to use and we decided to celebrate large families. I have 5 and Rachel has 4. Once we plopped in our pictures, we merged the pieces and each embellished our halves then combined them together for one final page.

This is what we ended up with: Click for full list of credits.

House Hunting

I am so ready to move out of this tiny apartment. I was looking online at local rental home listings just to see what I could get for my price range and really I was pleasantly surprised. I found a couple really nice and HUGE homes for really low rental prices. Granted, they are still slightly out of my budget but at least I know what's out there.

This one house was 5 bedrooms and 3 bath, over 3000 sq feet of living space for about or a little less than 2000 a month. The master suite was amazing and the bathroom vanities were to die for! What I wouldn't do for a sunken tub. I had one before when we lived in Reno and I miss the long hot bubble baths.

Right now, I'd just be happy with an extra bedroom and a backyard to kick the kids out into! It would be great if there were a magic house fairy to magically make my dreams come true...

Ah well, the dream and the search continues!

Line of the Day 2/26/08

"My spyglass makes you look HUGE, Mom!!" says the child who is staring at my ass.

~Liam, age 5

Not Crazy Enough..

I guess someone decided that I'm not crazy ENOUGH. My 5 yr old, Liam, has got it in his head that we I should have another baby. Beeee-cause he wants to be a big brother. I tried to explain that he IS a big brother but he wants to be a big brother to a BABY brother. I also tried explaining that even though Greyson is almost 4 he is still HIS baby brother. That didn't quite fly with him. He told me we needed one "this big" (about an inch long).

He's been a little obsessed ever since his baby cousin was born in December. However, now he's got my 6 yr old agreeing with him that we should have a nice round number like 6 babies instead of just plain old 5.

Uh.. yeah I think not.

New Furniture

We've had out current furniture for about 4 years now.. it's about time to replace it. We seem to go through it rather quickly and in the past the only way we've been able to afford furniture was to get it from a rent to own place and pay an arm and a leg.. and our first, second, and third born.

Now that our credit score is alot cleaner, people are actually willing to give us better options! Now, I've learned my lesson in listening to the man about buying furniture however being the man that he is he wants to go all out and get leather home theater seating in our living room. WHAT?!?

I say let's get a house for that first, but I will compromise and look into leather furniture. I'd really like a nice comfortable leather recliner, although my fear is that I will never get up ever again! I think that is his fear as well.

A Sticky Situation....

Remember my post on the Sally Hansen body wax a few weeks ago?

Well, last night (rather early this morning), I decided that it would be a good idea to start waxing things. I did my lip, my eyebrows, and I decided that it would be a great idea to do my armpits as well. I despise shaving like you wouldn't believe.

Warning: Do NOT try this at home.. seriously lol. Have a professional do it. As embarrassing as it might be to go in looking like an ape.. it's much less embarrassing than what happens next.

Let me start by saying, armpits are extremely sensitive areas. If you decide to do this.. coat your pits in Orajel beforehand. Anyway, I got one of them done without a problem, except it hurt like nobody's business. This coming from a woman who has had 5 kids, sat thru 4 tattoos, and pierced her nose by herself. I went to do the other, which happened to be my right arm and I am right handed.

Well, armpits are complicated... they have a crease and it's really helpful when waxing that the skin be taut. Because when it's not, the strips don't rip off easily and you end up with wax coated armpits. Wax does not wash off easily, let me tell you. It's very sticky.. I managed to get most of it off but I gave up after awhile and went to bed. I was still kinda sticky, I was afraid I was going to wake up with my armpit superglued shut! That would have been fun explaining to my DH.

Moral of the story.. have your pits waxed by a professional.

It's {almost} that time again!!

Almost time to start racing again!! I am so excited for the first challenge to be posted. How bout you guys, Are ya ready??

Cheers!

Rainy days are really no fun, so thank goodness for the internet because I am doing a little "window" shopping!! Even if I don't buy anything, it's always fun to look at new stuff and dream a little.

Right now I'm looking at some Riedel wine glasses. I'm not even a huge wine drinker, however my husband enjoys a glass now and then so I'm thinking of surprising him with a nice new set of stemware. They have some nice looking decanters as well.

I've also decided to cut my hair. I am getting a cute little medium length A-line bob. I'm also going to dye it some dark colr and put in purpe highlights. Should be fun!! I'll be sure to post pics when I do.

Personal Drama & Stuff

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you'll have noticed that I hadn't posted anything new in over a week. I had some personal issues come up and it all seemed to hit all at once. First all the kids were sick for a week.

My husband was out of town for 5 days. He went back east to visit with his family over the holiday. I was a little stressed at the thought of having the kids all by myself, I was really super tired and then I got some news that was a bit disturbing and really, I have no idea if it really was a direct cause but it sure as hell didn't help.

Anyway, basically in a nutshell.. I had my designs pirated and then after learning about it, I had a seizure. Anyone who knows me, knows I have a history of them and stress is not my best friend. So, I ended up spending the weekend at my mom's, where I could relax and be taken care of.

I was thinking about finally getting myself a piece of medical jewelry, like a medic alert bracelet only prettier. My parents wanted me to get one when I was a kid, but I never did get one. I'm not sure why. But these things have come such a long way since then, I'm sure I could find something I liked. And really, what better excuse for buying myself something sparkly right? Ok.. so technically I could find a much better excuse than having a medical problem, but hey what can you do?

Dan got home last night and it's kind of weird. Not him being home but all of us being out of our routine for so long, that now that things are settling down and getting back to normal.. it feels weird.

Ah, well I'm off to look at something sparkly.. you know, for my health.

Picture It On Canvas

Last week, I received an email from a very nice man asking if I would be willing to do a review of his website, services, and product in exchange for an 11x14 inch photo on stretched canvas. I have been wanting to try this for my layouts for a really long time, so when I got this email I thought what better way to try it out?

From what I understand, prints on canvas are usually a pretty penny. The sites I have checked out have ran about 100 dollars or more. PictureItOnCanvas charges $51 plus shipping for a print on stretched canvas. The site itself was very easy to navigate and I placed my order fairly quickly. The only issue I had was uploading my photo because is was a 10 megabyte file, so it was rather large. I emailed to let them know about the problem I was having and all I had to do was send the file as an attachment and they took care of the rest. Customer Service response time was very good. Any time I had a question, my emails were answered in a timely manner.

My order shipped out on the 15th and it arrived today. I chose to print a layout I had done of my niece to give as a gift to my brother and sister in law. The quality is absolutely amazing. The colors are crisp and vibrant. I can't wait to give it to them. They also do square sizes but you have to call or email them for a quote.

This here is the original layout:

And this is the print on canvas, you can see how much more vibrant the colors are in print, although my photo really does not do it justice. I apologize for the glare, it's really hard to take a photo of a photo inside the house. :)

Credits:

Paper, staples, ribbon from Micheline Martin's My Colourful Wonderland. Glitter- Micheline Martin's Sparklemess 2

The flowers are Karah Fredricks- Pixie Dusted Posies, the charm and stamped flourish is mine. The frame is by Stefanie Burt.

The journaling says:

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat, but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.

Branson, Missouri

I've heard alot about people going on vacation to Branson, Missouri but I've always thought that sounded a little odd. What is in Branson, MO?? So, what do I do? I go and do some research.

Apparently, it's a pretty good vacation hotspot. They've got shows, attractions, museums, resorts, lakes, fishing, shopping and from the looks of it tons more. Some of the Branson hotels sound amazing. They have cabins, bed and breaksfasts, 5-stars, camping, the list just seems to go on. Ooh and there's night life too!

It really does sound like a fun place to visit. I'll have to put that on my list of things to do after the kids all move out.

And this is what I live with...

Granted it was funny as heck but I really feel for the poor girl on the other end of the line LOL.

We were sitting down at dinner and it was a late dinner but the phone rang like 3 times in the middle of it. On this one call, the caller ID said "Research Center" or something like that.

So Dan answers the phone all cheerful like and the girl on the other end of the line says "Hi, this is Samantha." and that's about as far as she gets before Dan says, "Hi, Samantha, how are you tonight?" I can only imagine how thrown this girl is so there's a slight pause and she says, "I'm fine thanks". Dan says "So what can I help you with tonight?" and Samantha says, "Well, Im conducting a survey on how people use the YellowPages...". Dan cuts her off and says "You mean the paper ones? Like actual paper phone books??" Taken aback, she says "Yes......" and Dan says, "People still use those?" she says, "Umm yeah??" and Dan says, "Why would they when Google is so much easier??" And Samantha says, "Well, I guess I don't have to ask you your opinion now do i? Have a good night."

LOL.. oh the poor girl she has NO idea what she was in for when she called here tonight.

A Couple of reviews....

First up.. Sally Hansen's Lavender SPA Wax Remover Kit.

I bought this the other night while I was at Target. It actually works very well. I've tried alot of at home hair remover kits and not alot of products hold my attention. Nair makes me break out, Veet stung the heck out of my sensitive skin, Nad's just made me sticky, but this actually ripped the hair out of my legs. It's been about a week and I am still smooth. I usually have to shave every other day. No bumps, no rashes, no hair! The box says results last up to 8 weeks.

Not only did it work, it smelled good, and it's purple!! It's also microwavable. I will definately buy this product again.

The Movie "27 Dresses". Absolutely adored it! It was hysterically written and had a very happy ending. Katherine Heigl was perfect in this and James Marsden was SO cute, I loved his character. Great date movie.. or night out with the girls. I saw it with my mom.

Saturday night, hubby and I went to Olive Garden for my birthday. The food was great, I had one of their new specials. The Lasanga Rollatini w/ Italian Sausage. Hmm yum!! It's kind of like a bunch of little cheese lasagna burritos with alfredo sauce lol. The only issue I had with our night out was where they sat us, kind of right in the middle of everythng and next to the kitchen. I would have much rather been back in a corner where it was quieter. But the food was good.

Tonight, My dad took me out for another birthday dinner. I am so disgustingly full right now, it's not even funny. We went to Cattlemen's in Livermore, California. I had the "Beef and Reef" special which was a sirloin steak with your choice of seafood on the side. So I chose the Shrimp Scampi, that was SO yummy. Great service too, our server's name was Lindsey.

For dessert, I had the Cowboy Cobbler, you know because you can't not have dessert with your birthday dinner. My dad hadn'e planned on having them sing to me and embarrass me to pieces but he happened to mention when I was ordering dessert, that it had been my birthday so when they brought it out they took it upon themselves to give me the royal treatment, which for a change I was totally not expecting so I was really startled, but it was quite funny!

I got out alot this weekend, it was crazy but it sure was fun!

Psychic Cars...

It really never fails, it happens nearly every year so you'd think I wouldn't be so shocked when it happens but just about every year around tax time my cars decide to either die a horrible death or need a major repair.

This year after only about 4 years of use, my minivan has started to fall apart. Hubby took it to go grab some dinner last weekend and the driver's side window decided to no longer roll up and we have power everything in the van.

Our "new" (new to us) truck wouldn't start so Dan called a tow truck to have it taken in and fixed. Turns out that the anti-theft alarm got triggered and so as a precaution it wouldn't start, not even with the key. And the clicker buttons are broken so we were stuck.

I was going to donate the van to this car donation called CarAngel, which you can even donate online and they take care of all the formalities like the title transfer and everything. They use the donations to raise funds to make children's and anti-drug videos. They have given away over 2.4 million videos, I think it sounds like a pretty decent concept.

I was just watching one of their videos on Youtube with my 4 & 5 yr olds, they thought it was pretty cute. I have to agree.. it was pretty cute.

Anyway, Dan actually ended up selling the van to a co-worker which helped pay for the cost of the truck repairs so it worked out pretty well. Except now we are down to one car and a motorcycle, so it's going to be hard to go anywhere together. Oh well.. maybe I'll get my dream van soon. Wishful thinking I know.

Anyway- I hope you guys have a fabulous weekend. Tomorrow is my birthday so I know I'm going to have a great weekend.

Catch you all Monday!

New Scrap Blog...

Just posting a little note to let you all know that I will be moving all my scrap ads and team layouts over to my new store blog. I will still be keeping this blog but it will be for more personal posts and layouts. Anything pertaining to my own product can be found here at: www.blytheevans.com/blog

Today is the Grand Opening, I've got loads of new product for you, a HUGE grab bag of sorts, a 25% off sale TODAY only, and there's even a little blog freebie for you too!

Hope to see you there!