Thursday, May 29, 2008

Time For Me Thursday

4:26 PM 4 Comments
Time for me Thursday

So this is a brand new day of the week type thing. I just invented it all by myself but would love if anyone else would like to use it as well. I don't know how to do the Mr. Linky thing that I've seen on other blogs, so I'll just tell you that if you take my banner (which I made for this blog) or participate, for now just leave a comment here. Please don't claim my idea as your own or anything like that..blah,blah,blah..

My Time For Me Thursday was all about planting our flower seeds and plants. None of us know the first lick about gardening, but we sure had fun playing in the dirt!

Our Supplies...All Set Up to Plant

Getting ReadyOur Gardening Gloves

Making a home for daisy seedsPretending to put the seeds in

Our Garden

Our planters hold : Rudbeckia seeds, strawberries, Shasta Daisies, Big Tomatoes (I can't recall the type), Catnip & Roma Tomatoes.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Money Needed?

11:56 PM 4 Comments
As some people know, during the school year, I'm a full time Psychology student. During the summer, I'm a full time SAHM to my 2 fabulous boys. What this all means is zero income. We live off of child support and alimony (which trust me, isn't much) and the bit of financial aid I may have left. My wonderful, fabulous (/end sarcasm) ex-husband left me with a ton of credit card bills and I'm struggling to make it. What's the point of this sob story you might ask... Well, it's that I found this new mommy blog today (All Things Frugal) and she talks about her goal of paying off a credit card and how she's finding extra money to do it. I would love, love, love to have at least one less bill, so I'm trying it her way. Now, here's where all of you come in. I'm going to ask you all to do me big favors and sign up for these sites too. What the heck, you can earn some money to pay off something or to save up for something yummy..(Do I hear a new Pazzles in any of your minds?) So, please check them out. I get referral monies for both of these; $10 for each of you who sign up for Revolution Money Exchange and 20% of what each of you may earn for CashCrate. So follow the linkies, ladies...(& gents, if you're reading.)


Refer A Friend using Revolution Money Exchange

Tackle It Tuesday - The Van

5:56 PM 3 Comments

I have declared this summer to be my summer of organization. As part of that, I've decided to start participating in Tackle it Tuesday, hosted by 5minutesformom.com. So here, we go..my first Tackle It Tuesday Project!


Middle Seats Before
Front Seat Before

Yes, I decided that I was going to tackle the disaster that had become my van. This van is a sure indication of how bad my depression had gotten this past year. In the past, it never would have gotten this bad. I decided that I would ask the boys if they wanted to join me outside while I worked on this. Ben decided not to, but Roger was right there and wanted to help!

More Mount Stuffore
See how he had to climb up on stuff just to get into his side of the van?!?

It took us quite a while and we stopped and took a break after tackling the middle section, but....I am proud to announce that we got the front 2/3 of the van done (which was my goal!)!

Roger's ready..
The Middle Seats..after...

We still have to take it someplace to sweep it out, but wow! This is a huge difference!

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Dollar Store Finds

10:25 PM 5 Comments
I went into Dollar General today looking for a pitcher to make lemonade in and look at the goodies I found!

Fairy Wall Art
These were too cute to pass up!

Pretty Papers & Vellum Stickers
Pretty papers and vellum stickers.

Dollar Store Find!
Look at these fantastic glasses! I'm so going back on payday to get a full set. Oh, and they had the cuuuuutest Peanuts dish sets with glasses. I'm going to get a set for the boys when I go back.

Ok, I'm thrifty, but this is a bit much...

12:51 PM 2 Comments
A friend of mine passed this link on to me this morning because he was sure I'd want to blog about it. He was right!

"The cemetery says middle-age women are stealing flowers to make crafts," the anchor repeated.

Move over, common everyday criminals. There's a new breed of lawbreaker in town, and no final resting place is safe.

It turns out that some plastic flowers have disappeared from Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Cudahy. The culprits are crafters.

"They help themselves to the flowers they think we're throwing away," Butch Miller, director of cemetery operations at Holy Sepulcher, told me.

"I ask them, 'Why would you want these flowers from a grave?' They say, 'Oh, we use them to make crafts and decorations.' "


Wow...I mean, I'm thrifty but stealing plastic flowers and such from a cemetery? Even I have limits. What would possess someone to even consider taking them, even if they are meant for the garbage? It's just kinda creepy and I'm someone who loves exploring cemeteries.

You can see the full article here: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=753182
I highly encourage you to read it. It's pretty funny and mind boggling.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

New Marker/Pen Storage

6:42 PM 1 Comments
On my last thrift store run (too long ago, I need to go again!), I found this little box and fell in love with it. I had no idea what I was going to do with it until just a few minutes ago.

Red Box Surprise!


While putting away my latest kit (www.storytellersclub.com), I realized the last 2 had come with metallic markers. Ah ha! I now knew what that little box was for.

My future marker/pen holder.

Monday, May 19, 2008

My Ribbon Storage

6:50 PM 5 Comments
For those out there who love looking at organization (and I'm one of those!), here are the pictures of my ribbon jars that I promised. I was going to post them last night, but my camera batteries died and I had to wait for them to recharge.

Ribbon Storage

The jar on the left includes most (I'm sure there are more hiding somewhere!) of my wired ribbons. The jar on the right includes all of the ribbons that I bought at the Mega Meet. Once I find all of my smaller canning jars out in the garage, I'll be doing this with all of my ribbons and then placing them onto a shelf that a friend has promised to buy for me.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

All Fixed

3:51 PM 1 Comments
Ok, after digging through code to fix the header and retyping everyone's links, I think it's up and running and all functional! Woohoo! If anyone notices anything wrong, please let me know..tired eyes miss things sometimes. Keep your eyes out for some new pictures to be posted hopefully today.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Uh oh...

7:37 PM 2 Comments
Someone should have wished harder! All my links vanished on me! Argh!

Edit (10:00 pm) : I'm working on re-entering all of my previous links. Keep checking back to see how it's coming! If you were listed here, but don't see yourself once it's done, let me know. If you want to be, but weren't before also let me know!

Changes

7:34 PM 1 Comments
I've decided to change the layout of my blog. I'm going to attempt to upload a new one and pray that I don't lose all of my links...wish me luck!

My Sisterhood Album

12:48 AM 6 Comments
This is the album for the class that I took at the Mega Meet. The only thing that it's missing is the pictures from last weekend. So...we'll call this the before entry. I'll post new pics once I get those printed out and put in.


Syl doesn't want me to craft?Sisterhood Album Cover

Pages 1 & 2

Pages 3 & 4

Pages 5 & 6

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

All About Me

12:17 PM 9 Comments
Hi everyone and welcome to my blog! This is where I'm writing all about all of the crafty type things (and the organizing of) that I do in my life. I love crafting. Specifically, anything to do with scrapbooking and rubber stamping. I'm also teaching myself to crochet, which right now is a very slow process because I've been so darn busy!

Other than crafting, I'm a very busy person sometimes. I'm a mom to two fabulous little boys, Ben and Roger. Ben is 8 and already going into 3rd grade. He has Cerebral Palsy but he refuses to let it slow him down. Roger is 7 and going into the 2nd grade. He's all boy; rough and tumble. He's also my artisan though. He loves crafting and it's not unusual to find him working on something right along side his mommy.

I'm also a full time student at the University at Buffalo. I'm a Psychology major, going into her last year of her Bachelor's degree. Woohoo! At the age of 31, I'm so glad to be almost done with this segment. I still have my Master's degree to do so a student's work is never done.

Thank you for stopping by and feel free to leave comments, questions or just say hi!

What I've Learned Since Becoming A Mom

12:16 PM 3 Comments


It's almost ironic that this was the topic chosen. I had a long talk with someone yesterday about one of the biggest things I've learned since becoming a mom to my two boys. It might sound almost silly and maybe even a little bit duh, but I learned what a huge difference it makes for both my children and to myself to spend a little time each day with them just playing and acting silly.

Like most moms, my life can be insanely busy and stressful. When it gets like that, one of the first things that always seems to slide is that special time doing "kid things" with my boys. It always amazes me what happens when I take a few minutes from my craziness to do something with them.

I'm a full time student and at times I get totally bogged down with school work. This happened when I had the boys with me over their spring break. I was totally swamped and totally stressed. The stress reliever? I took a half hour and loaded up Shining Stars (www.shiningstars.com) with my boys and we played the silly games there. Before we were done, we were all laughing and giggling and having a great time. It set the tone for the rest of the day. We were all happier and nicer to each other..just because I took a small amount of time from my daily life to show them how much I love them by doing something that they wanted to do.

MommyFest Potluck

12:16 PM 1 Comments


Chicken Pesto Pockets

Ingredients:
1/2 cup light cream cheese
1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons refrigerated pesto
1/4 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 (4 ounce) skinless, boneless, chicken breast halves
Cooking Spray

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Combine first three ingredients in a small bowl; set aside.
3. Combine breadcrumbs and pepper in a shallow dish; set aside.
4. Cut a horizontal slit through thickest portion of each chicken breast half to form a pocket; divide pesto mixture evenly among pockets. Dredge chicken in breadcrumb mixture.
5. Place chicken breasts on a foil-lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Coat chicken lightly with cooking spray. Bake at 400 for 20 to 22 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove from oven, and let stand 3 to 4 minutes before serving.

My kids and I love these "special chicken"!

Five Things About Me

12:16 PM 2 Comments


  1. I went back to college at the age of 28 and graduated Magna Cum Laude with my Associates Degree.
  2. I have an insane cat named Sylver A. Kitty
  3. If I could buy one thing right now, it would be a Pazzles (www.pazzles.com)
  4. I have a serious love for things like old button boxes, old quilts and things vintage.
  5. My apartment is 300 square foot and although I love it, I can't wait til I have dedicated crafting space again.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Three of the most wonderful women...

12:25 AM 4 Comments
I cannot even begin to explain the time I had with Klo, Jill and Steph over the past few days. I would honestly describe it as one of the best weekends of my life over the course of the past 2 years. These three women were so wonderful to me. I haven't had many real friends over the course of my life and honestly, I am honoured to think that they would consider me a friend.

I'm tired, my feet hurt..but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. In fact, I'm hoping they ask me to do it again...and again...and...well, you get the point. Cept, next time I'd remember my lace up tennis shoes. Oops!

My throat is killing me...and all from the incredible amount of laughter we've shared over the past few days. I think I'd forgotten what it felt like to laugh like that. We had the most wonderful dinner with Jill and Nancy. I've never laughed that hard, I don't think. God...and then getting Erik the waiter in on it...

I don't think any of these ladies will ever understand what this weekend meant to me..the realization that I'm appreciated and have friends.. There aren't enough words in the world to explain to them or anyone else. All I can say is...Thank you.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Omg! Omg! Omg!

11:15 PM 2 Comments
I'm going to Novi on Wednesday! Klo and the girls...omg, they're the absolute best! Not only are they letting me share their hotel room, they're going to pay me to help man their booth for a few hours a day! Omg! I haven't been this excited since Justin told me about Chicago! Omg!

*attempts to calm down* .....

Omg! I get to meet Klo and Jill and Steph! I get to check out the cool thing they show! I...omg! Whoohooooo!

Do you think I'm excited? *laughs*

Ok, so much to do before then..I need to finish my project, bring in my suitcase from Michigan, unpack it, repack it...possibly pack scrapbooking stuff, which means finding it all...omg! woo! It's so worth it!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

I Must Be Insane...

7:58 PM 4 Comments
Don't ask me why, but I somehow got the idea that it would be fun and cute to take Herbert, the giant stuffed duck, with me grocery shopping today. I thought I'd take him with me and take pics of him doing various grocery store type things. I don't know what I was thinking. Yes , I do. I was thinking it would make a really cute layout. (pics to come..I want to get this down before I forget.)

So, I loaded him into the van..being safe of course I put him into Ben's car seat and put his seat belt on him.

Then, it was off to Tops. Once we got there, Herbert got to ride up front so that I'd have room to put groceries in the back. Right from the first moment I put him into the cart, the looks started. I could almost hear people thinking I must have escaped from some sort of loony bin, especially when I would stop and snap some pictures. A couple of people approached me and I told them that I was doing it to send the pictures to my kids...shame on me for dragging my poor, sweet innocent children into this. Now I'll send them the pics just so I'm not a liar!

I stopped to get a slice of pizza and a soda from the deli (I hadn't eaten lunch yet) and went to sit down in the eatery area and this woman thought that I had a baby in a very yellow parka in my cart..right til it didn't move. Then, I had to explain that it was a giant stuffed duck. She thought it was rather amusing.

So, things were going...ok...until I got to the aisle that had the pastas and such in it. While I was standing there trying to decide if I wanted to go with a wheat pasta or what, this sweet older lady came up and asked me if I could afford to feed such a large duck. I laughed and said he was rather big. She told me this story of when she was young...

They lived on the edge of a valley that had a stream that ran through it. One day a fire tore through the valley and their house burned to the ground. Her father went to someone and had them build up the walls of the valley and basically dammed up the stream until it was like a small lake. Ducks of course love the lake and came to nest there. Her mother would go out and clap her hands and call to the ducks and they would line up in formation and walk up to the house to be fed. Then, they would jabber at her mother and go back down to the water. She said it was like they were saying thank you. She said they had 1000 ducks.

Another lady came up about then and told me that she got a giant 5' monkey for Christmas that she took with her to play penuchle (how do you spell that?) one night but he got more attention than she did so she didn't take him anymore.

So shopping continued til I got down to the other half of this aisle and the first older woman was standing there. We got to talking again and she told me how she'd spent her whole life taking people in and feeding anyone who needed to be fed. Her husband had always told her that he didn't care what she did with the weekly paycheck, that he'd get a 2nd job if need be..just make sure their bills were paid and there was food on the table and after that she could do what she wanted with the money.

She lives alone now, but has a tenant who has lived in part of her house for 6 years. She charges him $300/month and won't allow him to pay her a dime more. He's asked her to let him pay her more and she refuses.

She also told me this story about a friend of hers..she has 2 friends who are like sisters to her Anna and Lula (her name is Anna, as well). Well, her friend Lula has led an extraordinare life.

When she was just 8 years old, her family was captured by the Nazis in Austria and put into a concentration. Her father and her 5 brothers were lined up and shot in the head, right in front of her. She stayed in the concentration camp for 3 years until she was somehow freed. From there, she was forced to run and hide. While walking down the road one day, a car pulled up beside her and a drunk man asked her to marry him. She said yes, but neither really knew what the other had said.

Time went on and these two ran into each other again, this time they did get married. They couldn't get married in a church though, so they went to a priest who married them in his home. After they were married though, they somehow crossed the border and he was arrested and she was put back into a concentration camp. The nazis wanted to use her for...well, I'm sure you can imagine what they might want a pretty young girl for.

The Americans freed them and she was forced to run and hide, without any money or even shoes on her feet. After a while, she ended up sleeping in a park. On her 3rd day there, a man walked up to her. It was her husband! They ran and hid together. A friend told them about a farmer who would let them work for him, but they mustn't be seen. They went there and worked for him for a while.

They decided that they wanted to leave and the farmer paid for the plane to take them to someplace safe. From there, they went on to Canada. They lived in Canada and he worked at a gas station. By then, she had 2 children. One who was born in Austria and another who was severely handicapped. She had been pregnant in between but the baby had died inside her..and in this woman's words, she had prayed so hard that the baby slipped right out of her, but it left her sick inside which caused the last baby to be handicapped.

Her husband's boss decided to go to the US and offered to take the family with him. They moved to Lockport (NY) and he got a job working at the locks. After a few years, she wanted to buy a home to raise their family in. Her husband said no and said that the only home he would have would be right there...pointing at a huge tree just within a fence...to a cemetery. Ten days later, he fell into the locks and drowned.

She had $3 to her name and so she couldn't afford to bury her husband. Two priests from different churches buried him, right where he had pointed. During the funeral, another woman stole the $3 that she had, leaving her penniless, homeless and with 2 small children.

Social services stepped in and told her that they were taking the children away from her because she couldn't afford to take care of them. She told them no, that where her children went, she went as well. And she did. They took her children to a home for handicapped children that had been built by Rockefeller. She got a job working there cleaning.

After a few years of working there, she decided that she was going to buy a home. She went to a realtor who asked her how much she had to put down. She told them nothing and they told her they couldn't sell her a house then. So, she went to her Union because that's where all of her money had been going and told them that she wanted $10,000 because she was going to buy a house. They told her to come back the next day and they would see what they could do. That night, she went back to the realtor and told them that she would have the money and to show her some houses. They showed her one. Nearby was another home and she said, "What about that one?" They told her it would cost more and she said it can't cost that much more. I want that house. The next day, she went back to the Union and they gave her the money. She bought the house that she wanted, a 2 family home and paid for it with the $10,000.

Her son (the handicapped one) only lived to the age of 23, but according to Anna, her friend Lula is one of the happiest people in the world.

As for Anna, she will be 91 at the end of this month. She still lives on her own, in the house her and her husband bought together and paid cash for. She has never had a bill, nothing outstanding. She still drives and does all of her own yard work. She's part of 3 senior groups and very decidedly feels that I shouldn't get remarried. Why should I potentially put myself through that kind of pain again or let a man tell me what to do? I think she is an incredible woman and I only regret not asking her if I could take her picture. Maybe one day I'll see her again at the grocery store. I know that she lives not far away on Dick Rd.

After wishing our new friend goodbye, Herbert and I finally finished our grocery shopping and headed home. A couple more people stopped us and he got his photo taken a few more times. Now, nearly 4 hours later (we left at 4:15 and got home at 7:45) were home and relaxing before I start putting all those groceries away. I think he's taking a nap.

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