Hair Highlights from...?

Chalk! Did you know you can put pretty colorful highlights in your childs hair with chalk? I didn't, until I heard about it from this great hair site! That site has a ton of awesome hairstyles I look at that site all the time and wish I could do some of those styles on my girls. I try...but they never look that good! Practice I guess...

I did it on Bree's hair right away after seeing it on that website. I had some crayola chalk sitting in the house so I figured why not give it a try! Bree loved it! Jilly loved it too and later did her hair by herself. I have pics of Bree's but I didn't get a pic of Jilly's darn it. I'll have to be sure to get one next time.

Cute huh?




I'm tempted to put a pink streak or two in my hair :)

Toodles!

Snow!

I've been anxious for snow...yet Mother Nature has been mean and not provided me with much. There was one day we had a few flakes fall, I ran out to see them, then ran back in to get shoes on, by the time I did it had stopped. Then, a few days before my birthday we got a tiny dusting, not even enough to cover the grass, and barely enough for a snowball. I was excited we got some, but majorly disappointed in the lack of it. Every day, I wish for snow. It is December after all, and nearly Christmas, the ground & trees should be white and pretty, not ugly drab colors of dead grass and trees... I check the forecast online often and I get a :( face because there isn't any snow in the forecast day after day...even yesterday when I looked at the 10 day there wasn't any other then next week a rain/snow mix. Imagine my surprise when I went out to the kitchen this morning and glanced out my window and saw this SNOW! I was so excited! I called for Bree to come look out the window, she too shared my excitement. We grabbed our shoes, coats, and her mittens, and grabbed the dog and headed out to play in the snow while Moo (the dog) did her business. It was awesome. I'm in snow heaven. I want more...I'm greedy that way, sorry.

I know, most of you are snow haters...I'm sorry. Please don't rain on my parade :P

Toodles!

Bree's 4th Birthday Party

Bree turns 4 on December 19th, but we had her party early so Kelsey could be here for it, she'll be out of town this weekend. So on Dec. 11th we had a few people over, my mom, and my brother and his family. Invited a few others but they didn't come. It was a small but sweet party, Bree had fun, and thats the important thing!

Bree is in love with Lalaloopsy toys. Lalaloosy dolls "were once rag dolls that magically came to life when their last stitch was sewn. Each doll has their own personality that comes from the fabrics used to sew them." says their website. They are kind of cute, but the one thing I don't like about them is they are so top heavy they won't sit or anything, they just fall over... They may make a good weapon too with that hard head. Anyways, Bree loves them. She got her first last year at her birthday, she got the larger sized Princess Jewel Sparkle...and it has snowballed from there. Now she has about 10 mini lalaloopsy dolls, a bus, a treehouse, lalaloopsy pj's, and a ds game! She's in Lalaheaven.

She wanted her birthday cake to be Lalaloopsy of course. I made a drawing of how I hoped it would be, but of course plans changed and it didn't look as good as my drawing. I did a big pic of Princess Jewel Sparkle (Bree's favorite) on the top, and a bunch of others faces on the sides.

We got Bree a pink crown to wear, like Princess Jewel Sparkle, and we curled her hair all pretty for the day too, but the curls didn't last very long.

Here are some pictures from party day Enjoy.





Toodles!

What the girls do when they are bored

A few weeks ago the girls were bored.

Kels was letting Bree torture her. Bree decided she wanted to give Kels a make-over. First she started with a crayon...which worked surprisingly well by the way, later we switched over to real make-up.

Isn't she pretty?



After that Bree decided she wanted to give herself a make-over...



She had a blast playing with make-up. I'm glad I was busy, or she might have tried to do mine!

Toodles!

I know, I've been MIA.

December has been busy, and stressful.

We've had appointments. Dentist for me, still waiting for my pretty new teeth, should be soon though. Doctors appointments for Kelsey (she is suffering from depression and we are trying to get meds and dosages right etc.).

I've been mom taxi carting the kids back and forth to school, dances, and bowling practices & games.

Bree's had a cold, which she shared with me, and we've both been feeling tired and icky.

I turned another year older. I'm now 43, I think. See, so old I don't even know for sure...

I've been doing extra cleaning, because we had a little birthday party for Bree on Dec. 11 th.

I spent my birthday baking and decorating Bree's party cake.

I've just been tired. I've been cranky. I figured I'd stay away so I wouldn't scare people away LOL.

I'm going to try to get a few posts done today...providing my computer cooperates, its been having some scary issues the last few days... say a prayer for it!

Toodles!

Giveaway WINNER!

Thank you to those that entered to win the MyMemories Digital Scrapbooking Software giveaway! I wish you could all be winners, but I am only able to have one. I went to Random.org and had them pick the winner.

Hmm crap that came out small LOL. Hopefully you can read that, if not it says the winner was picked from the numbers 1-9, and that winner is #5! So comment #5 wins, that would be JOANNA!

Congratulations Joanna! I'll be getting in touch with you soon with the information you need to get your prize. Enjoy it and create some beautiful stuff!

To those of you that didn't win, I'm so sorry. If you would like to purchase My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software please use my code (see below). It will get you a $10 discount on the purchase of My Memories Scrapbooking software AND a $10 coupon to use in the My Memories store! Good deal right? Great for you and for a gift for someone...Christmas is only 25 days away ya know...and it would be so easy to shop from your computer getting this software..think about it :)

*** CODE: STMMMS10284 ***

Thanks for visiting my blog. Don't forget to check out My Memories website & Facebook page.

Thank you My Memories for giving me the opportunity to host this giveaway and for supplying the software to me to review and give to the winner.

Toodles!

P.S. Can someone PLEASE send snow my way? It's December, I need snow on the ground...just not on the roads :) Thanks.

Giveaway Time! (Closed - Winner announced!)

****GIVEAWAY CLOSED - Winner announced !****

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. I've had some stuff going on around here that has had my mind elsewhere.

I'm excited to report that I have a GIVEAWAY for you! I was contacted by My Memories, the award winning digital software company, with an offer to host a giveaway for my blog readers! I was very nervous, I always get that way with giveaways because I worry I'll do it wrong and mess everything up, but I was also very EXCITED too!



I was given My Memories Suite digital scrapbook software to try out and review. They claim it is easy to use, I was leary though because I really am terrible at using things like this... But guess what? I DID IT! I made some things! It actually is fairly easy! If I can do it anyone can, really. Would you like to see the things I made? Let me show you..

I've been thinking about making a new blog header, I had an idea in my mind, just didn't know how to go about it. I got to thinking hmmm maybe this new My Memories Suite could help me make it, and I went about trying it. This is the very first thing I made:


Not to bad for a first timer with NO CLUE what I was doing. Right?

Then I went about trying some other things...As you will see, I'm very much a lover of snow, and wishing we had some NOW, so my things have a winter/snow theme to them...




The red one, was a template they had, I just added my picture and my words. The blue one I totally did on my own. I've got some more learning to do, but this just shows you anyone can do it. I did these all one evening, just using a few hours of my time.

How about it? Would you like to give this a try? Would you love to win My Memories Suite digital scrapbook software? You could make your own scrapbook layouts, cards, calenders, photo books, videos and more!

There are 3 ways you can enter to win, pick one, two, or do all three:

1. Visit the My Memories website, and take a look at their digital scrapbooking kits, then come comment here telling me which one appeals to you. This counts as ONE entry. Be sure to leave me an email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win.

2. Like and/or Follow My Memories on Facebook or Twitter then come back here and leave a comment to let me know you have (please be honest). This counts as ONE entry (even if you like AND follow). Be sure to leave me an email address in the comment so I can contact you if you win.

3. Follow my blog, if you haven't already. If you do, let me know you already do. Once you follow my blog, come back here and leave a comment letting me know that you have done so and that will count as ONE entry. Be sure to leave me an email address to contact you if you win.

I'll be taking entries from now, Nov. 20, through Nov. 30, 2011. After that I will randomly pick a winner and announce it here (and via email) on (or near) Dec. 1, 2011.

As a special to my readers, My Memories has supplied me with a code for you all- good for a $10 discount off the purchase of My Memories Suite scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store! So even if you don't win the free software you can still score something good :) The code is: STMMMS10284 If you'd like to make a purchase for yourself or as a gift for someone please use that code (highlight it, control/c to copy, then control v to paste it in your order). This would make a great Christmas gift, why not get it now, you can order it without leaving the house, so easy! Please spread the word and share the code!

Good luck!

Toodles!

(As stated above, I was given a free copy of the My Memories Suite to try and review. The opinions given above are my own)

I Spy 11-3-11

Before I join Dear Dazee in her weekly I Spy, I need to take a quick second for a special announcement...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my MOM! I hope you have a wonderful day!

Ok, back to the regular scheduled programming...




This weeks prompt is TREES, and bloggers choice. My favorite trees are my moms trees in the fall. This picture was taken last year while I was bored at our garage sale that no one was coming to LOL.


I love the colors, aren't they pretty?

For my bloggers choice picture hmmm let me bring up another oldie...
How about another of Jilly, she was a little troublemaker as a youngster. I found her this way one day, I asked her if she was in my make up, she told me NO...I didn't believe her, do you?




What a stinker...

Next weeks I Spy is: MAP(S) and Bloggers Choice.

Have a great day!

Toodles!

P.S. Damn I haven't redone my blog since Spring, maybe I should get on the ball and change things up a bit soon... should I do fallish or go right to wintery looks? :)

Look at me! Again and again and again...

I have a few internet pet peeves. Most of you that know me know one of them is people that use a million !!!!!!!!!'s or ????????'s in posts of any kind whether it is on FB, Twitter, wherever. One or two !'s or ?'s is plenty folks.

Another pet peeve of mine (sorry if this offends any of you), is people that post a crap ton of pictures of THEMSELVES on facebook. Really, how conceited & vain are we?? (see, 2 ??'s made my point very well). It really annoys me. Oh, don't get me started on the pucker face, duck face, whatever you wanna call it... why do they do it? I don't understand, do they think it makes them look cute? I have news for them..it does NOT.

For fun (although it wasn't) I took a crap ton of pics of me (in my ugly toothless glory), just to prove a point.


See. OVERKILL. One pic of me would have been way more then enough. But by golly I wanted to make sure you saw me in my funny faces.

Do you know someone on FB that takes a ton of pics of themselves? I do. Really... GET. OVER. YOURSELF. Sorry. You may be pretty, or you may not.. do we really need to see you over and over and over and OVER in the same poses with the same goofy faces?

Whew. I feel better getting that off my chest.

Toodles.

I Spy 10-28-11 (yes I'm late again)

This week has been messed up. It's been busy, crazy, stressful, and painful to name a few ways to describe it. Bill's been home off and on all week. Monday I had that dental procedure, I was all nervous about it but it went ok. I was sore that evening but things are healing up. Tuesday Kelsey had a dental appt, and it seemed to take forever. I don't remember what all I did Wednesday, but whatever it was it kept me busy lol. Yesterday was busy too, and in the evening Kels went balistic about some stuff so I never got around to posting this... Then today brought another busy day, cleaning in the morning, ER visit in the afternoon. My crazy Bree keeps climbing onto the countertop in the bathroom. I sent her in there to go potty before we picked the girls up at school today. We heard her in there smacking the mirror which means she was on the countertop... we went in there and told her to get down and to not do it again for she'll get hurt. She climbed down and as she was at the floor she stumbled and fell hitting her nose really hard (you could hear it hit) on a metal step stool. Ouch. She screamed bloody murder for a good 35-40 minutes, her nose swelled, and it bleed a bit. 2+ hrs and xrays later we find her nose has a slight crack in it, but it won't affect the appearance of her nose so its ok, and she has a cut inside her nose. She is to ice it, take pain meds if needed, and take antibiotics to prevent any infection that could come from bacteria getting into the cut in her nose. So yeah, fun times...NOT.

Dazee's I Spy was actually yesterday but I'm still participating. Theme this time is JUST LIKE HALLOWEEN.

Jilly the pumpkin girl and Bree as strawberry shortcake. They dressed up to go to CVS to get goodies. When we got home they carved pumpkins. Bree wasn't to keen on putting her hand in hers. I took about 10 pics of her with her pumpkin, this is the closest I could get to her actually looking towards the camera...and it isn't a very good one. Drives me nuts when she looks everywhere but at the camera!

Bloggers choice pic will be....


This picture always makes me laugh. This is Jilly when she was younger, with pretzels up her nose. Do not try this at home, leave it to the professionals.

Next weeks theme is: TREE(S), and bloggers choice.

Toodles!

A Vlog For You

I came up with an interesting way to do a Vlog. You know I'm not a fan of my picture taken (yet anyways). Last time I vlogged I think I had a paper bag over my head! This time is a bit different...

Its funny how you can have a lot to say, then the camera is in your face and everything you planned to say disappears! I just rambled on about this & that, not sure how much sense it makes...hopefully it doesn't bore the crap out of you LOL.

Keep in mind I did this alone, so the aim isn't so good with the camera...





Toodles!

I Spy 10-13-11

It's that time again! Time for me to join up with my pal Dazee and do the weekly I Spy.

This weeks prompt was ABANDONED and Bloggers choice. I pass a few abandoned places here in town frequently, so yesterday when I picked up Kelsey at school (she had to stay late to take a test) we swung by these places to take pics really quick.

The first one is located near Jilly's school. Upon taking a closer look at it yesterday I think it had a fire in it, hence why it is now empty. It looked like there was black smoke stuff on the side of the house (not seen in the picture).


I wish I had taken my camera with me yesterday morning when I took Kels to school, it was still a bit dark then and the full moon was above that house and it looked creepy & cool. To bad I missed that shot.

The next one I'm going to show you is located on Rt. 34, this house has been this way ever since I've been living in this town, not sure when it got abandoned. This house interests me, I wonder the story behind it, why it was left...is it haunted? I'd like to go through it, but I'm sure its probably dangerous inside since its so old and falling apart.


To bad houses can't talk, I bet this one would have a lot to say. This house also has a barn...well, whats left of a barn...


Poor old barn.

Now, for Bloggers choice...This is a hard one. Over the weekend I took the girls to Sannauk Forest Preserve for photos. I have several I like and I can't pick just one, so I'm not going to limit myself :) Here are the pictureS I have picked:





It was so nice out over the weekend, temps in the 80's. We enjoyed it while we could :). I'm anxious for cold weather and SNOW to come, but I hope it stays away until Nov. 1, gotta have it nice for Halloween :)

Thats it for this weeks I Spy. Next weeks theme is PLAYGROUNDS and bloggers choice. Be there or be square.

Toodles!

Homecoming 2011

Last weekend was Mendota's Homecoming. Friday was Spirit Day for the students to dress up in school colors and look goofy. I was a nice mom and bought Kelsey a shirt & shorts to wear, and did her hair.




That is supposed to be an M, for Mendota. We sprayed her hair purple & gold...although they don't look it much because of Kelsey's regular hair color underneath.

After school Kelsey had to come home and shower, then she had a job interview for Pizza Hut. After that she went to dinner with her dad and they went to the homecoming game together. I'm happy to report Mendota WON the football game. It was also their first homecoming game on their new field/stadium!

Saturday Kelsey's friend Autumn came over to go to the dance with Kelsey (Autumn graduated from Mendota last year). They spent a ton of time getting ready and taking pics of themselves and facebooking them. The dance started at 8, and the girls were finally ready to leave for it at 8:20. I didn't get much for pictures because they were in a hurry, and it was dark out, not good for pics. Here is one decent one I got. (Kels is in the black/teal dress, Autumn in green)


I like the dress...just wish it was a few inches longer. :) I bought her the dress, and paid for her tickets for her & Autumn for the dance...No thanks from Kels for any of my homecoming purchases is for her...just complaints that I didn't pay for her to get her nails done nor her hair done. :( It frustrates me.

When the girls returned from the dance they hung out in Kelsey's room making all kinds of noise, not much sleep that night.

The following day she slept most of the day, even though I begged her for a little help around the house & with her little sister since I was still recovering from my teeth yanking and I didn't have much energy. I got none.

I think she needs to start saving now for Prom...because with her attitude and lack of thanks I'm not feeling in the generous mood... :P

The girls did look nice and pretty though for homecoming. I'm glad its over.

Toodles!

I Spy 10-7-11

TGIF! Yep its FRIDAY. 4 day weekend for the kids here, I'm glad I don't ahve to drive them back and forth to school for a few days, I just hope they can be on good behaviour while home and not make me drive them there anyways LOL.

I'm a day late for the I Spy, but I'm still joining in. Yesterday my old neighbor (who works for Dell) came over and did some major much needed clean up to my computer so I wasn't able to get this post done on time.

This weeks prompt was SIGNS. Here is a stop sign a few blocks from my home. I did not do this to the sign, someone else did, shame on them... but kinda cool too.



Show love people, not HATE.

Now for Bloggers choice...I took this picture yesterday.


Pretty huh? I love the little lake here in town. I love fall colors too.

Next weeks prompt is ABANDONED and bloggers choice.

Toodles!

I Spy (Bench)

Happy Thursday!

I'm joining in with my friend Dazee and her I Spy meme again.

This weeks theme/prompt is BENCH (S). I happened to find some for pictures last week, so here they are:

Notice the bend in the middle of this one? Probably from me sitting my fat butt on it! LOL not really I didn't sit on this one. These are both located at the lake here in town.

Now for a photo of my choice....hmmm I don't know that I have any good current ones...Let me find an older one...


:)

Toodles!

I Survived!

I'm happy to say I survived my dentist visit and all my teeth extracted yesterday. I was super nervous! I took my valium at 8 like I was supposed to, my mom drove me. Soon as we got there I used the bathroom and then they were ready to take me back! I guess thats better then sitting around waiting nervously.

I sat in the chair and they got me ready. Let me say one thing, THANK GOD FOR THE GAS! That stuff made it much more tolerable. The gas was started first, then the novacaine...ick. My mouth was so huge (or felt that way at least) that half the time I wasn't sure if I had it open or not lol. The whole thing seemed to go pretty fast (even though it was nearly 3 hrs). If I felt anything I was given more novacaine...except at the very end. They had pretty much maxed me out on it and since my blood pressure was so high (160/100) they didn't want to risk giving any more, at the very end I felt a few stitches being put in. It hurt a tad but not awful since I did have some numbing (just not enough). According to the dentist all went well in the removal.

I had to sit a bit after to make sure all was well and I was given care instructions. At this point I had tears in my eyes , from relief of being done, then all the sudden I got the giggles! I kept laughing and nothing was even funny! My mom was back there with me at this point, she was laughing at me/with me. LOL. I was so glad to get out of there! Mom drove me back home. I talked a lot I think but I doubt she understood a word I said because I had so much gauze in my mouth.

Once we got home mom went and picked up my meds (Thanks Mom!), and I got settled on the couch, where I remained almost all night....like until 3 a.m. The evening was hard while I had gauze in, because I kept having to write notes to everyone because no one understood me. Bree didn't like that I couldn't talk to her. Late evening I took the gauze out and thankfully the drooling stopped, for I had gone through a ton of gauze & paper towels trying to catch all the slobber LOL. I spent the evening chilling out, and watching DWTS, while my family made a mess...which I had to clean up today. Kels did make Bree dinner, and take Moo out for me. Jilly felt bad later that night and folded a basket of laundry for me.

I stayed on the couch most of last night trying to sleep, I was trying to stay upright as much as possible. I was awake far more then I was sleeping unfortunately. At 3 a.m. ish I said screw this I'm going into bed... I still had sleeping issues after that. Today I'm sore, swollen a bit and exhausted, and a tiny bit hungry. I got in 2 bites of yogurt this morning, and about 3 for lunch...enough to get food into my stomach to take my pills. I'm crossing my fingers that once my husband gets home tonight I'll be able to take a little nap!

I told you I'd take a before pic, and I did. I'm going to post it, so if you don't want to see turn away now. Its just what my smile looks like, I couldn't get into my mouth to show you all the other broken yucky teeth, but I'm sure by looking at the front you'll get the idea.


Now you know why you rarely see pics of me, and if you do I'm not smiling. Soon I'll try to get some full body pics too for a before pic, I'm hoping I'll shed some pounds and by the time I get my teeth I'll look a lot better!

Toodles!
Time for me to ice ice baby...trying to get swelling down.

D-Day

Today is the day. When this blog post shows up I'll probably be sitting in the dentist chair. Hopefully I'll be so drugged up I'll be at ease... Please keep me in your thoughts and/or prayers, I NEED THEM. I was going to post a before pic, but at the time I'm typing this I have a major headache and I'm not in the mood LOL. I will try to post one as soon as I'm able though.

If I don't survive...please know I appreciate you readers. It's been fun. Make sure my husband cremates me, and I want my ashes kept with my kids...the last of my children to die (hopefully many many MANY years from now) needs to take my ashes to their grave. There, I've covered that base..

I hope for the best, prepare for the worst... thats the worry wart in me.

If ya follow me on Facebook I'll try to get a text sent to FB to let ya all know how it went, if you are interested.

From now on you can call me GUMBY haha :)

Toodles!

SOOC Saturday (9-24-11)

Happy Fall!

Today I'm going to join up and do Marvelous Mommy's SOOC Saturday meme again. Its just posting a photo that you took, straight out of the camera no edits done to it. I like this because I suck at editing lol so I don't have to worry about this one. I don't have any good edit programs, I just use picnik when I edit. Someday if I ever get lessons on how to use a program like photoshop or lightroom (of course I'd have to save to buy them first...those suckers are expensive), maybe I'll dally more into edits, but for now I just do basic things when I do them.

Here is my SOOC picture, I took it last week over at Lake Mendota:

Not to bad for SOOC eh?

If I do a little vibrance & boost to it, it turns out looking like this:



Happy Saturday!

Toodles!

Anxiety

As you know, Monday is a big day for me. A scary day. A exciting day. A painful day. A new beginning day. It will be the day the journey to a pretty smile begins. On Monday I am going to the dentist and getting all my teeth taken out. To say I'm stressing about this would be an understatement. I'm a tad freaked out LOL. Well more than a tad a LOT freaked out.

I lay in bed trying to fall asleep and I think about the dentist. I have dental phobia. Even calling a dentist freaks me out, I get the craps, cramps, feeling icky. Knowing I'm going on Monday has already started that ball rolling and I've been visiting the bathroom lots already. Anyways, as I was saying, I lay in bed trying to fall asleep and I think about the dentist, and whats gonna happen, about the sounds & smells of the dentist etc. it keeps me awake. When I finally do fall asleep I have dreams about the dentist. I told you about the one I think, where he told me I owed him money and how he claimed I use my boobs to try to get a discount...I told ya right? That was about a week or so ago. The other night I had one that I was at the dentist, strapped to the chair, and he was threatening to put novacaine injections into my FEET to prevent me from leaving! Eek.

I worry about everything. What if I choke on a piece of gauze? What if I have a reaction to the valium I'm going to be taking? What if he overdoses me on novacaine? What if I feel the pain as he pulls my teeth? The shots...EEEEK I hate those things. What if I bleed to death in the dentist chair? What if what if what if. I think because I've wanted this to happen for years and dreamed of dentures and a pretty smile, thinking it would never happen due to costs, now that it IS happening I fear the worst because I'm getting something I want. Sorta like that'll teach me for wanting something so costly and for appearance sake (although its for health reasons too).

Keep me in your prayers, I need help with this anxiety and constant fear, and of course I'll need them for Monday.

I am looking forward to no more toothaches, no more pain from cold winter air hitting my teeth, no more teeth breaking when I chew my food...

Another huge thanks to my Mom for making this dream a reality for me. I love you mom, and if I survive Monday I'll be sure to give you a big hug after my appointment. Maybe I'll give you one before too, just in case I don't!

Toodles!

I Spy (lamps)

Happy Thursday!

I'm going to join in with my friend Dazee again with her I Spy meme. This weeks prompt was LAMPS. Lamps...? Seriously?!? I think its a crazy one, not one I'd have picked, and one I have struggled with LOL. I don't really have any lamps in my home, ours broke and never got replaced since we have ceiling lights why bother ya know? I didn't want to lug my big camera into a store to sneak pics either, because I was afraid I'd look like a loon (more than usual). So I was a wiseguy, and took this pic:



I drew it in chalk, on my driveway.

The FedEx guy that came today probably wonders why there is a lamp drawn on my driveway...oh well let him wonder :)

For my bloggers choice pic I think I'll go with this one:


I took this one out by the lake this morning.

Next weeks I Spy prompt is BENCH (S). I've got that one covered already yay me!

Toodles