This Is The Year

Welcome Mod Podge Maniacs! So glad you are here, I'm excited for the party!!! Mostly I'm excited because the project I started MONTHS ago is finally complete. Now I haven't been working on it for months, it has been sitting waiting for me to get back to it since I started it months ago, and ran into some problems. But first things first...let's review the rules. You may link up any post new or old that shows us something fabulous to do with Mod Podge. It doesn't even have to be a project you did yourself...it can be something you ran across that you just think is really cool and want to share! Just make sure to give credit where credit is due. Please remember to link back to me in your post. Also, please take the time to visit as many other party guests as you can...the idea is to share and receive great new ideas for Mod Podge! NOW...down to business! I first saw this idea over at Sarah's . She snagged it from Ballard Designs, I snagged it from her. Sarah is n...

MOD PODGE MANIA TOMORROW ... I hope to see you there!!

Sorry I've been MIA for a few days! Life has been a little crazy! But now you get to have a whole bunch of stuff you may or may not care about shoved at you all in one blog post! Treasures from Grandma's My paternal grandmother passed away a while back. She had a good life and left behind a large family and a lot of accomplishments. All of her children of course received their inheritances and the different things that were left to them. But there was a lot of stuff left over in the house that has just been sitting. Recently my uncle decided it was time to sell the house and the task to clean it out was under way. Basically my mom and a couple of my dad's sisters worked to go through stuff and get the place clean. Everybody was notified that if there was anything they'd like to keep, that they needed to come pick it up and the rest of the stuff would be donated. I went over one of the days to help my mom clean, and brought home some things that I thought had great repur...

Okay, I know I should get over this...but I'm a little fixated. I kinda feel like JennyKate and her Twilight! NOW, not only is Evgeni Plushenko a big fat cry-baby, but so is his country and Prime Minister! Apparently the Russian people are up in arms over him taking the silver rather than the gold, and even Vladimir Putin had to get in a cheap shot saying to Plushi (new nickname courtesy of my friend Rachael) that his silver was as good as gold, and that he skated the most accomplished program on the Vancouver ice. Boooo! Poor sports! However, Evan is proving to be much more gracious than myself, and this interview has endeared him to me even more. There is no way to embed this video, so you'll just have to follow the link. But trust me, if you take the time to watch this, you won't be disappointed. Here Evan proves that not only is he a champion, but a true role model as well. The grace and dignity with which he is handling this situation is inspiring, and to me is the tr...

A poor sport. I'm sorry for those of you who aren't into the Olympics. I wasn't planning on doing an Olympic post today. But THEN last night happened. Did y'all watch the Men's Free Skate last night? Did you see American, Evan Lysacek skate the program of his life...and take the gold!?! He is the first American to take the gold in Men's Figure Skating since Brian Boitano did in 1988. Evan's victory lap...Woot Woot!!! And did you see this cry-baby go on and on about how he (Evgeni Plushenko) should have won the gold? He pulled rude faces like this during the whole medal's ceremony. He first tried to blame it on the new scoring system, which ironically was adopted to make the scoring more fair, and make it harder for judges to sway the outcome toward their own bias. Then he had the nerve to say that basically he didn't believe Evan deserved the gold, and that he was certain that his own performance was the gold winning one. Now, of course I'm no ...

Dear Messy House, Why haven't you taken care of yourself yet? Each morning I awake, and expect you to be cleaned up, yet you are still in the pathetic state of disarray that I left you in when I retired the night before. What is your problem? Don't you know that I have much more important things like blogging budgeting, school governance, church calling, and grocery shopping to attend to? I don't have time to worry about you too. Please, get your act together and straighten up. Too busy to pay attention to you, Over-scheduled mom. Dear lady at the shoe store, Thank you for recommending the Nike running shoes. I have never had such comfortable running shoes in my life! The foot pain I experienced after running is completely gone...and the shoes are so light and they really breathe! No more sweaty feet! I really appreciate your expertise, and Kudos to your employer for hiring someone who actually knows what they're talking about! That's good business sense! Sincerely...

I spent this morning with a couple of my friends in the Young Women's presidency. We're trying to get birthday gifts made for each of the girls for the year. We are making "Daughter of God" name frames for them. This was an idea I got from the gifts my sweet friend Tanielle gave to my kids for Christmas a few years ago. Their name frames said "I am a child of God" and "Choose the Right". There are so many different things you can do with this project. You will need: picture frame (got these from the Dollar Tree), paint (if you want to change the color of your frame) - we used tole paint because we already had some, but spray paint is fine, Vinyl - 2 contrasting colors, and Cricut (or order already cut vinyl if you don't have the supplies to do it yourself) Tulle or ribbon First discard the back from you frame, keeping only the frame and the glass, then paint your frame whatever color you've chosen. Cut your vinyl for the name in a large,...

Did y'all have a good weekend? Wanna hear about MY weekend? Well, you get to! First let me ask you...if you could meet anyone, who would it be? I don't have a specific list of who would be my first choice, second choice, etc. But I have to tell you, Movie actors, T.V. actors, musicians - these guys actually aren't high on my list. But if you asked me would I like to meet one of my all time FAVORITE contestants from So You Think You Can Dance...I would shout a big, loud, "HECK YEAH!" So here's how it went down: A few days ago our good friends asked us if we'd be interested in bringing our family and going with their family to see a play. The tickets had been given to them by a relative who lives out of town and had purchased the tickets with the intent of coming into town to see the show. Unfortunately they weren't able to make it and didn't want the tickets to go to waste. We thought,"Sure! That will be a great way to have a little 'Valent...

So, did you watch? What did everybody think? I thought I'd give you a little rundown on my thoughts. Of course there was a shadow cast across the opening ceremonies by the tragic death of Gorgian luger , Nodar Kumaritashvili . The footage shown of the accident was difficult to watch for sure. Just a baby really, at 21 years of age. The sight of his 7 remaining teammates marching stoically into the stadium in the Parade of Nations to a standing ovation and thunderous applause brought tears to my eyes. My heart truly goes out to them, and to his family as well. There has been much criticism since the accident. Is the track truly too dangerous? I'm generally one that sides in defense of those criticized when a sporting type accident occurs. I mean, after all , they knew what the risks were, right? But this time, I'm not so sure. These athletes are the best in the world at what they do. Thousands of hours of training and perfecting their craft, with relatively minimal accid...

You would think this was a picture of a little hand that got pressed down on an ink pad. Nope. It's colored. With glittery gel pen. That's right. Monkey sat under the table and literally colored her hand so much that it was covered in gel pen ink. That's not to say she didn't get into trouble with an actual ink pad as well. Permanent ink. Things that she ruined that day BEFORE coloring her hand with the gel pen: The carpet. Her purple ruffly shirt. Oh yeah, the best...the valentines her sisters spent all Tuesday evening making...I showed them to you here . What she did with chapstick a little while later: colored all over the front of one of our copies of the Book of Mormon. Colored chapstick all over herself. Colored chapstick all over the TV screen. She also snuck into her big sister's dresser drawer, where Cowgirl had put her "favortie candy" that she got at her class Valentines party. Monkey ate every last piece. We realized when we saw ...

Dear Cousin Cowboy, I just wanted to let you know what your friendship has come to mean to me. Also I wanted to say sorry for all the times your older brothers and I tried to ditch you when we were growing up and I would come up for family reunions. But, well, c'mon...you ARE 4-5 years younger than us, and back then that was A LOT! We were these cool teenagers, and you were this annoying little kid (in our minds). So anyways...sorry for being a jerk back then. But seriously, as adults, you have become one of my best friends. Thanks for the kind words when I am hurting, the putting me in my place when I am whining, the political arguments, the smiles and the laughs. Your testimony uplifts me, your "tough guy" act doesn't fool me, and your country-boy heart endears you to me. Truly you have become one of my favorite people ever! I can't wait until April when we all get to come up and visit you in good ole Idaho! Cowgirl is TOTALLY looking forward to getting some rid...

Very first I need to get a small, uncomfortable item of business out of the way. I'm a little nervous about handling it appropriately, and hope I do not offend or hurt anybody. Yesterday I linked up (for the first time) to a popular blog party I had seen floating around, without actually reading the blog first. I unintentionally linked to a post that had a number of profanities in it. Although I believe that everyone has a right to say whatever they want on their blog, I wouldn't intentionally direct any of my readers to a post with this content. I try to keep my blog clean, and try hard to represent well the things I believe in. I have girls in my Young Women organization at church who have access to my blog, as well as family and friends whom I know wouldn't appreciate such content, and I really want to apologize if my blog led anyone to a post they might not appreciate reading. In no way am I trying to insult this blog author, or any of my blog friends who link up to thi...

Is it just me, or does it seem like the sunnier it gets, the COLDER it gets here in Utah? But the clear air has sure made the view enjoyable. Here's a few shots I got of the mountains while Hubby and I were out and about running errands yesterday. The 2 ladies I have attempted to start running with in the mornings are both 6 inches taller than me. I think it's mostly in their legs because I sure have a hard time keeping up with them! But being 5 paces behind is okay, since they manage to carry on a conversation while they're running, and I can barely keep from falling over dead into the gutter. Okay, I have a random question for y'all. You know how jeans come in sizes like 10, 12, 14? So is between a 10 and a 12, one size, or two? Because there's also sizes 9, 7, 5. So if you go down from a size 8 to a size 7, did you go down a size, or did you go down half a size? I just really want to know. Give me your opinions everyone! I was the ultimate white trash yesterday....

Drumroll please! I know you've all been waiting on the edge of your seats to see who will win my Blogiversary giveaway of Tanielle 's favorite things! Well, wait no longer! Using Random.org...the winner selected was....Renee (private blog)! Congratulations Renee, I just need your shipping info and your prize will be on the way! Thank you so much to everyone who celebrated with us! It's truly been an awesome year with all of you!

Let me tell you how my Friday night went last week. And let me link it up to one of my favorite girl MiMi's Friday feature of things that make you go "bleep" ! So my kids are asleep, my husband's at work, and it's pretty near right smack in the middle of the night. I hear a loud thump from the outside. Being alone nights has bothered me over the years, and I've had to learn to ignore most every little bump and thump I hear in the neighborhood, in order to hold onto my sanity. I was conscious of the noise, but quickly filed it away under "some idiot went too fast through the stop sign and bottomed out in the dip." Happens a lot. By this time I have ditched the clothes (clothes are so annoying!) and am in my favorite purple fluffy robe. I decide to snuggle up on the couch and watch a movie. Fools Rush In - it's a gem! ANYWAY...a few minutes into my show I get a call from Hubby. Here's how it went: Hubby: Hey, just got a call from Mike (we'...

Today I'm linking up with one of my favorite bloggy friends, Amanda . She's hosting a " 5 Reasons Why My Blog Rocks Party "! So I'm supposed to tell you all why my blog is great, why you should want to read me! To tell you the truth, I feel like I've been a REALLY boring blogger lately! But I'm trying to get my life under control so I can get back in the groove! So here goes! 1. You can find some great craft ideas! Not only do I like to share ideas I have come up with, but I host a fun, monthly party called Mod Podge Mania , where everyone is invited to link up their Mod Podge projects to share with each other! We've had some really great parties in the past...it's held the last day of each month if you're interested! 2. I love to make new friends. I do my best to visit everyone who visits me, and take the time to get to know you. I have made some great friends, whom I consider "real life" friends, outside of the blogging world. Inc...

Dear Appetite, Would you get lost already? I've been trying to ditch you forever...but just when I think I've given you the slip, you show right back up again! Don't you know how hard you are for me to ignore? And you're not a nice little appetite that just craves enough to give me the nourishment I need, and then you're satisfied. Nooooo, you have to be this raging monster that never quits! And you are not satisfied with whole grains and fruits and veggies. Nope, you demand nachos and pizza and salty, greasy foods of every variety. No, you are not a good companion to have. So, please, I'll ask you again, could you just get lost? Sincerely, The one who can't get you under control Dear Responsibilities, You are seriously overhelming me this week. You've had me commited to multiple things every. single. day. The Board meeting you had me commited to last night last until 12:30 a.m.! And now I have slush to make for Saturday's baby shower, piano...

7 years ago today, our sweet Pixie came into this world. And she's been a whirlwind ever since! She is so smart and spunky. Always asking questions, always wanting to learn. She definitely has an attitude that has caused more than one ruckus in our home, but I know her strong spirit will serve her well as she continues to grow. She has such a kind heart. She is always making cards and writing notes to everyone who she can think of. Teachers, friends, family members. I have one hanging on my fridge that reads, "Dear Mom and Dad, I love you. thank you for bieeng my perents. I love you so much. Love, Pixie. At the bottom is a picture with each member of our family that she drew, with the caption "I love my family". Her contagious smile, and sparkling eyes can win anybody over, and she's always full of laughter (and tantrums!). I couldn't imagine our family without her, and am wishing her the best birthday ever! I love you Pixie!