Snow Day!

This is what we woke up to this morning. Pretty? Yes. Annoying? Yes, that too. Needless to say my plans of grocery shopping & errands at the post office were interrupted. The roads were icy & I had heard of several accidents around the area. Back home {California} we didn't get icy roads too often and I had never driven in snowy conditions. So we stayed home. The kids messed up the house & I'll clean it up later. Of course I also bundled them up & took them outside to play for a little while. Michael had fun throwing snow chunks - this stuff was crunchy, not soft & powdery. And Lydia loved running around making crunchy little foot prints - all over the backyard, which as you can see in the pictures is really a big field since we don't have a fence. They had fun, but I got cold quick since their jackets were warmer than mine. Lydia came in for her nap, Michael played until his gloves were too wet and life went back to normal, just with less out and about than I had planned.

The only plans of mine for tonight that haven't been interrupted {crossing my fingers the power doesn't go out} are my plans to watch the season premier of LOST. I am SO looking forward to this new season & HOPING that we'll get at least SOME answers because there are A LOT of questions. As the narrator in season three's season finale 'Through the Looking Glass' stated: "There's a lot happening on the Island." REALLY?? I hadn't noticed. ;) I haven't blogged about LOST before but I was still catching up with season three since I started watching season one somewhere between season two & three, or the start of three - can't remember now. My BFF snuck the season one disc set into my diaper bag after leaving her house after scrapping one day & so while I was packing I decided to humor her & watch the first disc. I think it was a couple days later that I was renting season two discs. A few weeks ago I finished watching the epi's I missed in season three because I started watching mid season {yes, I cheated}. Now I'm looking forward to learning more about Smokey, why Patchy NEVER dies, if Chaalie somehow survived!, why Libby was in the nut house, what the four toed statue is of & why there's only one foot left standing, what exactly are the Others building a runway for, who is in the coffin, where's Walt {not Waldo}, and what happened after Michael & Walt left the Island. I know there are MANY more mysteries I'm forgetting about - maybe that's why the series recap airing before the premier tonight is the 8th recap epi after only three seasons. There's a lot to keep up with folks. If I lost you at 'Smokey' then go get LOST & catch up! You can watch all three seasons on abc.com.

Now that I'm all caught up I'm SURE that I'll be mentioning LOST a little more often around here. Oh & if you're wondering what else I've been doing this week go here & see. Thanks for visiting!

SMART to not procrastinate

I am late in posting but it's still Saturday so yay! me. For any of you who have read me for a few months you have surely figured out that I am a procrastinator and if you haven't figured it out this proves it all. I had a Mary Kay Open House planned for a couple weeks now and still everything was done last minute. I had been organizing things in my house throughout the week and milling over ideas for the party but didn't actually start doing anything until yesterday and even that was slow going. So I was mopping my floors at 10:30pm - which is really frustrating when grocery store {read: post housing} floors never look clean. I finally decided that I wasn't trying to sell my house or my housecleaning skills and was okay with it not being perfect. My displays looked good, the house was clean and it turned out to be a good & productive event. However, I REALLY don't want to procrastinate again. When I did my last minute trip to Super Wal*Mart yesterday I forgot the roast, cereal & crackers yet came home with two decorative pillows {brown & on sale for $10} and a bath mat {sale for $5} which were items we needed in the house but didn't feed us. Fortunately I keep my pizza coupons so someone else cooked dinner tonight.

As for the rest of the week as I had mentioned I did get some sorting & organizing done. I tackled some of the paperwork and found that I need several accordion files or just a filing cabinet. Between my Mary Kay paper work, hubby's 'official' Army paperwork, my Army related papers, bills, medical records, schedules, coupons, warranties, manuals...OH the list goes on. I need to organize more before I can cross that one off my list - maybe next SMART day. ;) Next week I'm planning on getting the shelves for my pantry, if I can just remember where I'm supposed to get them from. And I still need to get fabric & borrow a sewing machine or mail it to this sweet chick and let her do it. I have decided that I will paint my kitchen after all, not sure when exactly but it will get painted. I mentioned it to hubby during a chat this week and he didn't bat an eye - at least he didn't tell me if he did, so I think he's okay with it. Of course I'm sure that will mean many trips to the paint section and hanging paint chips on the walls. I'll be sure to share with you all once I get that more figured out.

For my habit, this week I didn't improve much. I think I had the kitchen cleaned 3 nights this week. I just need to focus or start doing the dishes right after dinner before I'm tired after getting the kids to bed. Thanks for stopping by! I hope you had a great week & if you want to get SMART or see how others are being SMART click on the button above.

PINK doing GREEN

About a week after I posted about Going Green I opened up my recent order from Mary Kay and was surprised to see peanut packaging. They used to package orders with plastic filled with air - it looked like several bags connected together but they weren't bags, like a plastic air filled sausage. Anyway, as I found my products in the sea of peanut packaging I found this note at the bottom of the box. I loved the heading of their note so much that I copied it for this post. Isn't that cute 'pink' - just about everything Mary Kay is or has pink or black on it - doing 'green'...I thought it was catchy. Anyway, now I have one more thing to boast about in the business I run. I've read some environmental focused blogs talking about 'green' being a trend or something that businesses are doing just to market to more customers. This may very well be true. But I figure trend or not it's still a good thing.

Oh and to update on my last green post - I still love my canvas bags. I would love them even more if I could remember to pop the trunk BEFORE going into the store more often {new habits take time to develop}. Leendaluu suggested doing a canvas bag exchange - it would be fun to swap bags, Christine was inspired to get her own - have you? - and Ter said that some stores offer bins for recycling plastic bags. I'm going to have to see if my stores do because I have WAY more plastic bags then I think I could ever reuse. Here's what Mel had to say about plastic bags, I didn't know about all this before I bought my totes.

"Yes, I agree. I like to use the re-usable bags as well (or my hands /pockets/purse if I only buy a thing or two). It takes approx. 1,000 years for plastic to degrade--and it's only been around since the 1950's or so as a substitute for cutting down trees for paper bags... so where does all that plastic go? Scary to see that it ends up in our oceans, tons and tons circling and whirling around in massive gyres waiting for their appointed year to be no more. There is, fortunately, research taking place as we "speak" in the creation of plastic bags with a century-shelf life. A much better proposition than 1,000. So, even things like Tupperware and other plastic containers may soon be very more accommodating for the masses."

So are any of you going green or getting greener? Thanks for stopping by!

Inquiring Minds

You all are a curious bunch. And I like that but I'm not very good at answering questions in the comments so I thought I' do that today. Plus I haven't posted since Sunday. I've been busy around the house and with my business. Will share more on both in another post. Onto the Q&A

In response to the video of the song "Christmas in Fallujah" Christine had this to say: "It's definately though provoking. It's sad, but I can see his point about the "sea of oil" and that our troops might feel like they are there for the wrong reasons, or no reason at all. Especially if their country isn't supporting them. Well I think you do a great job of supporting the troops and your husband and I hope to also. Thank you for sharing that. And will you be sharing YOUR thoughts on this? Just wondered what you thought..." Yes, I will be posting my thoughts on the song. I had planned on doing that sooner than it will end up being but life happens. Also, I still need to gather my thoughts on the song, thought provoking describes it perfectly.

In response to my SMARTy post Valley Girl had this to say: "That's right -- it takes time to develop good habits. And it looks like you're well on the way. Congratulations on getting some serious stuff done!!!! It always amazes me how great that feels and yet that it's still always a struggle! ;) Keep it up! (I hope you'll share pictures to show off your decorating efforts!!)" Thank you! And the answer is yes! I will be sharing pictures of the kitchen when it is complete, or mostly complete anyway - home projects are rarely finished for long, at least for me. But when I have a camera that doesn't take blurry photos and paint on my walls you'll see pictures. Until there is paint I will be sharing highlights of the kitchen - again, when I have the camera which should be sooner than later.

In response to my Scrappy Sunday post Leendaluu had this to say : "rebecca--that is a really cute album but for the uninitiated among us (ok, me). What is a paperbag album?" Similarly GeorgiaBellBoutique said, "Love it! What a great gift. I have to learn how to do that! It is really fantastic! Let us know how your business goes and good luck!" And Just Me said "What a nice gift to give to your dad and step mom. :) It looks great! I'm going to have to learn how to do that. :)" First, thank you! Second - I will be doing a paperbag album tutorial, with pictures, soon. And by soon I mean as soon as I have the time & I find the sticker sheets I want for several projects. Not giving away any details yet though. ;)

Thanks so much for all of your comments, questions & concerns. ;) It really is a lot of fun having so many people reading this blog - definitely not what I had anticipated when I first started. Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday Scrappin' #10

This week I don't have much to share. I have been busy cleaning & organizing the house and working my business that I forgot all about my scrappy to do list. And didn't even think about pulling my stuff out to scrap anything. Sad I know. So I'll do same as I did last week and show you what I worked on while I was on vacation. This is a paperbag album I did for my dad & stepmom. I left it blank for them to choose their favorite photos. I used a sticker sheet & coordinating bazzil/cardstock and finished it in about an hour. Paper bag albums {when using a sticker sheet} is my favorite way to get quick results. Ta-da! You can click on the pictures for a larger image. The last picture is of the tags/pull outs that go in each pocket.

This week my to-do list will be copied from last week in hopes that I actually check at least one item off. My hope is that as I make progress on the house I'll have the {guilt free} time to tackle these goals.

• visit new scrappy store and restock cardstock (get ideas for new pages)
  
• organize patterned papers by category and solids by color
• go through embellishments and toss what I have held onto 'just in case' and have yet to use it.
• find storage for larger items - paint cans/lunch pails, etc
• write out list of scrappy pages to do in Lydia's album - finish before she's 2!

This weeks bonus question: Which of your recent projects were you most proud of? I really loved how a paperbag album I made for one of my grandmothers turned out but of course I forgot to take pictures & even worse, it looks like it may have been lost in the mail. I can easily enough make her another one but it's SAD to me still. I also liked the wall hangings that I shared last week. It was the first time I had made an altered item like that and had no examples to copy. I liked them so much I wished I had made more to give away as gifts. Maybe next year?!

Thanks for visiting! For more Sunday scrappers or to participate yourself - click on the button above. Have a scrap happy week!

Getting SMARTer Saturday

Last week I decided to try being SMART again and started back at square one - the kitchen. My daily habit was to do a quick clean of the kitchen {empty/fill dishwasher, put away drying dishes on counter, wipe counters & sweep floors} each night before going to bed. Typically this is something I'd want to do right after dinner but with no hubby and two active kids that just doesn't work out. This week I've managed to complete that goal twice, so it's not picking up as quickly as I had hoped. But the mornings that it started out clean I liked it so I'm going to give it another go this week.

Things are looking more hopeful for my goals for the month. Now, I started a week late in January so I'm giving myself one week into February to complete this list.

• Putting shelves in the pantry {every other cabinet has shelves, yet this one only has the holes for little brackets}
• Put up valances {which also means deciding on some kind of color scheme}
• Getting a rug or runner {again - color choices}
• Purge and reorganize all cabinets & drawers.
• Clear clutter off of counter tops.

Two of the more difficult tasks have been accomplished - my kitchen now has colors and my counters are clutter free. I used the apron my sister gave me for Christmas and my cute multi-colored espresso cups as inspiration and now am on the hunt for finding various items in color. I'll post more about the colors in a future post. My next goals to check off is organizing & purging all of the cabinets and drawers. The shelves will wait until the next pay day and my valances will wait until I find some in the right colors or I get really adventurous and borrow a sewing machine from a friend to make them myself.

Oh and I think I may be losing my mind, or at least a few marbles. I've been seriously contemplating painting the kitchen. We'll see if I find my way to any paint samples... By the way, I know how to measure for windows so if anyone would like to make the valances for me, I'd truly appreciate it. It's just two small{ish} windows. ;)

Thanks for stopping by! Click on the picture above for more SMARTness.

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Sunday Scrappin' #9

I've succumbed to peer pressure, but in this case it's a good thing. My bff who enjoys scrapping as much as I do joined a weekly scrappy blog carnival and now I'm joining in on the fun too. I'm hoping that this will be a great motivator to get my but in gear with all that I have to catch up on. My scrappy list is a long one. I had planned on catching up while my husband is away but between moving and holidays and vacations I haven't found very much time. So here's hopin!

The way this works is you show your "ta-das" and "to-dos" for the week. Which sounds like I get to show off what I have worked on and then write up a list of what I want to accomplish scrappy wise. There's also a bonus question that I'll answer at the end. So here gos.

My "ta-das" weren't done this week but are the most recent scrappy stuff I've worked on. I was waiting to post pictures to make sure everyone received their gifts before seeing them on here.

This is an altered paint can I made for my bff for her birthday. I filled it with some fun scrappy stuff I hoped she would like. It was so much fun to make and I look forward to making more.

These I added pictures of my kids in Santa Hats but forgot to take a picture of the finished product. They are decorative wall hangings, and I made them for Christmas decorations. When I added the photos I did with photo corners so next year I can send the recipients updated Christmas pictures of the kids. These were given to my mother in law and one of my grandmothers. (You can click on pictures to enlarge if you'd like).

Now for my "to-dos". Oh boy, like I said I have A LOT of catching up to do but before I can even get started with scrapping I need to get some supplies and organize my stuff, so that's what my list is about.

• visit new scrappy store and restock cardstock (get ideas for new pages)
  
• organize patterned papers by category and solids by color
• go through embellishments and toss what I have held onto 'just in case' and have yet to use it.
• find storage for larger items - paint cans/lunch pails, etc
• write out list of scrappy pages to do in Lydia's album - finish before she's 2!

And here's the bonus question: If you could only do one kind of paper crafts for the rest of your life, which craft would you pick? This is an easy one for me to answer - scrapbooking. My favorite part of it is recording our family. BUT in my world altered items are included in that. Thanks for stopping by! For more scrappy inspiration click on the button above and join in if you'd like!

Starting From Scratch

The holidays are over, traveling is done and I'm starting to feel healthy again. In short - I've run out of excuses. It's time to get my booty in gear and get my house, habits and well everything back in order. I was overwhelmed at all there was to do when getting back home and ignored the suitcases and boxes for a few days. I finally got that all put away but it only made me realize how much there was to do and I can't blame it all on the holidays or vacation. So I've got a list of tasks for each room in the house - every room or at least some part of it will be purged and reorganized. On top of that I want to really do some decorating - area rugs, curtains or valances and wall decor. My goal is to create a welcoming home that is pleasing to the eye. I want it to be fun and functional for my family as well as relaxing and productive for myself. Relaxing & productive may sound like opposites but if I can be productive without constantly searching for things or stuffing drawers or seeing piles and clutter then I will be much more relaxed and more productive. Part of me wants to jump in head on and try to tackle it all at once, but that would be short lived. I get overwhelmed and tasks seem daunting so I end up doing very little or nothing at all. This week my goal will be to start back at the beginning - a clean kitchen. With little hungry kids first thing in the morning and needing my coffee fix the kitchen is the first place I'm in. Lately I've wanted to run back to bed because of the mess in there. Dishes left on the drying rack, dishes still in the sink and clutter EVERYWHERE. I have a good amount of counter space which is great for cooking and storing small appliances but it's also dangerous. It's like a magnet to clutter {much like every other flat surface in my home}. So this week each night I am going to have a dish free sink, clean counters and a swept floor. At the same time I will be decluttering and removing the catch all that has invaded my space. Throughout this month I would like to get the kitchen tasks completed and checked off of my list. This includes:

• Putting shelves in the pantry {every other cabinet has shelves, yet this one only has the holes for little brackets}
• Put up valances {which also means deciding on some kind of color scheme}
• Getting a rug or runner {again - color choices}
• Purge and reorganize all cabinets & drawers.

This time around some people are doing one habit a month vs. one a week so I'll see how this week goes. But this month I will be focusing on accomplishing my kitchen tasks. I don't enjoy cooking so maybe having a clean, functional and pretty kitchen will help me enjoy it more. Thanks for stopping by! To see more SMARTies or get SMART yourself click the button above.

In Loving Memory

I love and miss you mom.

Going Green...or a lighter shade of brown?

I wouldn't call myself an environmentalist {not that there is anything wrong with that, it's just not me} but I do try to do my part. I am aware that our natural resources won't last forever and believe we should be good stewards over the resources we've been given. So while I haven't put out the cash for a hybrid car yet I do recycle my paper products each week and try to re-purpose or give to other people items that I no longer have use for. Now you see why I don't call myself an environmentalist, I don't do much beyond being aware and recycling - but every little bit counts right? Oh and thanks to my dad's constant reminders growing up I'm really good about turning off lights when they aren't in use.

One thing I've been wanting to do is get reusable grocery bags. In recent months the commissary has been promoting using paper over plastic because it's better for our environment, costs the store less and we can recycle the paper bags easily each week. So I started using paper bags more often, though sometimes I would forget to specify. Anyone who has 'gone green' will be glad to know that I save my plastic bags to use later in my bathroom garbage can, for garbage in my car and other various things. Monday as I was getting ready to check out I saw a rack with reusable grocery bags selling for 70 cents. They look similar to the one pictured above but are green and with a different logo. I bought two because I was curious how much they would hold and asked that any other bags be paper. My next trip I'll be buying a couple extra bags. They hold quite a bit, probably the same as two plastic bags, and have handles which makes carrying SO much easier. This is a big bonus for me shopping with two little ones and having to carry it all in the house myself, less trips the better.

Do any of your grocery stores offer reusable bags? Have you tried them? If they don't sell them I recommend doing a quick google search or clicking on the picture above to order some. I did a search sometime ago and found bags for 99 cents a piece. Now I just need to remember to keep the bags in my trunk and remember to pull them out of the trunk each time I go in the store. There's one more thing I can add to my list of contributions to this earth - using the reusable grocery bag and telling others about it. If you're using a reusable grocery bag or being mindful about our natural resources give yourself a pat on the back and spread the word.

We Made It

Update: The house didn't blow over but the inside still looks like a twister came through. Think people would buy it if I told them that it really happened? A little twister just blew through making messes? No? Oh well, worth a shot.

After spending 18 hours {plus stops} in the car over two days we made it back home. We actually got in Sunday evening but yesterday I wasn't feeling great so I didn't get much done - off or online. The kids did REALLY well on the way home, I was SO thankful for that. They had some fits as to be expected but we all made it home in one piece, though we may have lost a few of our marbles along the way. The weather was great fortunately with all the storms around the country this past week. I spent a lot of time flipping through channels and while doing so had some thoughts to include in this post but two days later I have no idea what they were.

So now we are home and I'm not feeling great. Yesterday I felt nauseous {sp?}, congested and tired so I didn't get a thing done. This morning I'm just congested and tired so I guess it's an improvement. Though I'm still not very motivated to do much. And I just found out that there's a tornado warning on post so considering my house already looks like a tornado hit the thought it could look like this again doesn't get me moving. I have my looong list of things to do and want it all done, it's just getting to the doing it I can't quite start on. I hope your week has started off more productive than mine. Thanks for stopping by!

Do You Have a New Calendar?

If you don't you aren't alone. I still haven't got a new planner for this year - which is going to drive me nuts when I get home and start having things on my schedule again. I leave to go back home in just a few short days so I probably won't be posting again until sometime after 12-3pm on the 7th when my cable/internet/{& now phone} is reconnected. I hope you all had a safe & happy New Years celebration. I'll do my best to share our holidays after getting back home. I usually don't set resolutions but after reading a blog tonight I'm rethinking that whole thing. She wrote about her intentions and I may do something along those lines. Anyways, more on that later. Thanks for visiting & esp commenting. I am approaching my one year mark and it still seems strange that people who have never met me care to visit & see how I'm doing. All of the thoughts, prayers & encouragement for my family over this time - esp the past few months - has really meant a lot to me. The world doesn't feel so big and I have enjoyed feeling not so far from friends.

Thanks for visiting!