Some positive thoughts. . .

Ok, when things get too overwhelming you just have to stop, take a breath, and list some postives in your life. That's where I'm at right now.

It's too easy for me to think of all the negative things in my life; I ate alot of 'crap' last weekend. I haven't walked this week. I need to wait almost a month to deliver my work and get paid.

So let me list a few good things.

**After giving it a second thought, I put away the cinamon toast crunch cereal and opted for cheerios this morning.

**I didn't get Starbucks while I was out this morning. Instead, I waited till I got home and made my own caffinated beverage. (saved money and calories.)

**I have done 4 of the 5 things on my list for the day, and it's not even noon.

**The comcast man is coming today to fix my stupid phone issue.

Ok. I needed that.

I'll take a picture of the back deck. Ken stripped it and it looks brand new! (it's 16 years old) He's going to stain it soon.

High around 82 today

I am very much looking forward to next week--the weather is predicted to be in the high sixties/low seventies. I am so tired of the humidity!!

Ok, enough complaining.

Ken and I found a church close to our house and tried it out 2 sundays ago. I filled out the guest info card and later that week a couple from the . . .what do you call it. . .care commity? . . .well, anyway they showed up at my door one evening with this package of goodies (including a gladware container of HOMEMADE cookies!) and a smile, welcoming us to come back and asking if we had any questions! I'm telling you, this church is SOOOO nice, friendly, welcoming. . .we love it! The kids go to Awana every wednesday night (it's like a bible study/fellowship/funtime for them in groups of kids their own age) and I've been going to a mom's group on monday mornings for 2 hours. I truely know we've found a church home. We love it!


Look at this beautiful house! It's a bed and breakfast scrapbooking place in Grand Rapids, MI! I went their this past weekend with 7 other friends (and made 3 new friends while I was there!) It was a GREAT time. Very relaxing, but productive at the same time. I got 32 pages done in one of the albums I'm doing for hire. (I was going to work on my stuff, but I really want to get this album done so I can deliver it and get paid!)
The home was built in the 1880's for the Mayor's son and family. It's got three floors totaling over 6000 sq feet! It was simply magnificent inside, and we throughly enjoyed being waited on by the FABULOUS and friendly innkeepers!!
This is the dinning room. The table extends for large groups (like us.)
Above is the double parlor where we worked. There's a fridge there for us with all kinds of non-stop beverages and even ice cream sandwiches in the freezer!

So back to business. Here is the new floor in the play room. I'm going to paint the walls (panneling) as it's been a bit dinged up and a bit damaged from being taken off and put back on. I'm thinking of going with a neutral almond type color. Something not too dark, but not stark white, and will go nicely with the tones in the floor. Which, by the way, is a one piece vinyl floor.
The bathroom is also a one piece vinyl floor. I like this one very much, too! I think I'll repaint this room the same color as the playroom. It'll warm it up a little without making it too dark.
And here are a few pics of fall in our home!



Well, the dryer is buzzing and I need to call comcast about a problem with my phone service. Stupid comast.

It's not bad. . .

Please let me start by saying that I am greatful for the situation we have and praising God for the cross we have to bare---I can't fathom what people in Texas and Louisiana are going through. Even throughout the midwest people are being flooded terribly. Two of my best friends live in Crestwood and their backyards are LAKES now. My sister in law's crawlspace is FLOODED to the max. I am praying for them, and everyone. And as I said--I thank God for the little bit we have to deal with. It's not bad, and--in fact--is a blessing becuase we're able to remove any mold that was there and stop anymore from growing. And that carpet in the bathroom is gone! (I went to menards yesterday and found peel and stick tile for the playroom and the bathroom :)

OK--so here are how things stand today. This is the play room. My father in law carefully removed the panneling and found drywall behind it. The drywall was DRY, thank God. But he wanted to see if water was coming in from the bottom of the wall, so he removed a bunch of the panneling and drywall. The black you see is paint--someone marked the studs with spraypaint. Believe me, when I saw it I thought it was mold--I freaked out!

This is just a shot of the floor. See the curious kitties? Always underfoot.
Ok. This is in the bathroom between the shower stall and the sink vaniety. That's gravel. Very damp, very smelly. My father in law is going to fill it with concrete.
The playroom things have been strewn about in the family room.

So hopefully by the end of this weekend things will be fixed and nearly back to normal. I'm going to buy the tile for the playroom and bathroom today. I may have to install it myself on monday, but I'm good with that.

This weekend I'm going on a scrapbooking trip with some friends. I was going to work on my things, but it's clear that I need to work on WORK so I can get it done. I feel good about that, though. I know I'll have two full days of nothing but cropping, uninterupted.

Be back soon!

Water + mold = smell!

UGH! We got water in the downstairs (grade level) bedroom--which we use as a play room--and the carpet on the one side actually SQUISHES and water comes up from inbetween my toes! Thank God my in laws are here for a few days and my father in law is pretty much taking care of this for me! The down stair bathroom had carpet in it, and there is a drain under the carpet. The carpet was all wet, and I think it's from water backing up in that drain. So he tore out all the carpet and padding, scraped the floor (becuase there's glue on it) and it helped get rid of some of the smell. He's gonna try to get the water up with our carpet cleaner. Oh, and there's mold on the backside of the drywall in the bathroom (on at least ONE wall--the one we can see becuase the opposite side is in a closet.)

More on this as it develops.

Catching up. . .

Hello to everyone on this rainy sunday afternoon!! It's suppoused to clear up by tuesday and be nice and COOL! Fall-like! I love it. I plan on decorating on friday, so I'll be sure to share pics early next week!

So here's some of the work I've been doing. This stack of pages is from Kristen's daughters' album.

I know I need to take the pics of these pages BEFORE I slip the plastic page protector on, but I am usually on a roll and once the page is done, it gets covered. I'll try to snap some pictures of the upcoming pages before I put the glare-maker on it.


It's hard to get a good shot! I was getting so frustrated!! I know you can barely see anything here.


Let me get you up to date on some of the goings on around our home~~



Here is the front landscaping before I ripped out the bushes. . .



. . .and right afterwords. You can see the big rootball of the yucca. .. looks like a big spider. I have 9 mums planted, and I'm praying they do well despite all the rain. I'm going to add a stepping stone walk way through the dirt/river rock, and in the spring I'm going to cover the dirt/rock with mulch. It's gonna be fabulous.

Look at how big the kittens are getting! Cookie is on the left, he is fluffier and has a bigger tail than Cupcake. She is on the right--notice her tiny tail.

It's so sweet when they're sleeping together!

Abby lost a front tooth this morning!!!

We went to a new church this morning called "Grace". It was very nice! Much smaller than we're used to, but still about 200 people. I"m going to a mom's group tomorrow morning from 9:30-11:30. I'm really looking forward to it!

Wellp, off to get to work on Adria's kids' albums! See you soon! (I PROMISE!)

"Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential."--- Winston Churchill

I know, I know, it's been forever. . .

. .. so much for "I'll post something every day", right? I'm sorry! My parents have been here for 3 days and I've been distracted. On top of that, I have like 5 dr's appointments going on between me and my one son, so there's paper work and phone calls and yada yada yada. *Roll my eyes*. I feel like I'm still not in a 'normal' routine yet. I guess that's just life. I should be able to post some of the scrap pages tonight that I've been working on!! Hang in there with me---I have the best intentions, really!

As far as shrinking goes, my body is finally CHANGING!!! WHOOO HOOO!! My pants are lose on me RIGHT OUT OF THE DRYER, which does NOT happen, and I believe I'm going down a cup size! Yep, the eating better and walking is paying off! I'm just gonna keep it up, keep doing what I'm doing!

I'll post pics of my front landscaping later tonight, when my parents leave and I have more time. OH, and that'd be after I get back from my son's follow up appointment (from his pnemonia) this after noon, too. Ugh. What should I do about dinner. . .

Sunday afternoon

UGH. I am SO CRANKY today! I do not know why! Yesterday I worked in the yard ALL DAY (I have some pics of that, but I'll have to post them later) and I was BEAT by the end of the day. I showered, relaxed, and slept well. I was a bit sore this morning, but not so much anymore. I am just SO irritable! I HATE when I feel like this! I feel like the house is a damn mess even though I JUST cleaned it, and I smell the cat box down here and it's PISSING ME OFF!!

So I wanted to get a sunday paper today, but we had to go to Menards after church to get some things Ken needs to redo the deck. We were all hungry (and my hair was flying in my face since I didn't have a hair claw) so we all wanted to get home. So then I'm looking for a hair claw and I cannot find one! I only have like TEN!!! Oooo, that made me mad! And can someone PLEASE explain to me WHY I'm up two pounds this morning after working my ass off yesterday?! I dug out SIX bushes and a BIG yucca plant AND planted 9 plants. . .those nine plants had to be put in landscaping that had river rock and plastic to bust through in order to get to the dirt! I swear, it was almost easier to rip out the six bushes and yucca!!! And Ken asked me today if I'm gonna plant the 192 bulbs I bought. . .hmmm, lemme think about it NO!!!! I'm gonna go to aldi becuase we need a bunch of stuff, (and believe me, grocery shopping doesn't sounds very appealing at all right now) becuase I DO NOT want to have to do it tomorrow. I am BEHIND on my work and I NEED to get alot done tomorrow.

Sigh. Alright. I think I feel better now. Maybe.

I'm loving this weather!

I know the coolness and rain comes at the expense of one or more hurricanes, and because of that I pray for all on the coast to be safe. But 65 degrees is HEAVEN to me! The windows are open, I've got some candles burning, music playing. . .mmmm, I LOVE it!

Ok, so listen to this. I went to the mall for a walk today. ("But Jen," you say, "The weather is so beautiful.")I know, I know. But it could rain at any moment. So at first the pessimistic side of me was like "It's friday. Why the heck would you walk at the END of the week? Why bother. Start monday." Then the LOGICAL side of me said "Seize the day! Do it now! Walk today AND tomorrow! So what if it's friday!" So I drove the kids to school (Eric is getting over a bad asthma episode and has dr's orders to stay out of gym class and do NOT walk to school) and went right to the mall! I walked for 30 minutes and I feel GREAT! Then I got home and unloaded 20 12x12 patio pavers onto the side of my house to make a walkway through the muddy area for the kids. The pavers each weigh 24 pounds, so I got a good upper body toning workout!

Ok, onto some pictures so I can get to work. . .


The kitties are getting big, and they are VERY playful! Most of the time that's fine, but it sometimes gets to the point where I need to break it up! They're like toddlers--getting into things they shouldn't .

The side of the house here was WAY muddy last fall and this past spring. Grass just won't grow by the fence, and the kids go in and out of the back garage service door all the time, so I needed to keep things from getting messy. The pavers will sink into the ground and be fine. Sure, I could've layed down pea gravel, but then I'd need to surround the walk way with edging, and I think that would stick out like a sore thumb. I'll try this first. I know someone who had good luck doing it this way.

And finally, some art work! I need to find a better way to photograph these pages. I know the page protector on it doesn't help, but still, I can never seem to get a good shot.

Today I plan on getting no less than 10 pages done in the current album I'm working on, and tonight I'm going to make cards! I have a few in mind I need to do. Tomorrow Ken and I are going to dig up the spindly bushes out of our front yard and I'm planting MUMS! YEAH! I love fall!!

"Amazing love! How can it be that you, my King, would die for me?" Chris Tomlin, You are my King

Catching up again!

Will I ever have a day that I am not busy? I guess probably not, eh? Eric is home from school again with a bad case of asthma, and I've been on the phone trying to get a hold of his dr so I can get a rescue inhaler before he goes back to school. Oh, and we need more Xopenex. Kind of important. Geez.

So here are a few cards I made last night.

I got this stamp set at archivers. Lately I grab anything I see that has to do with coffee. That reminds me. . .I need to stop at Dunkin Donuts for a pick me up. Maybe Eric wants a donut. . .

The above card is made with "Welcome to the Neighborhood" from CTMH. My brother and his (almost) wife just moved into a GREAT new apartment, so I'll send this out to them. (Even though I'm not part of the neighborhood--I can still welcome them to it, can't I?)

This stamp set is from My Favorite Things--I love this set! The flowers, ribbon, paper, cardstock, brads and markers are close to my heart.

My goal for work today is to complete 8 pages. I don't think that will be a problem. First I"ll go out to Dunkin Donuts with Eric, and I think I'll stop at Wal-Mart to get my pictures from the wine trip. The rest of the day will be work. I'll post up some layouts later!

"A goal without a plan is just a wish." --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

It's 1a.m. tuesday night---or wednesday morning. . .

. . .depending on how you look at it~

I have three cards to post, but I need to get to bed right now. I'll get them up after the kids are off to school. More to come soon! :)

"You can have it all. You just can't have it all at once." --Oprah