productive weekend (scrap pages)

So while Tim was on his annual hunting trip with his buddies last week, I took over the dining table & completed the mini book that now holds all of the details from my surprise birthday party last month.  Superly excited to share those pages here & now!  Warning: very photo heavy!

the cat trying to get some attention Sunday afternoon. Evidently, he felt I had spent ample time with my supplies at the table. ha.

closing in on the final pages, the mess always seems to grow throughout the process for me. 

 COMPLETED BOOK (I did take the unused white pages from the back of the book to use in another later) 

 After standing to scrap Thursday & Friday evenings, then spending the morning & early afternoon walking around the city with my sister in law, I was in no shape to stand all of Saturday evening, so I snagged this stool from the kitchen & it was the perfect height to have a bird's eye view of my work as well as see the TV in the living room where I had Hallmark movies playing. :)

 Tim texted that they were in Kansas City (about an hour & half away) just as I was finishing my second project of the weekend, so I immediately started the sorting, packing, carrying & putting away in my scraproom.  No room for piles back there, so I had to put it away as I carried it back, which is a good thing, now its ready for another project. Here is the cleaned off table. 

 This is the front page of the book that doubled as a guest page, I just added the sparkly sticky ribbon & the light up badge that I wore at the party.

 More signatures on the backside, a photos of the big table that was decorated with a poster of facts from 1975 (more on those later), a baby pic, our 15 year anniversary pic, Scrap Pink memorabilia, County fair queen key chain pic, Pizza Hut name tags & some dollar bills folded into bow ties from a customer when I worked at the truck stop around 1993. the confetti on the page was on the table, the hound's tooth bag came from a friend in some hand me down supplies.

 photos of me before and as I figured it out :) 

and all suited up, hat, glasses, & light up pin.

as I walked through the door greeted by guests. Supplies are Cricut cuts, Pretty Little Studio tab, flair & journal card, CTMH flowers & old brad.

as I worked my way around the room greeting my guests.  Supplies are Cricut cuts, Elle's Studio journal card, CTMH flowers & old brads from my stash.

the guest book & gift table. 

 I really wanted to use the balloons some how & finally just decided to cut the messages off & tape them together to make a page. Easy peasy! Helium remnants after a month were still present & instantly settled in making my lungs feel full & heavy upon cutting into the balloons, that was a surprise to me. 

those facts from 1975 she printed, she pulled off the poster board & gave to me. I wanted to use them but not make it a series of fact heavy pages so I figured out how to make them into double sided flipping pages~ WIN! 

 Lots of Cricut cuts, old supplies & paper, along with a few things I bought specifically for this album.  So happy to have this project completed so shortly after the event itself!

Next project to post, the completed 2012 wedding chapter of my brother & sister in law.

weekend recap

(mostly for my journaling sake)

this year's birthday weekend had high hopes but got off to a rough start.  Mom, Aunt Sue & I were planning to attend a scrap retreat in the big city Saturday-Sunday but it got cancelled due to an emergency surgery so we thought we'd still go on Saturday morning & do some shopping, but then thanks to a winter storm mid-week & reports of horrible street conditions combined w/a furnase break down we skipped that too.   It all worked out in the end as I ended Friday evening w/a migraine so painful I was seeing disco balls when I closed my eyes & then spent Saturday recovering from it+all the meds I had taken trying to fight it.  But thankfully Sunday worked out much better!!  I had an 11 o'clock date w/mom at her house for some snacks & scrapping :) I was fired up! got there & found that Jeff had come to town to help Grandpa clean snowy walks in town & so the rest of the family had tagged along! YAY!!!!!!!! I got to spend time w/Bethany & the kids as well as Mom while the guys were out working.  then Grandma brought down some mac n cheese for lunch YUMMMMMM  so finally, @1:30 we pulled out the tables & our scrapping supplies & got to work :)  having to close up shop @5 I was only able to accomplish 2 pages but it was a great day overall!! :)

I came home to homemade lasagna in the oven & a cake w/PURPLE frosting on the counter! YAY!! HE'S SO GOOD!! the lasagna was especially awesome knowing it had food coop herbed lasagna noodles, venison/pork mix meat & home canned tomatoes in it!  Belly full, I headed off to my scrap room to unpack & ended up working on another page! I am about done w/the boating weekend for August 2009! sheesh I take alot of photos in a weekend ;) 

Good MOrning Sun!!!

I don't ask for much for my birthday anymore :)

1. sunshine
2. cooperative children -even relatively works for me
3. some quiet time to myself

3 simple things. so far I have 2 of the 3 :) lovely!

Some things I wish I didn't have to deal w/on my birthday

1. poopy diapers -haha j/k-sorta
2. tax prep-maybe next year I should plan to have them finished & filed by now!?
3. negative nellies & grumpy guses

3 more simple things-so far I have encountered none but the first 2 are sure to surface thru the day ;)

Weigh in Wednesday. ugh. gotta get my butt back on that treadmill or getting back to shredding! this is disgusting! almsot back up to my heaviest :(

I have decided to make these adorable lil Valentines from Sisters Stuff for the cc kids for snack next Thursday. I plan to make them this weekend.

Ok enough procrastinating!!! off to work on tax prep UGH!!!

Jeff's Party recap

At the beginning of January (I think) Bethany invited all of us to meet them @ Iowa Machine Shed for a surprise party for Jeff's 30th birthday. FUN!!!!! I am always up for a party & a surprise just makes it just that much more fun :) so

the RSVPs trickled in & she was getting excited.. Bethany cannot keep her own secret :) she loves to give gifts somuch that she can't shop too early w/o giving the gift b4 the appropriate date LOL. Love that about her! the week before the party, we started talking about continuing the party @ the bowling alley after dinner.

So the week of the party several of us asked him in normal conversations what his plans were for the weekend .. kinda trying to throw him off. not sure if it worked but it was fun for us haha.

The scheduled night, we trickled into the restaurant a few @ a time. it was great to see 3 tables full of guests! When he arrived some guests were walking in @ the same time so he started to get suspicious. :) then when the hostess brought him around the corner &he saw all of us, the gig was up :) FUN!!! we had GREAT FOOD, Lots of Laughs & Great time!

Off to the bowling alley we went. Saying good bye to some that weren't able to continue. Getting to the alley & finding it PACKED. we put our names in for 4 lanes :) we didnt really much mind hanging out

playing video games, pool & catching up in general over some cocktails. one lane @ a time we were called to bowl. & bowl we did until 11:30. From there we split up, some going to Lance & Val's & others of us going to a near by bar to see other friends.

Over all- A Great Night!!!

Good Morning Thursday!

Wow I am feeling so much better today than I have @ this time of the day in AGES! Evidently the foot pain was causing more 'pain' than I realized. Plus this is our first full week of school routine since before Christmas, maybe that has something to do w/it. Who knows. Who cares. I embrace whatever it is :) My productivity level was thru the roof yesterday. that too I embrace!

What's going on around here? in a word: ALOT

1. I am planning a trip to Cross Ministries on Saturday morning!! I have a load of things to donate! so far, 2 printers, a kitchen trash bag, & 2 boxes, AND I am adding to it daily :) both kitchens are getting decluttered one drawer, cupboard, basket @ a time. what a great feeling :) Yesterday I pulled 6!!! utensils/gadgets from a drawer that either didn't work up my expectations & got shoved to the back or just don't get used enough to justify their 'realastate' they require. then while I was cooking tacos for supper I went thru the towels, wash clothes & pot holders (I am a matchy-matchy-set girl in the kitchen) & pulled out a pile of unmatchy ones to donate :)
2. I have a Van load of cardboards to get to the recycling dumpster also Saturday morning! YAY!! I can't believe just how long I sit on some of this stuff before I finally feel free to purge. but I do love a good house purge! this weekend will be a good one! Monday will feel like a new place when I come to work (I store the recycling in the nursery & almost have a pack-n-play full. WOW)
3. I am ready to start planning the spring planting!! We want to finish the front/south flower beds & I hope to start a low maintenence one in the north/west corner of the back yard. All along w/our ever growing veggie garden @ the other property. I am also planning a more organized way of composting here & transporting to the other property. I think I have convinced him to get a bin over there instead of just throwing it on the ground. :)
4. Tim is all ready to get back to the lake! camping & boating mmmmmmmmmm warmer weather! CAN'T WAIT!
5. BUT UNTIL THEN, we have our Valentine's/birthday get away! YAY! count down has started & in full planning mode-ready to pack LOL
6. *I* can't work out for 2 more weeks so I am seriously kicking the water's A$$!!! Yesterday I chugged OVER 96OZ!!!!!!!!!!! whohooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo THAT felt GOOD!! hmmmmm maybe that has something to do w/how good I feel this morning?! hmmmm ya THINK?? water water water... that's my theme this week along w/asking how good is 'this' for my body BEFORE it goes in. (minus the brownie I inhaled last night hehe but honestly, it was my ONLY splurge for the day!)
7. Now that the temps have gotten up out of the dangerous range, the kids have gotten back out to play in the snow! AND LOVING IT!!!!!
8. I hope to get some new curtains hung in the child care this weekend & dying to start painting the unfinished sheetrock wall. Its that time of winter when I NEED change or updating in my surroundings to fight off depression/burn out. We are baking & cooking new recipes, decluttering, getting things hung on the walls, deep cleaning, moving things around & changing things up(curtains, pillows, sheets, etc). I am so thankful I learned how to take care of myself & our relationship by detecting this oncoming feeling & learning how to combat it! What a sad state I (& our relationship) was in before this knowledge!

WOW that was a lot of info you probably didn't care to know. Sorry. I hope to have a similarly productive day today & wish the same for you!!

Hello Monday!

I welcome you with your structure, routines & consistancy!! We had a bit of a crazy weekend & I am looking fwd to some down time. The laundry is already started & the trash has been taken out. I feel like I am off to a great start.

I haven't run since Wednesday :( planning to get on it tonight after work! I need to get consistant again. I will save the rest for Tuesday's Confession Session. :)

weekend recap in photos:

first haircut:

double birthday party:

Fun low key Eagle's fun: