WITL Friday & Saturday's

Friday:

We stayed inside on Friday to avoid extra laundry, they were fine with it as it was a lot more relaxed atmosphere with out the concern of preschool schedules to prep for.  Top row: Kora in her normal naptime position in the rocking chair, Aydan in his current favorite spot-between the dogs, Zoey watching herself in my camera phone screen & Zoey cleaning out one of the book baskets. Two stacked on the left, a 3 'reading' to a 2- LOVE how big they become when they start preschool! the two stacked on the right, the tickets & my mom & I at the concert. What a great time!

 

Saturday:

FAIL!
I hadn't completely plugged my phone in Friday night, so it didn't charge & was dead-dead when I finally remembered why the alarm was going off on Saturday morning-coffee date! EEEEEEK jump out of bed @15 till the appointed time! race around gathering my supplies for my morning errands & out the door to be 15 minutes late. darn it! Amazing conversation & breakfast at Lakeside (yes the same place the concert was the night before) with one of my coffee girls, & I got to check out her absolutely adorable new-to-her car. So proud for her! then we parted ways & I stopped into the bank.  I meant to take a shot of my stack of checks(doing childcare produces several checks weekly) but the phone was still charging in the van so I didn't get any photos. from the bank, across to the farmer's market & stocked Tim up on cucumbers to make the pickles photographed above, peppers & onions to make relish, cantaloupe for the kids &honey for my baking. Caught up on life with one of my dearest friends. She is such a fun light in my life! One who truly finds joy in the same things I do. Everyone needs someone in their lives like that. Also talked to an interested party about getting a local drop off/pick up location for the Iowa Food Coop! YAHOOOOOO! After 2 hour visit in all, I headed out to drop off my Scrap Pink donation requests to a long strip of businesses in town-just a few left to drop off. Tried the new Mountain Dew freeze thingy while at KFC/Taco Bell, then went grocery shopping, dropping off the rent & deposit for the building for Scrap Pink then finally home.  *whew* 4.5 hours running around town but at least it was an amazing fall day to be doing it.  I swear to get farmer's market photos next week. this fall light is gorgeous & will make ideal market photos. back to my day, I napped for a bit after putting groceries away & another trip to the store for more pint jars for Tim's canning projects. Instead of trying out the new local restaurant, we were lazy & had McDonald's & just bummed around the rest of the evening in a funk.  I watched Cedar Cove-LOVE IT! sure hope they make it more than just a summer series! then ended the evening early with a dead phone, dead laptop (& too lazy to go get the power cord from the childcare). 

So, have I convinced you to try this project next year? or sooner? during Christmas Break would be a fun time. Maybe a week overlapping the last few days of school before break thru break, or the other end of break week.  I am curious about documenting a week in each season for 2014.  Winter-spring-summer-fall-winter, yes I know, there are 5 but that's how I feel the year goes around here in Iowa. hmmmm interested in joining me? let me know & I will hook you up some more links if you would like or tips on keeping it as simple as possible-like I did this time. Let Me Know.

WITL Thursday

Thursday:

 

By the time I get the new routine of editing/collaging photos & writing a blog first thing in the morning, the week in the life, it will be over ;)

 

but Anyway........ yesterday was a bit of a crazy one w/some dangerous fall storms blowing thru the state. Luckily our area suffered very little compared to some news reports I am seeing.  So it started with a full harvest moon to make the morning run incredibly eerie, but successful. the 2nd row first photo is of my dash is it normally looks, brake lights always on & fuel light almost always on. Its just how I roll.. LOL back up to the top, the first Christmas gift arrived in the mail! YAY! then I realized I hadn't documented any mail arrival all week so there is the rest of the mail, a Scrap Pink sponsorship check, some bills, junk mail, & the weekly local paper.  Then it started sprinkling, so Sammy is hiding under the picnic table. below that is a photo proof that my childcare food program sponsor stopped by for a visit between out playing in the rain & me prepping lunch(she comes 4x/year so it wasn't much of a surprise), she checks my numbers, my menus & asks the typical questions; "do you treat everyone the same?" "do you serve the required foods in the required amounts?" "do you do activities relating to food with children?" in & out in under 30 minutes-probably a record time for me to have a visitor as I tend to be a chatter box wen I have an adult visitor.  :)  then the ads from the local grocery stores that I use to make my shopping list- that is now in an app on my phone.  Color note is Fantastic!! I open a 'sticky note' & type in my list. I can rearrange it by the route through the store like I made my paper list (just like my mom did when we were kids) & as I go through the store, I can click each item & check them off the list! ta*da! I just wish I could find the easy way to clear it for the next week... maybe next week... & then the sun came back out. 3 fun shots of the rain from my shelter under the big spruce tree in the yard while the boys were playing & I was making my shopping list in the morning. a photo through the sliding glass door to the deck after the big wind had come through the area-it sounded & looked a lot scarier than it ended up being for us. Tickets for my mom & I to see Lonestar tonight at Lakeside.  Its their last outdoor concert for the year & it should be a nice evening for it.  Then the sun came back out again this is a photo of the bedroom window as I was perched on the bed typing up the previous post & watching Burlesque on the Family(?) channel. (that could be a whole other post in itself.) The final photo is of my computer screen of the map 4pm-545pm it really produced some doozies in some areas.  *whew* here's to hoping today is a bit less dramatic. 2 more days.

WITL Tuesday & Wednesday

Tuesday:

woke up & it dressed in my warmish running gear as it was forecasted to be in the mid to high 50s @ 4:30AM.  Walking out I realized it had rained some over night & the air was light again-a welcome relief from the oppressive humidity we've been facing all week. As we got a couple of blocks into our warm up walk, it started misting & half way through our first lap around the school, it started lightly raining, we ditched the 3 lap routine & continued to run right around the corner back to her house.  best pace we've kept so far. Thanks to the cool, light air & rain.  So the first 2 in the top are me & my drive post run-wow the adrenaline was crazy high, I can't explain how light & happy I felt during & after this run.  My first time running in the rain & I have to say, I loved it! Right below them is how I found the pups when I got home :) curled up on the couch. Back up on the top the next shot is another proud moment for me - fixing the dryer vent.  I accidentally punctured it with a chair leg last summer & decided to clean out as far as I could reach from both ends & cut this chunk -from the hole to the end- off, reattached it with painter's tape & the pliers are what I had to borrow from my scrap supplies to cut the wire in the vent hose.  Next, the boys watching it rain, & we pulled out the Busy Bugs game & everyone loved them. Then NAP TIME!   Bottom row, 2 girls chopped apples from my grandparent's tree (18 cups worth) to make homemade pie filling for the freezer after school.  The next is me getting them started -photo by 4 y/o. then the photos of the tomatoes I simmered down all afternoon for Tim to turn into Salsa- Tim in the kitchen whipping up said salsa & my Morning homemade ice coffee in a jar. YUMMM

WEDNESDAY:

BUSY DAY=LESS PHOTOS! Another 3 photo day. First up, my breakfast-whole grain bagel smothered in cream cheese, ice coffee & FLYLady-getting back into it baby step by baby step.  Then, Tim's salsa cooled on the counter YUM. And Finally, Sammy's daily prednisone for his allergies.  We spent a lot of time out side but I was torn b/c the back yard was still muddy & I have 2 that have to stay clean to go to afternoon preschool so we ran up & down the cul de sac in front of the house then the 2 year olds drove some cars in the mud in the front yard even though I tried to convince them the grass was a better place to drive. & I was busy keeping the new drop in 18 month old in our yard so no photos of the outside.

We have had some funky weather today, so I have taken a lot more photos today! hopefully I will get them posted in a more timely manner tomorrow ;)

I make my collages in Picassa on my computer after dropbox transfers them from my phone to my computer automatically. LOVE dropbox!

WITL Monday

THE PHOTOS:

another collage-a few more photos-very random, yet my day.
THE FACTS:top left- right: 1. naptime x4-Kora in rocking chair, 2 kids on cots, Sam on a cot 2.sorted laundry 3.starting my day online 4.selfie bottom l-r: 5. easy chill Monday morning w/cartoons, 6. ending the day online catching up on blogs & watching a Castle marathon, 7. the strings from a decorative pillow that came apart in the washer

THE DETAILS: 1. the dogs are SO GOOD about taking naps when the kids do. whether up or down here w/us, they are quiet & letting the kids sleep. 2. having the end of last wee + camping laundry made quite a bit but nothing more than normal for a post-camping Monday until I adjusted my thinking to accepting the dryer (I prefer to hang everything outside) then I ended up doing the sleeping bags & decorative bed pillows too. 3&4. I like to wake up slowly & let the kids do the same. they get to play quietly or watch some IPTV while I do some blog reading/writing, emailing, catching up on Facebook. 5. Some Mondays are busy active, others are lazy, chill. Today it was grey & chilly out-Fall has arrived! & most of us spent the weekend soaking up as much warm fall/cool summer as we could so we were all equally as satisified with a lazy chill start to our week. 6. I am so far behind on blog reading & last night being bill paying night -that I do online, I had the computer upstairs so I decided to read up on some posts while I was watching a Castle marathon getting ready for the new season to start next week--WILL SHE SAY YES????? 7. hehe. I couldn't resist this shot! I don't think I have washed these pillows a total of 5 times in the 5 years we've had them.  I remember when we got them I felt so fancy finally having a matching bedroom suite & bedding set as well. then I found out how useless these fancy pillows really are & they've been stuck down between the bed & our side tables until I can't stand the dust on them anymore (or a glass of water gets spilled on them) & they get washed. when they get washed, they shed.

Forgot how much fun this project can be.  tomorrow: me post-run in the rain :)

WITL Sunday

Well, the photography leaves much to be desired but I plan to document as much as possible in words for Sunday & make up for it... yes I really only took 3 photos all day LOL

I did go ahead & create a 5x7 collage w/those 3 photos so they are ready to order when I am ready to do these pages. 

they appear to be in reverse order of the day but anyway...
We were camping & woke really early to thunder but chose to try to wait it out only to wake @715 w/sprinkles on the tent so we were packing up in the scattered showers, nothing drenching-THANKFULLY but just enough to be obnoxious :)  the bottom right photo is my biscuits & gravy breakfast we stopped for next to the menu.  we were out the door in a hurry when it started to rain again as we had left the sunroof open for the pups to have some air while we ate our breakfasts.
the top right photo is the dogs sharing the back seat for the first time all summer.
We were home, unloaded, unpacked & showered by 11-a record for us.
then I was a complete bum the rest of the day :) Tim put chili in the crockpot as soon as we were unpacked. YUM it was the perfect day for it.  the left photo is my supper bowl.
Exhausted from the weekend we were lights out way early. 

Hoping to do better on the photo count today :)

Week in the Life

Remember when I did this a couple of years ago?? I think everyone -scrapper or not- should tackle this as simply or as complicated as they please.  Because some day you or your kids will enjoy reading what your week was like, typical or not!

So I am doing this again this year. I was out of sorts this week so I didn't get it started like I wanted when Ali started her's so I am making myself ;) do it Starting Sunday.

Some questions Ali uses to prompt herself through the week are:

• How do I work?
• How do I play?
• How do I nourish myself?
• How do I give thanks?
• How do I show my kids love?
• What are my favorite things about my life right now?
• What is the truth of my day (awesome, hard, exhausting, wonderful)?

& I am planning to use them as well.

I used a lot of excuses for not playing this week... my good camera is in the shop, everyone was out of sorts w/the funky un-seasonably warm weather, we had some crazy early out days due to heat, etc.  BUT Sunday, I am waking up & starting in! I plan to keep my self on task & accountable by posting each morning the previous day's photos & story. That will also aid in quickly putting the pages together later!

For now, have a GREAT WEEKEND!!!!!!

WITL a day's report

Remember this project? I have not been very consistant about following along but here's  a sample of a page for our Friday.  Recycling day, my coffee on my keyboard, our field trip to HyVee, visit to the chiro, grocery shopping @ Fareway, picking up Sammy's prednisone from the vet, our drive thru supper on the way to the lake, our home away from home campground, sunset on the lake & me @ the end of the crazy day.

some days the past week I've been really good, others not so much, today, not at all! super crazy this time.  I willhave to get ink & photo paper to print them this weekend & work on them next week. I just might jump around & do pages for the days I did well on. :)

ITS BACK!

a week in the life is BACK!!!! 

the basics are here, her plan for this year is here.  IF you want, you can read about my past experiences here, here & here.  (LOOKS LIKE I didn't blog the completion of the 2nd one... need to look for that!) I seriously, honestly, truely w/all my heart plan to stay on top of it this time.

Have a great weekend!!! What's on your agenda?

Wednesday already?! oops!!!

time to play catch up:

• first .. Friday was day 7 of my WITL so here's that collage:
• Second, the weekend was drizzly thru-out but we were able to make the best of it & get some mushroom hunting in, again more photos than shrooms found, I got 3 cavities filled, finished scrapping Tim's surprise bday '09, some boat work started, & some chillin' out done! successful weekend!
• Monday I had the day off for a dr appt & got to have lunch w/my Friend Donna :) good time as always!
• I jumped back on the treadmill yday!! I was impressed that I have already increased my speed/cutting down the time it takes to do the half mile I am requiring of myself. Monday I will increase my distance keeping the speed then increase the speed.. etc.
• I have decided on a way to make do w/my resources & make my WITL pages all black & white. I had hoped to print the pictures this morning but the photo paper is missing... so maybe tonight after our evening walk.
• I have 2 littles going on vacay today for a week. OH the list I have prepped for myself to get accomplished while they are away. amazing what a difference 2 lil heads + 4 lil hands makes :)
• I am already thinking about Summer Break plans!! I want to have atleast one planned day out & maybe 2!
• Farmer's Markets open this SATURDAY yay freaking yay!!!!!
• My brother goes in for surgery early Friday morning. please keep him in your prayers.
• OH the list of upcycles/recycles/crafties I want to accomplish on our limited budget!! funny that most if it is already laying around here :)
• ok.. going to take my list making fingers & get to making snack.. have a great day!!!

TGIF!!

Seems I completely missed posting yesterday OOPS... I was doing so good!! :S ah well. here's the photo collage from Wed & Thursday.

Looking here you will see Lots of kid stuff... niece K loving on itty bitty A, itty bitty B not so itty bitty anymore! littes A&B reading books together! I am so glad I braved the paint & checked the mini-well off my to-DO list :) I love it black!! then ended my day w/some scrappiness :)
Yesterday, I captured mom's old house, our shadows while walking, the 3 littles picking flower petals off the sidewalk 'for me', B watching, afternoon paperwork & snack @ the picnic table :D me reading Breaking Dawn(almost done :)) the mushrooms Tim found yesterday.

Today is the last day of WITL!!! wow this week has gone fast for that project! next I will need to get it into a book form! that may take a bit longer. I AM almost done w/Tim's surprise birthday chapter. its raining today so the photos may be a bit different-more tasks, less fun.

Oh the weekend!!! 3 cavities filled tomorrow, mushroom hunting, yard work, picking up a used tiller, hopefully some down time & finishing this book!! :)
What will your weekend include??

WhataWednesday :)

I have rather neglected my OLW for the year: DO. however, I've been DOing it w/o even realizing it :) GOOOD WORD! Now to keep on the DO train (not to be confused w/the do-do train ha! don't pretend you didn't think it b/c I know you did ;))

Things I would like to DO:

1. tranform an old frame into a tray
2. spray paint the old mini wishing well
3. curbshop a chair I've spied
4. garage sale
5. take my flowerbeds from my mind to the ground
6. keep the garden growing
7. build a bench for the entry way
8. build lawn chairs
9. keep cleaning up the Ayers Lot
10. keep feeding the kids better

& I will stop there :)

Last night I got back on the treadmill. Tim's so much better about it than I & I was feeling a bit jealous while I was cooking supper (a rarity in itself) that he IS so good about it, then realized, he is b/c he WANTS to & I don't b/c I am using every excuse in the book to avoid it & that *I* am the only person that can fix that! I am weighing 20# more than I did last year & on my body, that is ALOT. so. here's hoping it will fall off ;) I am down 2# this morning already WHOHOOOOO so only 18 more to go :)

Farmer's Market is so close I can almost smell it :) I.CAN.NOT.WAIT.! 10 days Baby & I am so there!! local first of course!! then Downtown, then West GLen :) dreammmmmmmmmmmy!! Then we will be visiting my brother Philip in the hospital as he is having a tumor regrowth removed from his brain.

here's my collage of photos from yday for my WITL

off we go to get some outside time.

Welllll helllo there Tuesday!

I welcome you w/open arms w/your promise of a new day, sunshine & revised to-do list :)

OH how things sure can change in a day around here!! I went from having 2 full time openings coming the 24th of May, to one school age & one full time spot available in 2 weeks. Everything happens for a reason & I am done questioning most reasons. Why worry? it will all work out as its meant to if we just sit back & let it. Its so much less painful this way :)

speaking of changes :) I found these lil babies poppin up in the garden yesterday while we were on our walk!! GIDDY!!! (radishes) yummmmm the forcast last night was predicting rain for Thursday THRU Saturday.. & our garden can use a drink .. maybe not aflood tho. again...what will be will be. :)

here is yesterday's collage for my WITL entry:

Well, since it has taken 2 sits, 2 hrs & several diaper changes (on them not me) to get this typed I will sign off & go check on my bread in the machine :) Have a great Tuesday!!

Good Morning Monday!

lets try to keep it low key today shall we?? ;)

Friday I was closed due to the flu attacking me over night Thursday night. :( so sad when that happens! I managed to sleep till 10,watch 'must love dogs', The Mentalist from the weekb4 on DVR, & the Doctors that Jamie Oliver appeared on over a week ago also on DVR & nap 3:30-6 :) was finally brave enough to ingest food about 1 (soda crax & 7up please) & they stayed down! *whew* luckily we just chilled around the house all evening.

Saturday I was so much better I was able to fulfill my obligations of voluteering to help mix pancakes w/my Grandma @ a breakfast fundraiser then head to a fundraiser crop in Truro! I finished the chapter of Mom's surprise party in my '06 scrapbook!!! upon returning home Tim managed to guilt me into helping wax the boat UGH what a miserable job!!! then we went for groceries & out for mexican for supper :)

Sunday we had biscuits & gravy in bed, went mushroom hunting returning w/only photos of flowers haha, he mowed while I cleaned inside, then we went GeoCaching (tons of photos AND TICKS!!) then home to grill & bake a peanut butter cake for our weekly sweet. ending the weekend w/my shows & some scrapping(finally starting Tim's surprise party '09). ideal :)

I am participating in Week in the Life over on Ali's blog again this year & oh how it makes me take pics of the norm!! I love it!! I did it in 08 & will link some of them later in the week. :) here are the collages from the past 2 days.

Have you thought of what happens in your 'normal' daily life? Carry your camera w/you & find out!

Good Morning!

Monday!! Fresh new week, month, season, *sigh* I almost feel refreshed this morning. Almost like I had a planned extended weekend. I guess its better than feeling behind like my first instinct was when I turned on the lights down here this morning. bedding needing washed, dishes needing washed, floor needing scrubbed, table needing wiped, trash needing pulled, toys needing picked up & sanitized! Oh the plans for the day are forming!!

Today there is no school so I am hoping for some sunshine this morning so we can take a fall walk! We'll just take it slow but the supportive brace is helping me get around TONS!! I think I could also get them to help me gather toys to sanitize/rotate out to make for less sanitizing during the cold & flu season. I feel a 'treasure hunt' coming on w/a walk as a reward & then a painting project @ the table while I fix lunch. WOW organization?? whazzzzzzzzat???? :) Feels like a great day to pull out the brown paint!

Then tomorrow will be back to our regularly scheduled days of trolleys picking up & dropping off for preschools, school kids in & out, & hopefully my little will be back from the hospital! basically planned chaos :) Looking fwd to it!

This time last year I participated in Ali's A Week in the Life project & loved it! Thinking this would be a great week to do it again! only this year I'd like to finish it before the first of November :)

I am definitely taking a break from my caffeine-free lifestyle. I am going to need it to get it all done today & maybe all week.

finally finished!!

my WEEK IN THE LIFE project I've been working on for almost 2 months!!

updated project photos

loaded in reverse order of course :)

TGIF!!!!!

DAY 3

WHAT'S IN YOUR FRIDGE???

the kids r giddy this morning-- they saw sleet on their way in.. SNOW!!! POOR THINGS don't realize it won't stick :( tho i m happy abt that!!!

this weekend:

*fencing (hopefully get it finished up)

*maybe having my TOHE party

*grocery shopping

*scrapping

*napping

as promised... more bits

DAY 2 .. my arms are too weak to write anything legible for DAY 3 tonight but I did get DAY 4's rough draft done!! so atleast i am not at a stand still!!!

sharing bits & pieces

OK so I started this project as everyone else was finishing LOL (even journaled just that in it!) but this is my DAY 1 of Ali's Week in the Life project



So picking the book was a snap!! why my BOM of course!! :) perfect!! just opened a new pkg of natural pages & jumped in .. finally LOL... I finished DAY 2 last night & will try to remember to take photos tonight while working on DAY 3! I am so excited that its coming together so easily now that I have it all printed & felt out a 'pattern' to follow for each DAY! whohooooooo next is her December Daily book!!! that is sooooooo gonna ROCK!!!