Monday, June 30, 2008

My toenail is doing much better now that it has been trimmed up a bit. I did have an other freak injury yesturday. I went to work, bought a whole graim bagle, had it toasted with cream cheese. I was sitting in the back eating and when I was almost finished, I noticed some blood. I went back to the bathroom and my mouth was filled with blood and it was all over my teeth. I tried to rinse my mouth out, but the bleeding would not stop. It was time for me to begin my shift, so I grabbed an apron and held it in front of my face and went and told the manager in charge my problem. He asked me to go back and try to stop the bleeding before I begin helping customers. I sat in my manager's chair and put my head back and the manager came back and got some gauze out for me. I went through two gauze pads before I could stop the bleeding. The toasted bagel cut my mouth.
Liam was not feeling well today, so we stayed home. He fell asleep at the table when I was making dinner.


We are beginning a new month, which means new challenges.
I am hosting the Font Jaunt at Elemental Scraps
I am also hosting the Hybrid Challenge at Designs in Digital. We are making paint cans

Designs in Digital has a new owner and have some fun new challenges this month. I did this layout for the Roll Your Desk Top Challenge. Tigerlily, the new owner made the template. I used the kit Let's connect for this and the paint can. This is a fun collab kit that will be released at Designs in Digital on July 1

Lil Cuties by Shantilly Faire

Sunday, June 29, 2008

We are having a very hot weekend. The problem with heat around here is that is comes on so suddenly and then after a few days, drops back down into the 70s & 80s. The sudden spikes of heat make it more difficult to cope with when they come. I was feeling terrible yesturday afternoon.
Yesturday morning, I went to ballet class and one of my big toe nails was really hurting. I just ignored it and kept on dancing. After class, I was changing into flip flops and I looked down and saw that a chunk of my toenail broke off. I have not idea when or how it happened. I hate dealing with feet things, so I put off taking the nail polish off and cleaning it up for several hours. By evening I finally did it and soaked it for a while before I clipped it down and cleaned up the edges. The area of the nail where it broke off was very rough and sharp and I could see why it hurt so much. I have had many problems with ingrown toenails in the past and I doubt this latest event will help that. I might even have one already.
We went to the Holt Picnic yesturday and the highlight was when Christian broke the pinata open. He takes his pinatas very seriously and can really hit them hard. He really went after the candy when it went down. I took some of the candy from him and gave it to other kids since he got so much.

We did not stay too long at the picnic because it was so hot. On the way home we saw a garage sale and there was a futon on sale for a good price and the boys needed a new arrangement for their room. So we bought it. It is a queen size futon, so the boys can share it quite comfortably and we can sit it up into a couch when they want to play in their room with friends.

Credits: Neon Tantrum by MGL Scraps, Stars & Staple Cozy Nights by Jannylyn Brokken, Text Path by Sharia Braxton & Bracket by Becki Kress

Credits: Grab bag by Tracey King, Tracey Monette & Phoung Ton at scrapbook-elements

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

bumps, burns, Bach & bodily fluids

That title covers that last 36 hours very well.
Bumps - On the way out of Vacation Bible School, Christian and Liam were running down the sidewalk to the bike. Christian bumped into Liam on accident and Liam took quite a spill. His face must have travelled a bit on the pavement. He cried after he fell, but he has a high pain tolerance so the crying was not too bad and he was back to playing with his friends in just a couple minutes. He fell asleep on the bike ride home and then stumbled into the house, crawled up on the couch and slept for another hour or so. When he got up, his face looked nasty.
Here is a picture

Burns - Tuesday turned out to me much sunnier and warmer than I expected and I did not think to put on sun block while bicyling or swimming and I got a nasty sunburn on my arms. Judging from the ugly tan lines I have to say most of burning happened while biking not from swimming.
Bach - Chamber Music Northwest has open rehersals every Wednesday morning during the festival. We have gone often in past years. I was checking out the schedule yesturday and saw that Peter Schickele and an ensemble would be rehearsing. I called David and asked him if he could pick the boys up after Vacation Bible Study, then rode down to Reed College after work got to see the practice. Many, many years ago I was introduced to PDQ Bach, which is probably Peter Schickele's most famous work. He takes classical pieces and adds humor to them. Very fun for a high school orchestra member. I will have to check out iTunes and see if I can download some of his stuff. I bet the kids would love it.
Bodily Fluids - We went swimming again today and in one hour Liam pooped in his swim diaper, urinated out of a grocery cart all of the floor at Safeway and then had diahrea. I was out of underwear and pull ups and had to find a garbage can in the park, take the nasty pull up off and put a swim diaper on and beg him not to have any more functions until we get home since swim diapers do not really absorb things well. I finally just put a diaper on him at home. I think we will take a break for the rest of the week. We are almost out of Pull Ups and I don't want to take a special trip to Costco to buy more until next week and we have a ton of diapers. I was in tears at Safeway. I know so many people who have kids that just potty train themselves and we seem to be stuck in this never ending nightmare. Since Liam is almost four it is getting old. The one thing I can be thankful for is that we did not sign him up for preschool and put deposits down. Most preschools will not take him if he is not potty trained and if we had money out there, we would feel a lot of pressure to get this done.
Tracey Monette and Tracy King have a new kit North Americana coming out at Scrapbook-Elements on Sunday. I will put a direct link to the kit on Sunday when it is uploaded to the store.
I took this picture last 4th of July down in one of the neighborhoods where they put flags up for holidays.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Now that we are finished up our first week of swimming lessons, we are now on to the next activity. Vacation Bible School. They boys had their first day today. This is Liam's first year that he can participate. They both seemed to have fun. Liam was able to repeat his memory verse tonight. Christian could just read his. Tommorow is when it will be all worth while. I am going to ride the boys down on my bike to church and drop them off and then David is going to meet me at a coffee shop and we are going to go out, alone, no kids. We are really looking forward to it.
Last week, I unplugged the TV set in the living room and put the power cord and remote control up on a book shelf where the boys could not see it. The boys have not watched any TV for almost a week and they don't seem to really miss it. If they need some quiet time, I just put on stories on my iPod for them to listen to. We are talking about moving the TV back to our spare room and making it the TV room. The living room TV is this large, ugly eye sore, so it would be nice to take it away from the living room and then it would take the TV itself from the center of our life.
This summer I am reading Christian Meet the Austins by Madeline L'Engle. It is a nice family story. I think I will wait a couple years to read A Wrinkle in Time. It might be a bit to trippy for a five year old.
Credits: A Day at the Beach by Sherri Tierney

Credits: Funky Vintage Travel by Eclectic Scrap Style Designs by Sylvia

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Survived first ballet class

I left pretty early to bike to ballet yesturday, but it only took about 23 minutes. I had some time to read last week's New York Times Magazine (I am so on top of things). The one drawback was that in that any warm up was lost in the wait time. One funny thing was that I was riding down one of the "bike roads" and there was this pick up truck driving very slowly and the street was very narrow with cars parked on both sides. I was getting impatient trying to figure out what the pick up was doing and I started reaching around to honk my horn, then I realized I was on a bike. What was I going to do, ring my bell at him? The class I signed up for is more of a beginning class which is good while I get used to ballet again. I do not need a lot of explanation, but there are areas where I need reminders and the time the teacher spends explaining things is a good time to rest. There will be a class that is a bit more advanced available on Monday mornings in the fall. That is better for my long term schedule and I will be physically ready for the class by then so I can really enjoy it. I am a bit stiff today, but it is not too bad.
I made Orange/Honey pork from my Freezer cookbook and David and I barbequed the first batch last night. Too yummy. We have enough leftovers that we can make some fresh rice after church, warm up the left overs, make a salad and have a quick lunch. The thing I love about making recipes from the cookbook is that I have two more ziplock bags in the freezer for later.
This is my layout from last night. Credits: Somewhere Else by MGL Scraps at Elemental Scraps

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Garden update and weekend plans

We finally got some warm weather this week and this has really helped the garden. The spring was so cool that the rasberries are not even close to being ready. Last year we had rasberries at this time and this year I don't think we will have any until August. The good news is the jams I plan to make will last further into the year next year.
I Corn and pumpkins I planted a couple of weeks ago are popping up quite quickly and I transplanted the basil I started from seed yesturday and put the plants out in the garden.
We are finished with the first session of swimming lessons. The boys and I went to dinner and ice cream last night after class and Liam fell asleep on the bike ride home. He was asleep in the trailer and I picked him up to carry him into the house. I realized that I could not get to my keys, so I had him sit on the door step while I unlocked the door. He just sat there and when we got into the house, I put him on our bed and he woke up a bit and started asking for dinner. I went back out to put the bike and trailer in the garage and when I came back, he was passed out on the bed.

In two hours I start my ballet class. I have been wanting to start ballet again for a while. I signed up for a class last summer and went to two classes then the teacher moved to New York and they could not find anyone else to teach at the same time. I plan to ride my bike to add another layer of exercise and of course, to save on gas. The ballet studio is just a few blocks from where Chrisitan went to preschool so I am familiar with most of the ride and it will be much easier without the kids in tow in the trailer.

I finally got a chance to do first layout using Seascape by Lindsay Jane Designs last night.

I rented a movie from Red Box for the first time last night. They have a box at our neighborhood Safeway and I picked up 27 Dresses (cute). I forgot to send movies back to Blockbuster all week, so this was a great way to get a movie for Friday night. I like that it is cheap and it features the more popular movies. I can run down and grab a new release and use Blockbuster for lesser known movies and TV Shows.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Swimming Lessons Day 4 & Beach Kits

We made it through day four of swimming lessons yesturday. Just one more day. We got to the community center/park a bit early and they had the wading pool filled, so the boys played there until it was time to go in and shower for class.
Liam made it through the entire class yesturday. He might have a the better approach to life than the rest of us. He goes into a new situation, makes a huge scene and then expectations are set very low. When he returns to classes, people are grateful for any slight improvement in behavior from him and don't demand much. I wonder what my life would have been like if I would have done things that way. It sounds like something George Costanza from Seinfeld would do in a new relationship or job.
Christian is doing very well. When the teachers ask him to do something he is not comfortable with, he tries to negotiate with them and talk them into something easier. The teachers still make him to the tasks they assign. There is one thing called the monkey crawl, where they crawl along the wall. The class constists of Christian, Liam and three girls. When they did the monkey yesturday, Christian and Liam were moving along the wall quickly and the three girls were well behind them with one of the teachers trying to speed them up and push them along.
If everything goes well at class today we are going to grab dinner at the local healthfood/mexican restaurants (they have toy dinosaurs for the kids to play with) then we are getting ice cream down the street. The pool restuarant and ice cream shop are all easy (no hills) bike ride away.
I thought I would show some fun beach kits that I have been working with this last week.
I have not had a chance to do a layout with Lindsay Jane Designs latest kit Seascape because it just came out yesturday. This kit also has an add-on, bracket album and quick page set. This is a huge kit and I can't wait to get to work with it. This is available at scrapbook-bytes

Tracey's Beachcomber Elements and Paper at scrapbook-elements

Here are three fun kits available at Elemental Scraps
Swim by Shantilly Faire

Summer in Mind by Claudi Designs & Cinnamon Designs

Beach Bum by Amanda Geils

I did this layout for the Bits and Pieces challenge at Elemental Scraps. The kit is a free download called Blue Bayou by Angie Kovacs

Thursday, June 19, 2008

swim lesson update and new family member

We had day three of swimming lessons yesturday. Christian went in the water and did exactly what the teachers told him to do. Liam was able to go in, but after a few minutes he got kicked out for not listening and doing what the teacher asked. He was so wild, a stranger would have thought I had slipped him some uppers before class. I took him to the locker room, got him dressed and then had him sit on my lap on the deck and watch Christian, since Christian was able to stay in class. I asked Liam what Christian did to get to stay in class. The class played a game where they sang the Alphabet song and Liam got really upset since he loves that song.
So here is a quick recap of swim lessons so far...
Day 1. Liam refuses to get in pool
Day 2. Liam has loose stools and cannot go to class
Day 3. Liam gets kicked out of class I was so happy to get them in the same class, I even brought a Real Simple Magazine to class in vain thinking I can get some reading done. This week is free. We have the classes we paid for in July. I am glad we did classes this week. If we can make progress now, hopefully it will help in July.
We also have a new family member....

We have not named her yet (we hope she is a girl) She has two buddies for about five weeks, but they are meat chickens so they will not get to spend much time in the hen house.
Here a couple more layouts from our beach trip.
Credits: Tracey's Beach Comber Elements and Paper, Alpha - Watery Alpha - Clever Monky Graphics by Tracey Monette

Credits: Country Blue by Lindsay Jane Designs

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Summer Adventure - Swimming

Last weekend I was listening to NPR and they have a series this summer where they interview people going on Summer Adventures. It sounds like people are doing things like floating down the Mississippi (that is more of an adventure then they planned) or travel on the Nile.
We are not leaving the country and probably not even leaving the state this summer, but I have a summer adventure.
Swimming
I gather up all the suits, swim diapers, towels, snacks, extra swim diapers, goggles, lock and so on. I then get my bike out of the garage and set up the trailer. I take everything out with the kids. Get the kids in the trailer and put all of the gear in the back. I then have to go in, close the garage, go out the front door and lock the front door. For the peaceful part...I get on my bike and ride to the community center.
I decide to take the kids to open session today as well as their swim lessons. We arrive at the community center. I lock up the bike, get the kids and gear out and go into the community center, scan my card and pay for the kids.
Now I try to find an empty family dressing room. When I find a room that is empty, I knock to make sure it is really empty (I walked into a room that was occupied and the person was naked last winter). We get in, Christian can dress himself. I have to help Liam and get my own swimsuit on. We lock up our things in the big lockers in the hall and go into the women's dressing room and shower.
Finally it is time to get in the pool. I have to try to keep both kids within three feet of my at all times or I might get rebuked by a lifeguard. It is summer and the lifeguards are about eight years old and don't seem to care what we or anyone else does.
The kids are having fun, but Liam tries to climb this wall he is not supposed to, so I pull him out of the pool and have him sit on the side. While we are sitting there, this unruly teen runs across the deck, almost steps on Liam and jumps into the current pool (not designed for jumping) The eight year old life guard is sitting right where this boy jumped and did nothing. I got mad. There was a staff member close by and I told her what happened and expressed my displeasure that the lifeguard did nothing. A few minutes later the group of unruly youth are asked to get out of the pool and the lifeguard left his post for the rest of his session. (Note: the unruly youth ate their crackers on the pool deck and left a giant mess, food is not allowed)
We are having fun until Liam poops his swim diaper (he does this often, he is three and a half, I am ready for this to end). We have to get out and I have to go to the hall to get the our bag. While I am doing this, he is dripping poopy pool water on the floor. I have to go tell someone. The family rooms are all full, so we have to go to the woman's dressing room.
When we get in there, I make Liam go straight to a bathroom stall. When I pull the swim diaper off, it turns out he had loose stools. I clean him up and go to dress him, but his does not have pants, since he wet his pants on the bike ride over. I only have a pull up to put on him. He cannot do lessons.
I take them back out so Christian can go to class. Liam sits on my lap. He sat pretty quietly, but at one point he slammed my ear with his head really hard and this was just too much and I start crying in front of all the parents, the swim classes and the world.
Getting Christian dressed and riding home was uneventful.
I took this picture yesturday. Liam refused to get in the pool yesturday. Credits: Swim by Shantilly Faire, Stamped Alpha by Jannylyn. Cardboard and String by Lucky Smith, Swirls Rustic Heritage by Little Miss Liz

I went to this festival when I lived in Japan and joined in on a fishing dance. Credits: Chinese New Years by Caroline B.

Credits: Beach Bum by Amanda Geils

Credits: Tracey's Dinosaur Kit - Clever Monkey Designs by Tracey Monette

Credits: Summer in Mind by Claudi Designs and Cinammon Designs

Three more days of swim lessons. I hope today was the peak in adventure. No more open swim sessions this week.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

back from vacation

It has been a while since I updated the blog. I was very busy during the last few days of Christian's preschool and we were getting ready to take our annual trip to stay in a yurt in Bandon.
This is the end of the year gift for Christian's teacher and class assistant. We got handprints from all the kids and I mod-podged them all to the paint can. Everyone could put their cards and gift cards in the cans before we gave them to the teachers.

The next morning after school got out, the boys and I left for Bandon. The weather was beautiful, but it was quite windy. I brought my bike and trailer this year and we did a lot of biking. The ride to the beach is very easy and only takes a couple minutes more then driving.

On Wednesday we rode down to the south jetty to go out to the beach and see the tide pools. The tide was not very low, but we got to see something a little better then some starfish.

Are they too cute or what. They made us miss our cat Luna who lies around like that.
On Thursday we rode to the light house. It is a three mile bike ride from the campsite to the lighthouse and it was fairly easy getting there. The ride back was one of the hardest I have ever done and it was flat. The wind was blowing towards me and it was so strong that it was almost impossible to ride. The hills in Portland do not compare to riding against that wind. At one point the tendons around my knees were hurting so much I was a little worried. I decided I better walk the bike for a while. I was in more pain the next morning than I have been in after any of the rides around town.
On Friday, we stopped by the Oregon Coast Aquarium on the way home.

Christian always loves the touching pool. Liam is kind of scared of the animals at the aquarium. He is always unsure of things.
On the way to the Aquarium, I let the boys watch a couple DVDs in the car. They watched Veggie Tales first since Liam likes them and then I let Christian pick something and he chose to watch the Muppets. There is one skit with some Gingerbread men dancing and I did not realize that this freaked Liam out, so when it came on, he started screaming. I was driving on the coast highway and there was not a place for me to pull over and change the DVD so Liam just had to look away.
Credits: Country Blue by Lindsay Jane Designs

Liam had a cold during much of the trip. Christian and I caught the cold, so our first day home was not fun. I was in bed most of the day yesturday.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Collab Kits & ice cream ball update

It is a new month which means new collab kits. Elemental Scraps and Designs in Digital both have wonderful kits. Here are a few things I did with the kits.


Credits: Requiem - Elemental Scraps June Collab Kit

Credits: Vintage Bride - Designs in Digital June Collab Kits
Other news....our Ice Cream Ball came today. I made ice cream on Sunday, so we have no need for anymore ice cream. I do want to do a trial run with the ball before we go camping. The boys will be so excited when I get it out and try to use it, that I will have difficulty thinking straight. I also want to make Kaluha ice cream, which I cannot share with the boys, so I think David and I will do a trial run on Saturday night after the boys go to bed and we can enjoy the ice cream together in peace.
The teacher gift for Christian's class is almost done. I have photos and need to put a couple of final touches on it and the hot potato will be ready to toss.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Move Over Martha Stewart!

My Day -
I went to work this morning. Came home, planted the rest of the garden (corn, pumpkins, beans & sunflowers). Went into the house and baked lemon mini-scones and chocolate chip cookies for Bible Study tommorow (eggs from my hen house). I made tuna salad with sweet onions from the farmer's market and made tuna melts for dinner. (I am the only one who eats tuna salad, the boys had cheesy melts and celery dipped in peanut butter.
After I finished cooking I started in on the class gift for Christian's teachers. I will post pictures when I am done. I also made little thank you gifts for the boy's teachers at church that involed glue sticks, brads and a hole punch. I took pictures, but am too tired (I don't know why) to upload them tonight.
I will post hybrid projects in a couple of days.
I am glad that I did not have a camera filming me during my creation frenzy. I don't think Martha Stewart had to chase her kids out of the kitchen and ask them to resist tempatation when they see the cookies.
I am hosting the new hybrid challenge at Designs in Digital. We are making notebooks this month. Drop by and join in.

Credits: Earthly Pleasures - Designs in Digital May Colab kit
I have put more of my pictures from Japan on CD. Here is a layout from my trip to Kyoto in 1994. It was 103 degress with 100% humidity. This is why I put the sub-title where history and heat meet. Kinkakuji, which is the gold temple was damaged in the Kobe earthquake in January of 1995. I am assuming they have repaired it since then
Credits: Template by Crissy W. Kit: A Mother's Love by Claudi Designs & Princess Sophie

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Getting Gas - Scary

I went to get gas yesturday and I went to the cheapest place around and WOW! How nasty. If the results from the online calorie buring calculator did not elevate my view of cylcling enough, the price of gas did. We will be planning our activities this summer with the price of gas in mind. In the past, I have taken the boys for a drive in the evening, when they are not calming down enough. Liam will go to sleep in the trailer and if I take them on on the bike, I burn calories and they can calm down.
I made my last big purchase for the bike yesturday. A car rack, so I can take it on the road. I had quite the power shopping trip yesturday. I wanted to get most of my pre-camping shopping taken care of and I had some things to buy for an end of the year teacher's gift at Christian's school. I was able to pick up several fun, yet cheap things for the boys when we go camping. I bought Christian a jump rope, bought new bubble wants (note to self, pack duct tape for when they break the wands). They now have one of those ball sets with the velcroed catchers. I also bought some fresh color/activity books for them. Since I know I will be alone with them this year, I want to make sure they have plenty to do.
I did this layout last night. Everything is by Tracy Monette. Paper - Dandilion revisited, Overlay - Quirky Acitates, Dogs: Tracey's Doggy Doodles and Alpha - Tracey's Quirky Farm

I made this journal with Jannylyn Brokken's Spring Burst

I am hosting the Font Jaunt at Elemental Scraps, stop by for a visit.