Our Husbands and Their Mothers...

I knew that title would get your attention in a hurry! Is there a hotter topic for women, than husbands and their mother issues? I don't really know the answer to that question because...my Mother-in-Law is a gem and I don't believe for a minute that my husband has issues with this great lady. Thursday is her birthday. I hope she has a fabulous day. I will be anxious to talk to her on the phone because I have literally worked hours on a this little project. (Sorry, its a little blurry in the picture.) The chip board book and pages are from Bo Bunny and the paper is Cosmo Cricket "The Dutch Girl Collection". I bought it here. I adore this paper!

Now for the rest of the story...The afore mentioned husband comes out of the bedroom one morning last week and by the way he was acting I thought something horrible had happened. Breathlessly he belts out that it is his mother's birthday in a week(I was just waiting for him to remember!) and asks if I will call our daughters and see if they will each make a scrapbook page or something like that to send to his mom for her birthday. I am thinking..." Why don't you call them?" but I agree to call them. Then as I thought about it I knew that they were all so busy, some of my daughters don't love scrapbooking (one calls it the work of the devil), etc., etc., etc. So...I did what any good wife and mother would do, I jumped in with both feet and did the project myself. It was a big sacrifice to do this little book, work with these adorable papers...while listening to great music...eating chocolate...but someone had to do it and it might as well be me! Well, I think you get the picture. I just wish you could see the picture!

Blessings from above...

Something happen to me today and I really haven't slowed down enough to really think about it until now. It is rather sacred but I want to share. I was driving down the busiest street in our town heading to a teacher's supply store. I was stopped at the light at a busy intersection with about 8 0r 9 cars ahead of me and was thinking with some frustration(because I was in a hurry) that I would never get through the light when it turned green because I was so far back in the line of cars. I watched as the light in the turn lane to left of me turned green and I thought maybe if I hurry and pull around these cars and get into the left turn lane and make it through the light, then I can go down a side street that isn't quite so busy and get where I am going a little faster. Immediately a voice came into my head (not my own voice) and said "You'll never make it through the turn light." And so I stayed right where I was. Not 3 seconds later a huge truck came zooming pass me on my left doing exactly what I had thought I should do only he was driving like a bat out of heck trying to make the green turn light. If I would have pulled out in my hurry to get where I was going a little faster, I would have surely been hit by this huge truck and who knows what would have been the end of that story. I immediately realized that I had been protected and said a little thank you prayer in my heart but tonight I was telling my husband and daughter about it and it really sank in. The Lord knows me...He loves me...and He is mindful of me. This I know.

This and That...

We have had a wonderful week! For Valentines Day we decided that we would give our daughters, Shelly and Ashley and their husbands some much needed mommy and daddy time and invited our grandchildren over for pizza, cookie decorating, and plenty of play time. The moms and dads had 3 whole hours to celebrate Valentines Day together! We had a ball here at the house doing all of afore mentioned things. I made sugar cookies earlier in the day and Zach(3) and Livee(2) had a blast decorating them with frosting, sprinkles and candy. Liv ate more candy than she decorated with but Zach was so into getting the cookies just right for his mom and dad. Boston(1) sat in her booster chair and ate Cheerios, just happy to be there. After decorating the cookies the kids made a great big heart card to give with the cookies. Then we headed down to the preschool room(yes, I teach preschool) for the real fun. We danced and sang, played games and did playdough. After all the fun and games, I looked up at the clock and started to laugh. We had done everything I had planned in an hour and 1/2 and still had and hour and 1/2 to go! Whoa! I honestly don't know how my daughters do it all day long! And Sherelle with 4 little ones. Yikes! Kudos to you all! After the grandkids left we watched our favorite show..."Lost". It was the perfect ending to the day!
The 3 day weekend has also been so fun. Darren and Lindsey came from Provo and we just hung out all weekend. All our daughters were here. We ate alot of food and played alot of speed Scrabble and Dirty Marbles. We ended the weekend with breakfast at Smitty's our all time favorite breakfast spot. We hated to see everyone go their separate ways but it is always nice to get everything put back together and then have a long nap! What did you do this Holiday weekend? Anything fun?

Cutest grandkids ever!!!!!

Recipe for Disaster...

I know this picture doesn't look like much but truely it is a disaster of immense degree. For nearly 30 years I have kept my recipe cards in this cool box that my husband brought home from work. He found it in the basement of his office and it was old when he brought it home. Not worn out by any means, just old. It was about 10-12 inches long and held 4x6 recipes cards to perfection. It also had this neat little metal plate the moved back and forth on a rod that held the recipes in very tight until you loosened it with a little button. I don't know what it was originally used for but it became my recipe box and I loved it with a love that is beyond love! I knew the box was getting a little worn out (what isn't after being used for 30 years) but I tried to be so, so careful with it because I knew I would never in a million years be able to replace it. Then disaster struck! I was getting the box out of the pantry and I dropped the whole box on the floor. The box broke open on all 4 sides and hundreds of recipes went flying. I just stood there and stared at all my recipes scattered over the floor and wanted to cry. These words actually came out of my mouth...(don't worry this is a G-rated blog) "My box, my poor, poor box"! (I didn't really say that. What I should have said before was that I am trying to keep this a G-rated blog) I carefully picked up the recipes that stayed somewhat intact and put them on the kitchen cupboard and then the very next day I went out to find a recipe box. Have you ever tried to find a recipe box these days. They are few and far between and besides it would take 3-4 to hold the recipes that my box held. I even went to some office supply stores and described what I was looking for...long box...holds 4x6 cards...metal plate on a rod...Nope, not only did they not have one, they looked at me a little weird because they had never even heard of something like that! So I contemplated my options and this is one of the afore mentioned projects that I am spending my spare time on. I am compiling my own cookbook! I bought a huge binder, I am typing the recipes on my computer, printing them on cardstock with embellishments on each page, putting them in clear sheet protecters and putting them in the binder under the appropriate tab. It is going to take me the rest of my natural life to finish this project and I will probably finish shortly before my death and my children will get in a huge fight over who gets the recipe book and end up not speaking to each other. Oh, on second thought, I'm not that great of a cook!

So many projects...So little time...

I've been asked by a number of people why I haven't blogged for awhile. I'd like to say that I have been in the Caribbean on vacation, or had some serious surgery, or had been finally visited by Oprah's men-in-black(read previous "Favorites" post) but that would not be the case. Nothing as exciting as any of those options. I have just been plain busy. I don't know if you are like me or not...but I do not sit in front of the TV eating Bon-Bons all day. I hit the floor running in the morning and my day never seems to slow down. I am not going to list all the responsibilities, obligations, etc. that keep me running because I know every woman on the planet is doing the same things, with a few variations. I also know that I thought at this point in my life that I would start having more time to myself and that just hasn't turned out to be the case. If anything, I am more busy than ever. For sure I am not changing diapers, fixing mega meals and running children to every extra curricular activity possible, but I am going a mile-a-minute nearly every day. And on top of that...I am not as young as I use to be and it takes me a bit longer to accomplish things these days.
Now back to the blog...it takes time to blog. At least for me it does. I am a perfectionist in a lot of ways and I don't just sit down and start typing. I spend a considerable amount of time planning, drafting, picture taking, etc. even before I start typing. So a blog entry is a big deal for me. I also have so many other projects I want to complete...pillows cases to embroider, quilts to make, scrapbooking, a new master recipe file that I am making etc. Don't get me wrong, I am so grateful for the many good fabulous choices I have in my life. So grateful! But, I am constantly torn between my choices. My free time is scarce and I guess I have too many things that I want to accomplish. So...yes I am going to continue to blog as much as I can and I am learning from Ali Edward's blog how to embrace imperfection a little more. So stay tuned...

Here is a layout I did today in about 1 hour. That's a record for me. The stamps are from Making Memories and I adore them and the little girl in the picture!