Thursday, April 30, 2015

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUU..

happy birthday to you. 
happy birthday dear Stephanieeeeee.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUUUUUU.

Happy birthday to my besets friend in the whole wide world! 

I wish I could be there to buy you a slurpee bigger than your head, a swimming pool full of doritos, and anything in Ross Dress For Less that your little birthday heart desired...


Love you, miss you, and I hope your day doesn't suck!

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Me Series: March

Today I want to share my March Me page with ya'll. Here we are at the end of April and I haven't even had a moment to sit down and think about this month, or me... well, that's not true. I've been thinking about "me" a ton. Too much, I would argue.

I've been thinking about "me" balancing a hectic derby schedule, stay at home Mom-ing, working on "me" in counseling, wifey-ing, keeping things together, trying to make some money here and there, etc. 

Do you ever feel like you're succeeding at one or two things but failing at the rest of life? I'm consumed with guilt because I failed to send a bday gift to my niece (bday was on the 15th. yikes!).. and I'm failing to send something special to my sister for her bday as I originally planned (2 days from now. I suck.).. and Aidan is moving out like, all of the sudden, like this weekend... so I feel like I'm failing at helping him through that or spending time with him.. the school year is almost up, less than 30 days (yikes again!!) and although I love my kids the idea of them all home 100% of the time kinda freaks me OUT! So with those feelings I kinda feel like I'm failing at Mom-ing too... not to mention the wife-ing. I've spent the last month hyper focused on derby and travel and fixing things with myself mentally.. and Hottie just fills in the gaps without a word of frustration. It feels like it's been all about me, me, me.. yet, I can't get any me time... and I can't seem to get me together for longer than a day...

I mean...

until today my house was a total disaster. Confession: I hadn't cleaned toilets in like a month, if I'm being generous. I had to finally scrub every inch.

AND other than my Paper Camellia projects, I haven't scrapped in 2 weeks.

AND I keep crossing things off of the to-do list that I totally didn't do yet because I just can't stand seeing a long to do list anymore.

Anyway. That is all very silly and random, but it was on my mind.. and it's very "me".. so maybe I'll put it all onto the April layout along with how nuts I am... here's March!



Sunday, April 26, 2015

May Paper Camellia Sneaks

Hey! Here with some sneaky peekys of the next Paper Camellia Scrapbook kit. I pushed myself outside of the box on some of these pages & I'm pleased with the results!




Can't wait to show you the whole layouts on the first. Exciting stuff!

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Project Life: March

Hi! Me again. Throwing some PL pages at you. Here is March...

March 1-8th full..



 Still need to fill in a "currently" list on the card, obviously.


March 9-15th..




March 16-22nd...



whenever I include more than 1 photo of myself I feel really weird.. especially when it's vain, "look at my hair!" ones. But I promised myself I'd include myself more so.. oh well.

March 23-29th...


 a WHOLE page about me?! I had a huge weekend. I'm glad I documented it.


I need to get cracking on April. How is April almost over?! Still loving this project. Let me know if you have any questions about it! :)

Monday, April 20, 2015

DUDE.

dude. dude. DUDE.

I have totally derailed the blogging train. I swear I have lots of projects to share with ya'll.. my desk is currently covered in scrap crap and powdered donuts. I've just been really struggling with the sharing part. I promise to make an effort to be better. (Right now you're thinking.. who cares? I didn't even notice! I'm not sure I even want to read this silly little blog.) --to which I respond, how dare you... ;) 

Actually I don't know why I'm pointing out my failure in this department (Actually, I do know. Pointing out my own failures is my jam.) It's just that I have a goal of posting at least 10 times a month and it's just not happening... and this silly little, dude I suck, post is my way of holding myself accountable to making the time to take pics of my stuff and post it already. So, it's on the list....

along with making a meal plan
and a grocery list
and doing the laundry
going to Michaels to replace the white thread Dez unfurled entirely
sneaking off to Target (don't tell Hottie)
watching all of the Housewives
shopping for new skates
showering (probably)
checking Instagram
walking the dog
crowbarring in a work out
silently judging the internet
wiping butts
poppin' tags
(are you still there?)
The point is, dude, I'm super busy..
the struggle is real, but I will do better!

I mean, to my credit, this is pretty distracting...

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Love This

I just got back from another weekend away for roller derby and I have to tell you... I missed home. Don't get me wrong, I had a ton of fun and am grateful for some time away.. but there really is no place like home.. and when I say home, I mean the family. 

It was pretty cool being picked up with Ev and Dez in the car. She begged me to sit in the back seat with her and he wanted to hold my hand for the entire ride home. I said before that these kids drive me nuts (in true welcome home fashion Dez has been screaming all morning because I keep putting on the wrong Mickey episode), but there is nothing like loving them... and spending some quiet time alone with Hottie. ahhhh, the best. 

So just thought I'd pop in to say hi, and I'm here.. and also share a recent project. I have to put the house back together and unpack and then I'm going to dig right in to scrapbooking again!!




Thursday, April 9, 2015

Confession Thursday

Thought I'd start a new segment on the ole blog.. you know, another thing I will forget to repeat and a year from now will chastise myself for, for being such a slacker. ;) I'm going to call it Confession Thursday... cuz, well, that's what I'm doing, and that's what day it is. I'm going to come clean about some stuff and I figured I'd invite ya'll along for the ride. These are totally random things that have been sitting in my brain that I just never get around to writing about. Here goes nothing...

* I really, really, want to figure out how to sell my art/crafts so that I can contribute financially to my family. I often joke that if I had a dollar for every time I heard "you should have an Etsy." Or, "you could totally sell those.." I'd never have to "work" again. The problem is that my brain works in that creative, come up with ideas and make stuff, way.. but simply does not translate to sales. I often feel like a waste of talent.

*My kids drive me bonkers sometimes quite a bit. I feel like I follow a lot of people of social media and blogs and what not, and they have these picture perfect lives.. which I'm sure are not really picture perfect all of the time.. but it sure looks like it. And sometimes after I scroll through RosyInstagram I feel like I'm coming up short as a Mom. The truth is that I'm doing my best, and I would not trade them for the world.. I love them to bits, but they also make me kooky. & sometimes I want to lock myself in a closet and hide for awhile.

*Sometimes when our oldest walks through the house (he's 18) I get startled... like if the house is quiet and I'm say, sitting at my desk gleefully blogging... and he walks by to get his boots on for work I like, jump! He is the size of a grown man and I guess I'm just not used to that. In my mind both of my older boys are perpetually frozen at the age of 7. I mean, I know they are not 7 anymore.. but sometimes I just look at them like, how? Cliche, but so true... and I also look at them in amazement that I didn't totally screw them up. :) so far. ;)

*I hate to meal plan, grocery shop, and even cook. But I often think about meals or food as rewards.. treats for good behavior. You'd think I would like the preparation part more because of that, but I loathe it.. truly. The kids are on Spring Break this week and honestly the hardest part of it is all the food! Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and more snacks. It feels like such work!

*I thought coloring my hair bright, funky colors would make me take time to style it more often. Nope. It still goes right into a pony or messy bun the moment I wake up. Seems like kind of a waste of cool hair.. but I guess I'm just a messy bun kinda girl. I tell you what. 32 years, and I still have no idea what to do with my long, curly locks.

*I love taking baths, but the water is never hot enough. I want to come out of there looking like a lobster.. but much to my dismay, I never accomplish that. When I was pregnant I used to worry about how the heat would effect the baby. I may or may not have even googled "baths during pregnancy + boiling the baby." ..just to make sure it would be ok. Also, don't judge, I had pregnancy brain.

*I love candy but dislike chocolate.. unless it's butterfingers or reese's cups... and then I only like it because I eat all of the chocolate off in order to get to the good stuff, the insides. I seriously have candy stashed all over the house and it takes major restraint not to shove my face with it all day, everyday. I'm super impressed with those people who "go off sugar" for whatever amounts of time. I've narrowed it down to one day a week of indulging.. but look forward to that so much that I can't imagine giving it up totally.

*I have Mom-Wife-guilt over my roller derby hobby... but not enough guilt to stop playing, apparently. It's a really expensive sport. Nice skates/plates can be around $500. Wheels upwards of $100 a set. All of the pads, safety gear, gas money to and from practices, traveling expenses for tournaments, jerseys. It's a lot. Not to mention the time it takes away from my family. I practice around 3x a week and the space is an hour from our house... so there are a lot of times I basically run out the door when Hottie gets home so I can make warm ups on time... but I love it... and it has also been really good for me... and the family is very supportive so I don't forsee giving it up any time soon.

So those are some confessions for ya. If you took the time to read that you (are my new best friend) probably learned some stuff about me.. which is kinda cool. Maybe you can relate? What kind of confessions do you have? Let's make this a thing!

Oh! ...to make this the longest post ever, here is what spurred this idea on for me... I made this layout because I joke about how everything looks better filtered.. or how much filters can change what's really going on.. and it made me think about under the surface, real life stuff that I wanted to share.. thus, Confession Thursday...




Monday, April 6, 2015

Easter Shenanigans

It was a hoppy Easter Sunday around here. The holiday was just what I'm used to now that we don't live near family... slow and lazy... full of movies, too much sugar, and kids going bonkers from too much sugar. oops. :) 

Here are some photos from our festivities. As the youngest Dez was handed down the broken ears.. but he didn't seem to mind being a floppy bunny.



Dying eggs was serious business. If those brows could talk they would say.. "I am super intense, and look like an old man even though I am only two. Thank you for noticing, it's ok to be jealous." He was really focused on using the tool.


We made some pretty cool eggs on accident. Love that part of Easter... so much creativity!


This guy...


The bunny nailed it with these shoes for our rainbow lover. She freaked! & even slept in them..


Watching a movie. Dez was a fan...



Oh! And I matched the occasion with my egg-dye-like colored hair. Blue you guys. BLUE! How did I forget to tell you that? I feel kinda like a robins egg (the candy, not the actual bird egg).. but hey, they are delicious so I'll take it... I hope you had a great weekend too!



Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Paper Camellia: April Kit

It's reveal day over at Paper Camellia... and this is no April Fools joke! These kits are fantastic, ya'll. Get your grubby little hands on them while you can! This is the main Scrapbook Kit...


and the layout I made using only that kit...



Here's the Add-On I was given to work with this month..


and here are the rest of my pages...












and I have plenty of materials left to create more pages! Gotta love that. Head on over to the Paper Camellia site to see what the other kits look like. I have my eye on a couple of them. But seriously, you have to grab them while you can. They sell like hot cakes!