The quick tour around the place I work in.....

Not much going on here. I did finish the Granny Square afghan, but haven't decided if I am adding any more rounds to the whole thing or not. I have taken photos, just haven't loaded them up yet.

For now, here's a quick tour around my little happy place:

The Sizzix corner. Under the table is a rolling drawer thing that holds completed pages, waiting to go into albums, sorted by categories............

This is my happy wall...Target cubes on top of the shelving that Dad made for me for Christmas. embellishments are sorted by color. The top shelf of the 5-shelf unit holds sherbet glasses. In each are brads, eyelets, flowers, etc that are also by color. The things on top of everything, the decorations, are collected from various places......

My cardstock and paper are right behind me on the 5-shelf, also sorted by color. I have baskets for scraps I want to keep together (others are by color), for tags and word stickers, and for ink pads/chalk inks.

The window in the room. The 'valance' is 3 clearance dinner napkins from Target. The wooden blinds make a great place to hang ideas!

The desk I work at, from Target.com.

This is Grace's work area. The table is for her, as are the drawers under the TV. She is working on getting her own supplies organized, and loves my P-Touch! Do you like the framed TAB soda packaging on the wall? I love TAB.

Hmmmm.....maybe I need to go in there and spend some more time creating!

Later..........

As sung by Alice Cooper.....

well, with a little help from the Muppets this time around, School's Out for Summer!




I just love the old Muppet Show. Here's the opening number:



And who could forget Pigs In Space, with Captain Link, Dr. Strangepork and Miss Piggy?



Just a little Muppet fun for your Saturday. We are off to a graduation Open House...the first of what will likely be many in the years to come, as our friends' kids (and ours, I guesss!) grow toward high school graduation.

Two more, and go read this.....

More and more bloggers are doing the Seven/Eight Weird/Random Things list. Here are two more Joe and I came up with:

1. I can cross just one eye, leaving the other looking forward. Cool.

2. I can tie a marachino cherry stem into a knot in my mouth. Impressed the guys in college.


And go to Susie Davis' blog here, and read...great message about how very little time we have with our kiddos before they leave the nest!

Tomorrow is the last day of school! We all made it!

Later....

Wiping my eyes....

We just finished watching the past 2 episodes of Heroes. I won't give anything away to those who haven't seen these shows yet, but suffice it to say that I did NOT want to see the sadness for that guy. Sniff. It will be a hard wait until the next season starts up!

School is finally winding down this week, and none too soon for us. Both band concerts were last week, and this week Grace has fifth grade festivities. We all had a hard time getting up this morning, even Alex, our morning boy!

Over at TwistedKnitter , Janet not only participated in a new meme that is going around, but is offering up a prize to those who also participate. Being a sucker for contests, I'm finally going to do a meme! (Remember when I said I would do the 'Six Weird Things About Me'? Yeah. I never did. I know. Maybe I just think that the weird things in me are normal.) This is easy, it's just Seven Random Things About Me. Consider yourself 'tagged' if you'd like!

1. I love to watch Court TV , especially COPS. There is something very satisfying to me in watching the bad guys get caught. That's my type of reality TV. I don't watch their recreation-like shows, like The Investigators, etc. I like the real thing. The other reality TV I like is the coverage of court trials on Court TV, the Animal Cops shows on Animal Planet. I have also been known to look up from my knitting when the Amazing Race is on.

2. I have my favorite movies just as anyone else does, but I think I am the only girl I know that really enjoys mobster movies with the F bomb in them. I don't drop the bomb myself. Well, not anymore! But for some reason there is so much real grit to those movies, and that bomb seems appropriate to the grit level. My short list: Godfather, Godfather Part 2, Casino, as well as Glengarry Glen Ross and The Usual Suspects.

3. Whenever possible, I will swim only in a chlorinated pool, not natural water. There are some creepy crawly things that live in natural bodies of water. There was a time when I loved to swim in the lake, and even opened my eyes underwater there. Now that thought just skeeves me right out. I will walk in the lake in Silver Lake. I will even swim in it if I needed to retrieve something. Given the choice, I am in a pool.

4. I have a thing about feet. I need to have clean feet when I get into bed. I don't mind walking in sand, or dirt. I just have to wash my feet before I get into bed. I gross out completely if someone has long or dirty toenails. There's a basic hygiene thing there for me.

5. My (cute, pink) ipod has more knitting podcasts on it than music. And I listen to the podcasts when I walk on the treadmill.

6. When I am sick I wander the house and whine incessantly. I am a horrible patient. On the very few occasions that I have been really, really sick (like with 104+degree fever and pneumonia) I will simply go lie down and sleep. If you see me do this, I am very, very sick. When the whining stops, call 911.

7. I totally love my signature...I developed it in school when I was bored. I must have been bored a lot, because I also made up a formula for determining the next square number in sequence, learned to write backwards & upside down. (I am left handed, and I think that helped with the backwards writing). I will have to take a photo of my signature and post it for you. You'll think it's cool too.



So what is your list???

Mudder's Day....

Happy belated Mother's Day to the moms out there. it truly is 'the toughest job you'll ever love," isn't it?

My Mudder's Day was nicely quiet. (The thought of waiting for a table in any restaurant on a day like that just gives me the willies.) It was Youth Sunday at church, so the music for service was provided by the youth band, At His Feet, in which Eric plays electric guitar (tall blond, second one standing from the left side). Quite well, I might add! I love to watch them play together. Grace served as a greeter, usher, and on the prayer team. It's awesome to see the kids in service at the church!

{sweet kid story coming...}

To help encourage the kids on the prayer teams some of us went back after communion to ask for prayers. I asked that they pray for me to help me be a better mom to my kids. Grace piped up, "How could you be a better mom?" Yeah. There's a present I'll take every Mudder's Day!

I had a fabulous nap that afternoon (as did a number of us in the house), and Joe grilled delicious chicken for dinner.

Joe had visited his parents the previous week, so he took them some albums I made for them. Yesterday I visited with my mom and dad, and gave her the album I made for her, with photos from years ago to the present, including some from their 25th wedding anniversary party in 1987. It was so fun to put together and revisit those times.

Mom's been doing research on her family, thanks in great part to members of the family saving just about everything from Grandpa's army pay book and discharge notice (I have his old wallet and one he made in camp as a kid, even!) to greeting cards from relatives. The greeting cards provided jumping points for her further research into aunts/uncles, etc. The internet has so very much information, especially considering that there have been so misspellings on names and places.

We now know that my maternal grandmother's family originally came from a town just about 120 miles southwest of Minsk in what is now Belarus. This is so cool! I imagine some wild gypsy blood in me.

She's also researching her dad's side of the family now, and getting some good leads on tracking down information on her paternal grandfather's family.

This is just such a gift to me, my sister, and my own kids for the years to come.

"C" Things That I Love....

Comfy and Cozy. I do love pajamas. If I can be in them by 5 I am thrilled. Old Navy Pajama pants with some kind of Tshirt, and the older the shirt the softer it is. Throw in a nice blanket and I am curled up for the evening!

Cap'n Crunch Cereal....specifically the Peanut Butter flavor. Just can't get enough.

Crossword Puzzles. Especially the Sunday one (Our paper carries the Los Angeles puzzle on Sundays). It's my Sunday afternoon habit. And I prefer using a red pen for some reason.

Crocheting. Before I started knitting a few years ago, I was a crocheter. I've been crocheting for probably 30 years now, primarily making baby blankets for nieces and nephews that were born. I've gone up a level now, and am working on a granny square blanket for myself out of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino....mmmmm. So soft!

Coffee! I didn't used to like it, then I did. Then I tried a Latte and never looked back. Yep, my usual is the Venti Nonfat Latte with Sugarfree French Vanilla. And it's my weekly coffee date with the girls at Starbucks.

Cops and Court TV...Bad Boys, Bad Boys, I do love to watch the bad guys get caught. I'll add in To Catch a Predator in this list, too...it's that NBC show that catches the internet predators. Right now I am watching the Phil Spector trial out in LA on Court TV. And I'll watch reruns of Cops any time I can.

Casino. One of my very favorite movies. Just love Joe Pesci in it - he created such a great character. And Robert DeNiro? Nuff said. A great one. Sharon Stone as well, and even though his part was smaller, James Woods is also memorable. Who'd'a thunk that Don Rickles woulda been so good, too? Yep, a favorite. It goes with me to every weekend retreat.

Cropping. AKA scrapbooking. Creating pages of photos and written memories for my family and those I love. I'm sharing more and more of myself in my pages, and am really enjoying looking back at the photos of the kids when they were little, then writing about the qualities and character traits they possess.

Cookie dough!! Chocolate chip cookie dough, my own recipe. I realize I am tempting the fates, but I've been eating raw cookie dough for probably 35 years. I just love it. I've been known to, on more than a few occasions, to make up a batch of dough and never bake it into cookies. I just leave it in the fridge in a bowl with a spoon in it.

Just a few of the "C" things I love...

Ahhhhh...r...chivers.......

Today was Cropping Day with the girls at Archiver's. so nice to be with friends, sharing, cropping, all the good stuff. It's my new weekly date!

We only have a few weeks of school left here, ending with a half-day on the 25th. I think this is the very first year that all three kids AND I are having Spring Fever about getting out of school. We can't wait! I guess that is a good thing, that it's taken this long to get to the "HOW many days of school are left???" And it just seems to get busier and busier, with concerts, marching band camp, band instrument interviews, finals, projects, field trips, field day, etc. Who am I kidding....there is no not-busy time of the year. It just changes during the year. Still.....when does summer start???

So as summer approaches, even with with a Mission trip for Joe and Alex, and camp for Grace (this means mega pool time for Eric and I!), I look forward to this:

The dunes of Silver Lake.

Sunset over Lake Michigan, in Pentwater.

I've been unfaithful to my LSS....

(Local Scrapbook Store), and I'm not even trying to hide it.

As I posted previously, Archiver's opened here in Cedar Park. Just a few miles from my home. From my home! (hear that spoken a la Al Pacino in Godfather Part 2:

Michael Corleone: [Discussing the incident regarding the two unknown gunmen who fired through Michael's bedroom window earlier] In my home.

Frank Pentangeli: Michael, when I heard I almost died...

Michael Corleone: [Yells] IN MY HOME! IN MY BEDROOM! Where my wife sleeps... and my children play with their toys.

I ended up going back on Friday, and again on Saturday. Ya. Wow.

Saturday was really a 'field trip' from our all-day crop event celebrating National Scrapbook Day. Michelle and her mom of Scrapbook Escapes hosted it again, and it was really fun. Good food, good friends. Just what we girls want! I did get some pages, done, but not nearly what I wanted to. We did agree, though, that a bunch of us are going to meet at Archiver's on Thursdays to work on our stuff.

Grace had her interview with the band directors from the middle school last week. She really wanted to play the saxophone (she likes the reeds, so no triple threat of T-bones here), but she couldn't get enough air to get sound from it, so she'll be playing the clarinet. We are excited for her to start in band...it's been such a great thing for both of the boys.

With Joe travelling this week (various sites in North Dakota and Minnesota...allowing for a nice weekend visit with his parents), it's time to single parent here. That means interesting dinners and an earlier bedtime! (I'm no morning person, so I need the extra time to wake up and be civil, as well as cover the rides to the 3 schools by myself.)

So I will continue the stalking of Archiver's for now. It keeps me off the streets.

Home from stalking....

Yippee, our Archiver's opened!! I've been driving by the storefront for a while now, slowing down as I pass to get a good look through the windows. I know I am not the only SUV that has been circling in that parking lot. Their Grand Opening is tomorrow, but I have a friend who has a friend who is working there, so we found out about the "super double secret" (no, not really) 'soft' opening today. They have so much there! And so many things the other stores have been out of for a long time. Oh, and the clearance! 25-75% off stuff already! I was there at 9, 30 minutes early, the first one. (One lady said she was there earlier, but must have left for coffee and come back so we won't count her. meh.) I was comfortable in my camping chair drinking a latte, enjoying the morning. Wish I'd had a photo of us all as we gathered at the door watching 9:30 draw near. Kim, Jackie and Terri were there with me, of course!

So many random thoughts running in my head, but I really need to take care of a few things before I blog again. I'll try to bring some cohesion to the randomness and return.

Until then....scrap on!