Home from Chicago

...but the full recap will have to wait. Amanda, the official photographer, is off in the woods camping so I have no pics! I can't possibly tell the full story without my (I mean her) pictures! It was an awesome trip. The best I can remember. Everything is falling in place. God is awesome!

One of the things on my extensive to do list before I left for Chicago was to finish the t-shirt design for my son's school. Unfortunately I couldn't get it done in time, so it was first on the list when I returned home. So yesterday and today I cranked out some fun stuff! I'm so excited! I only hope the final product looks as good as these renderings!

Cinnamon Toast take 2

**Note, I started writing this post on Tuesday but due to events detailed below, I was unable to complete it until today. :)

This morning I told Ella, "How 'bout I make cinnamon toast again this morning!" to which she replied, "No, mommy! I don't want the fire to come out of the oven" This is on the heels of Nolen telling me that I really need to learn how to use the TV. So my kids are giving me a vote of zero confidence today. I now know just how my mom felt all those times we gave her that doubtful look and rolled our eyes at what she did or said. Sorry 'bout that mama...

We've had a long-standing battle in my house about how to make cinnamon toast...a 17 year old battle to be exact. About 2 months ago I finally won the battle - Ben conceded that in fact my way was the best. Victory! We still haven't decided on the victor of the french toast battle, but I must say that odds are in his favor.

So, here's how I make cinnamon toast: slather on the butter, sprinkle sugar, sprinkle cinnamon and put in the oven, broiler setting, 400 degrees for about 3 minutes. Perfection! Crispy on top, soft on the bottom. It's heaven!

**End Tuesday's post

**Start Saturday's post

Okay, this has been a week. There were so many highlights, it's hard to pick one. There was the time Ella accidentally dropped her little wolf figurine in the flushing toilet...bye, bye wolf...hello plummer. And there was the all nighter I pulled to get our sale up and running and the day from hell that followed...which included a screaming match with my kids with Amanda on the phone followed by a sobbing meltdown. Luckily, Amanda had the cure...a trip to the dollar store and some fast food...worked like a charm. Oh, and then there was the all out war against the fruit flies, which occupied a good chunk of the week. After research and lots of traps, I'm happy to say that the war is nearly over. By the way, it's not normal for us to have a fruit-fly problem and I'm not really sure how it all started, but I sure know how to fix it! The trap of choice is a baby food jar with bananas cover in plastic wrap with holes poked in the top. We made trap making a family affair.

There definitely have been some fun times. Ella and Gracie have both changed so much in the last 8 days that I think Ben is going to freak out. I've enjoyed holding Gracie until she fell asleep in my arms, and getting the girls new dishes and food for their kitchen and watching them make food for me. Nolen and I have enjoyed brief moments together while the girls were asleep and we even got away together to go to kids improv show last night. And Gracie shocked us all by sitting down on her brand new potty about 30 seconds after I put it together and using it...correctly! She can't say the word "potty" so I don't think she's completely ready, but I'm cautiously optimistic that she will be my easiest yet. I wouldn't trade the week for anything but wow...it's been a struggle. Just 29 hours until Ben gets home!

Friday we started our first ever Potato Sack sale! It's really awesome. Our designers have loaded their sacks with about $10 worth of new goodies that you can buy for $2. The only catch is you have no idea what's inside, which is half the fun!

In addition, I've put together a mini kit that is yours free with the purchase $10. You'll find all the details on the front page of www.polkadotpotato.com

We're off today to go to a friends house so the kids can play and I can get a little 3 minute video edited for CHA. Should be fun!

I received an email from an old friend with a link to a podcast that's a must listen! Melody Ross is an icon in the scrapbook industry. I first learned about Chatterbox when we opened Scrappy's in 1998. At that time, she had two little books of sayings for journaling and 3 journaling templates. All of the Chatterbox product that we bought for our grand opening sold out our first day of business in that 150 sq ft retail space.

Melody is gorgeous, one of those people that you wonder about...wonder 'what it's like to be her' kind of thoughts. I've always had so much respect the impact she's made in the industry and how nice of a person she is and what an awesome mother all while having a super cool air about her.

Well, she's been through some struggles and changes and is coming out on the other side of her journey. This is a long and amazing listen. But it comes with a WARNING! Listen when you have plenty of time to dedicate your mind to it. It's very compelling and you will want to really pay attention. And this warning comes from first hand experience. I started listening this morning and proceeded to burn the kids' cinnamon toast and the last 6 pieces of bread in the house. Then I started again after 1 pm and Gracie flooded the bathroom by sitting on the counter and turning the water on with the drain closed. So seriously, when you start listening, you won't want to stop.

Here's the link to the podcast.

Enjoy!

Ben is outta here!

Scary. Ben is out of town for NINE days! He's a Jr. High leader at our church and is on a mission trip to Tennessee with 15 pubescent boys and girls. I'm not sure I'm jealous.

We have never been apart this long since my 6 week trip to Germany when I was 17 years old the summer before we got married. In fact, that time apart was so painful that it was while I was in Germany that Ben asked me to marry him - right over the telephone. This time apart will be painful, but not for the same reasons. I'll miss him, no doubt, but it's not that raging intense hormonally induced 'miss him' that I experienced 17 years ago...thank goodness. No, this is painful b/c I'm the sole responsible party for the 3 kids that those raging hormones eventually produced.

My first goal when he left was to clean out the gutters. Ben is a lot of things...caring husband, great dad, computer whiz, builder of websites. He is not, however, a mechanic or a yard man. Our gutters have been sprouting trees...that's how bad it's been. We've had so much rain and we have a huge oak tree that dropped its seeds and those suckers had seriously taken root...in the gutters! It was embarrassing but not one of those things you think about until you realize that someone is on their way over to your house. Knowing that if I tried to take it upon myself to empty the gutters in Ben's presence it would create strife... I have used that tactic in the past..."honey, where's the screwdriver?"..."why?"..."Oh, I was just going to take apart the xyz and figure out why it's not working"... At this point Ben jumps up and takes over b/c he knows I'm not at all mentally or physically equipped to fix xyz. But, knowing that that is a tactic and not a legitimate means of getting him to do something, I just let him leave town and decided to do it myself. Something I won't do again.

First of all, my whole body is sore. I had no idea I would be hurting this bad. Second, as a family, we pretty much were the neighborhood spectacle trying to get those suckers cleaned out. Just opening the ladder and maneuvering it was a sight to be seen! It all started out promising. I got the first part cleaned out on my own while the girls were asleep. Then came the higher gutters. I opened the ladder all the way up...started up the ladder and started to fall. With all the rain, the flower bed is riddled with sink holes. So, the next idea was to get on the roof and clean them out that way. At this point, the girls were up and dressed and in the front yard fighting over the $5 Little Tikes car that I just purchased at a garage sale on the way back from dropping Ben off at the church. Gracie would pull Ella out and then Ella would pull Gracie out and it was pretty much pure pandemonium. I climbed on the roof first, scared out of my mind...and realized that Nolen was much more suited for this job. So I decided to come down. I got to the ladder, ready to get down and then realized I had no idea how I was going to maneuver my body around the ladder to climb down. I sat for a minute wondering...what if I can't get down? What if the neighbors all come out and see the mother of these 3 kids stuck on the roof with her husband on his way to Tennessee. What if the fire department has to come get me... Will Child Protective Services take my children b/c their mother was so stupid to climb on the roof? Maybe I'll just jump...but what if I break something?? I finally figured a way, climbed down and vowed never to do that again. Instead, I sent my 10 year old son up there. Seriously though, he loves being on the roof and has been up there many times with Ben. Like his dad, he is also not a lover of yard work...or any manual labor of any sort, but he played along and went to work. He did great! But then he reached a breaking point..."This is too hard!"..."I can't do it"...the meltdown was coming. But by golly, we had gotten this far and I wasn't about to let that kid off the roof without finishing the tiny bit we had left. Knowing that getting the contents of the gutters into the trash bag was a hassle, I got a huge blue tarp from the garage, laid it out on the flowerbed and told Nolen just to throw the stuff down onto the tarp. This worked! But looked ridiculous and caused the neighbors to see what the heck we were doing. One neighbor walked over and the first thing out her mouth..."where's dad?" "Uh...gone for 9 days...and I couldn't take the trees growing out of the gutters any longer."...and her response..."You had trees growing out of your gutters? Crazy! You sure couldn't see them from across the street. I never noticed them"...this was not making me feel better about my decision to take on this task. We chatted for a bit, I cleaned the tarp off the best I could, the kids continued to oust each other from the car, Nolen recovered and celebrated with a strawberry pop and all was well. Of course, there's still one section of gutter that still needs to be cleaned but I just ran out of steam. Moral of the story... don't be an ass. Let your husband clean out the gutters when he's good and ready. :) And, Ben...when you get back, will you clean out that last section of gutter and you'll probably want to spray the tarp off with water. Love you!

Celebrate Nature

It's the ungodly hour of 6 am. I've been up since 4:30. And normally I would be hating life, but since we're about to load up in the car and drive an hour to pick Nolen up from camp, I'm a-ok! I can't wait to get a hold of that boy!

The designers from the site have been working hard on some great nature kits that you don't want to miss. And they are 30% off this weekend. I personally can't wait to play with them! I went camping in May and haven't even started those pages, so this is perfect timing for me.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Friday. Here's a fun Word Art freebie that's yours for stopping by :) Download it here.

Happy 4th of July!

We're about to leave to pick up Popeye's Fried Chicken and hang out at my mom's house for the day. It should be fun...but there's something big missing today. It's my son! He's at camp. His first "spend the night" camp. I miss him so much! He's always the first one up in the morning so to wake up every day in a quiet house is sad. I didn't even realize how precious our time is together in the morning before everyone else wakes up. Now I know.

I'm sure he's having a blast! I can't wait to hear all of the stories. We'll be picking him up on Friday. I can't wait!

Here's a page I just finished from dropping him off on Monday. He went with several boys from the church and his Sunday School teacher.



I used one of Amanda's Get'er done templates, her Funky Fourth kit (which is 40% off today), one of her travel rubons, and Emily Farnworth's tag from her Zuzu's Petals and the shoe lace from Chip.

Be sure to grab up the Freedom Freebies we're offering today!

My Target find!

When I was at Target the other day, I came across one of those deals where it's so cheap you just can't help yourself. When I bought this magnetic collage set, I couldn't even tell exactly what it was. But for $2.50 (orig. price $9.99) I figured I could afford to find out. To my delight I found a 13 x 13 magnetic board with 3 stair-stepped frames with mighty magnets. Then I saw it - a 12 x 12 layout with the pics used on the layout popped up in the frames.

So I made this page and stuck it up on my fridge. I cheated and used one of the frames from another set. I actually went back to Target with my Boston Market friend Karen and bought all the white ones they had. They'll make awesome presents!

Since our retirement sale is in full swing...I decided to use one of the many awesome items being retired. For the "My Crew" page I used Saskia's Bubblegum kit. I added a few none retirement items: one of Luiza Garay's grunge overlays and Jana McCarthy's Grungy! stars.

I also had fun making this template, so if you like it, you can download it here.