so this is Neverland. . .

Not to get ahead of myself. . .

For the last two years, I have 'meant to' participate in Project 365.  That is, for an entire year, take one photo per day to document the year.  One photo representing whatever is important to me, on that one day. 

365 times. 

But, for the last two years, with all of the activities and travel that is part of the Holidays, I haven't thought about this project until about two weeks into the new year.  Then, I feel like it is too late.  I am not a fan of make-up work. 

And then I'm mad at myself. 

Really mad.

So, this year, I am committing myself now.  Here, in front of all of you.  I will do project 365 in 2011.  I will.  I must.  And on December 31, when everyone else is trying to come up with New Year's resolutions, I'll already have mine.  I think this will be easier to stick to than diet or exercise.  And WAY, WAY more fun.  And certainly, with subjects like these, it will be anything but boring!

 

 

 

 

 

And speaking of New Year's Eve, two years ago, my resolution was to eliminate lunch box waste.  I switched everything that went into my kids lunchboxes to stainless steel or some sort of reusable container.  No more juice boxes, applesauce cups or plastic.  I can honestly say that I have not purchased a box of ziploc bags in over two years.  Although, I do slip now and then with juice boxes, but I'm always striving to eliminate as much unnecessary waste as possible. 

One of the products that has become one of my favorite all-time purchases are these:

 

Lunchbots. 

I hope they will forgive me for snatching this photo off of their website.  These are the best storage containers EVER!  Stainless steel, great colors, the orange ones are the perfect size for a sandwich.  It will hold two halves or one half and a side item.  The ones will yellow lids are too small for a sandwich, but great for fruit, nuts, whatever.  I have had these and used them for two years and you cannot even see any wear on them.  They are dishwasher safe, although, I don't wash the lids in the dishwasher because I want to keep the paint and logo on the lid shiny and new.  You totally could though. 

I even use these for leftovers.  Just don't put something wet and something dry in the same container.  The dividers are not sealed, so the water from your washed grapes will make your sandwich soggy.  Just so you know.

Now, why am I telling you this?!?!  Because they are not the cheapest things to set yourself up with.

And they are ON SALE!!

And they are never on sale.

Go here and use coupon code HOLIDAY at checkout to get 25% off.  But do it before Dec. 10th.

So, have you thought about your resolutions yet? 

Paula

"Second to the right, and straight on till morning."

 

 

 

And I'm mopping, and I'm mopping, and I'm mopping...

I'll give you a dollar if you can guess how many times I mop my laundry room every week.
Oh, alright, not a REAL dollar.  How about a Bonus Buck?  If you ask my kids, they will tell you that a Bonus Buck is better than a dollar any day.  But I digress.

Meet Chance:

 

Chance is 17.

That is 119 to you and me.

And that would explain the grey hair.  And the dental problems. 

And the incontinence.

Chance is my dear, sweet hubby's dog.  It was a package deal.
(Who could say no to a deal like that?!?)

I've known Chance for 12 years of his life.  I have come to the conclusion, after 12 years of getting to know his little Wiener-dog self, that Chance is a cat.  He has nine lives. 

At least 9.

In February of 1999, Chance suffered the fate that so many dogs in his breed suffer.  We came home from a dance competition and found him paralyzed from his mid-back on down.  (Do wiener dogs have waists?)  Anyway, he had the standard Dachshund back surgery and experienced a full recovery.  Well, except for when he would run fast and his back end would try to pass up his front end because he couldn't quite feel what was up back there anymore. 

Even worse than getting paralyzed, Chance had to go through the horrible ordeal of welcoming kids into the family.  Here is a terribly lit photo of Noah hangin' with Chance when he was a baby.  Note Chance's expression.  It says,

"if you ever do this to me again, the new carpet gets it!  Woof." 

 

I'm talking about Chance's expression here. 

Not Noah's.

And I have come to learn, over the years, that he wasn't kidding.  After Keira came along, he became third fiddle.  Well, probably more like forth fiddle.

The combination of getting older and hiding from site because he was not much of a fan of babies, made him a little, shall we say, ornery.  He never really was one to bark when he had to go outside.

Now, you let him outside, he will bark to come in so he can go pee on the carpet.

He has made his way from sleeping in the bed, to sleeping in the floor, to sleeping in a crate, to sleeping in the laundry room.  I start my morning every day by opening the laundry room door to see how many presents he has left me overnight.  There are usually several. 

He is such a little giver. 

He got really sick this summer.  So sick, that we couldn't imagine that he would pull through.

But he did.

And I kept mopping.

A couple of weeks ago, he got really sick again.  Nothing would stay down.  Or in.  For about 3 days.

Good times.

But once I finally got a can of chicken broth in him, he sprang back to life.

This is one tough little Wiener.  And as much as I would like to be able to put my mop away for a few days, I will miss him terribly when he is gone.  I mean, did you see that cutie-pie little face up there?

Now if you will excuse me.  Chance is outside barking.

I think he needs to come in to go potty.

Decking the Halls

Usually,
the thought of putting up my Christmas decorations before
Thanksgiving would give me the twitches.
And the fact that half of the retail stores started piping Holiday tunage
through their speakers the.day.after.Halloween. would cause me to
run screaming from their store.

But not this year.

 


No.  This year is different.

 
 

(That little pinkie is killing me.)
Maybe it is the fact that we are travelling a lot this holiday season
and I want to get things up early so that we can really enjoy them.
Maybe it is the sentimental side of me that wants to milk
the last Christmas in this, our family's first home, for all it's worth.
And maybe,
just maybe, it is that life is good and I'm feeling festive.

Whatever the reason, I'm loving it. 
Decorating before Thanksgiving has already been
more fun that it usually is all season long.
I'm really looking forward to getting the rest of the decor up this weekend.


And I cannot think of anything much more Festive than this:

 

Disclaimer: Wearing of Christmas themed flannel pj's was totally staged to facilitate the warm, fuzzy feeling of the Holiday spirit. It's 75 degrees in Texas people.  You gotta do what you gotta do.

Or in the words of my cutie-pies up there...
"hanging ornaments we will go, sweating all the way!"

Have you started decorating yet?

Paula

 

"Second to the right, and straight on till morning."

 

Farming in the Burbs

Back in April I decided that it was way past time for me to plant a patch of vegetables here in my postage stamp sized, suburban yard.  I missed having access to my own homegrown tomatoes.  Now, I couldn't take away the immediate back yard because that is where my Babies play.  And we need to keep all the space we can for them.  I decided that the skinny little patch of grass know as our 'side yard' would be the perfect place.  Even the dog wouldn't pee on it.  (Foreshadowing?  Anyone?)

We relocated the sod to a spot in the front yard that was suffering.  I hated just to till it under.  Then I packed up my small SUV and headed to Lowes.  About 8 trips later, I had enough wood, organic humus and finely packed cow poo to get to work on my raised beds.  Barring a few minor setbacks, like torrential rains on sod-less ground, which caused my dear children to lose their pants,

 

and end up knee high in mud,

 

all went well in the construction. 

 

(My Beloved helped by taking photos.  He's skeered of worms.)

We bought some seedlings from various local farm stores and greenhouses and we also started several vegetable varieties indoors from seed.  (We were in the midst of a plant study here at Neverland Acadamy here, so it was a must.)

Plants took hold, seeds sprouted, and the tomato cages were placed just so.  Then the beautiful, giant tomato plants bloomed.  They were literally covered in them.  Gorgeous, amazing, look-I-grew-this-myself-with-no-pesticide-or-chemicals blooms.  I was proud as a peach.  And then,

that was it. 

The blooms just sat there, mocking me.  I read everything that I could get my hands on.  One garden guru said I should "flick the blooms" with my fingers to help them pollinate.  One said I should shake them.  I even tried soothing music and telling them reckless tales from my youth.  Nothing worked. 

Loads of blooms. 

No maters. 

I babied them, pruned them, feed them compost from my kitchen.  Nothing.  Nadda.  Zilch.

Finally, I gave up.  I declared myself a garden-variety failure. (Although we did enjoy many fresh herbs this summer and fall from my failing patch.) My brilliant idea to use the side yard had a fatal flaw. . .it was basically 10 feet of dirt surrounded on three sides by our house and fence.  Too much shade. 

I'm an idiot.  The end.

So, just for spite, I ignored that wretched patch of yard for weeks. 

Weeks and weeks.

You can imagine my surprise when my sweet children burst through the back door this past Saturday screaming,

"Mamma, Mamma!  Look what we found in the garden!!"

What to my wondering eyes should appear, but tomatoes.  Beautiful, perfect grape and roma tomatoes just the perfect scarlet shade for picking.

I fainted.

Then, I walked around to the side yard to find that the tomato plants that were now laying on the ground, full of weeds and completely un-cared for were full of tomatoes.  And we found a lone carrot that had taken hold and made a snack of himself.  And a pepper was almost ready to be picked.  (We won't even talk about how the pepper plants acted all summer.)  It was a Thanksgiving miracle. 

Tomatoes in November? 

Really? 

When they were planted in April?

 


So as of today, we have paid roughly $23.57 for these grape tomatoes.

Each.

Makes the prices at Whole Foods seem downright economical.
I think I'll plant me some pumpkins next year.  I hear they are fun to hide at Easter.

Paula

"Second to the right, and straight on till morning."

Public Service Announcement

Let's say that you have one of those new fangled washers that requires 'high-efficiency' laundry detergent
(because your old washer up and died on you back in the spring, leaving you with mountains of laundry on your daughter's birthday weekend with a houseful of guests on the way.)

And let's just say that you accidentally pick up a bottle of regular laundry detergent
by mistake.

 

And why don't we suppose that you don't realize that you have purchased the
wrong laundry detergent until you have read the entire washing machine operators
manual and are now about to break down and call the Geek Squad because you
cannot figure out what the devil is wrong with your washer.

Your washing machine WILL LEAK water and foamy, white suds all over your laundry room.

Please don't ask me how I know this.

The End.

I know what you are probably thinking.

If you are finding yourself here for the first time and you look around a little, you are likely thinking one of two things, if not both:

1.  "This person just fell right off the edge of the Earth back in the fall of 2008."
or
2. "Hmmm.  This person was blogging to a very specific audience when she was actively blogging."

And you would be right on both counts.  Life happened and I had to take a step back from the work I was doing in the Scrapbooking Industry, and my subsequent blogging, for a short period of time.  Which turned into a long period of time. 

Long. 

Really Long. 

Let's just call it a sabbatical, shall we?  Fast forward two years and I have finally found my rhythm again.  I am very excited to pick up where I left off with this blog, only with a much broader scope.  I hope to document and share content dealing with several of my favorite topics, including, but certainly not limited to, scrapbooking. 

During the next couple of weeks, I am going to mix in some of the stories from "the missing years" with my current posts.  I could just pick up from here and move on, but there are some things that I would love to share, if for no other reason than to preserve the story.  I think I'll start with the story behind this photo.  It seems appropriate after what I found in my yard this weekend.

  

I know, I know. . .
What Mamma in her right mind would let their child do this to himself? 
I can throw out some lame excuses for you if it would make you feel better.

    1) It was Earth Day and I told the little dear to go forth and be One with the Earth.
    2) It was "Be-a-Statue-of-You Day" for Homeschool.
    3) I had a strong distaste for this particular pair of shorts and needed a guilt-free excuse to chuck them.
    4) The benefits of a mud mask correlate exponentially to the number of layers of said mud mask one applies.

And what 6-year old isn't concerned with skin care?
Paula

"Second to the right, and straight on till morning."

Olympic Fever

We definitely have it at our house.
Noah has it to the point that we are getting awarded medals
for the order that we finish dinner,
for who gets their seat belts buckled the fastest,
and for who can clear the ottoman in a single bound. 
(Sorry guys, Mama had to put a stop to that last one.)

I'm so glad that Kris remembered that we had these gold medals
that we had won at a dance competition a while back.
They are getting some SERIOUS use right now.
I guess it beats collecting dust on a shelf.
I decided to capture the fun on a layout last night.
I had been so inspired by this layout
by the amazingly talented Jen Jockisch,
that I had to break out the corrugated cardboard and give it a try.

And some close-up shots.

I love that clear arrow element from Fancy Pants. 
I punched out the stars, glitter the arrow
and then painted and inked the stars. 
And isn't that Collage Press World Traveler paper just perfect for this!

 

Come Sunday, we are going to be counting the days until the "snow" Olympics!

Journaling reads:

This is his first Olympics. 

At four and a half, he is just the perfect age to really get a feel
for the true Olympic spirit and all that it entails. 

Just watching him gives me flashbacks to my first Olympic experience.

Watching.  Cheering. 
Feeling the Pride right along with the winning athletes.

I had no idea it would stir such
strong emotions in me as a Mom this time. 

Watching his eyes light up.
Seeing him wearing Mommy and Daddy’s dance medals
around his neck as he watches. 
Hearing him turn everyday things, like finishing his dinner first,
into Gold Medal achievements.

I am loving every single minute of this!
”How much longer until the “snow” Olympics, Mom?”

Something Fishy

I know you guys are probably sick of me talking about
"the lake".
BUT
we have spent every weekend there since early April,
except for one.  Seriously.  Every. Single. Weekend.
That's like 20 weekends from April until September.
That's a lot of lake.
So you can see, it is a huge part of our family life
during the spring and summer here in Texas.
And it is family time that we treasure. 
ALL OF US!

I grew up going to the lake and it made a huge impact on me.
I'm so glad that I have this opportunity to have my kiddos
experience some of the same things I did growing up.

One of my favorite things about it, besides the
quality family time and the plethora of activities. . .
is the fish.

 

These babies were caught on Saturday night and grilled on Sunday at lunch.
You just can't get much fresher than that! 
My wonderful hubby has become quite the
Cedar Plank Chef too.
He cuts his own planks from a tree that fell on some of his Dad's land.
So not only is the fish fresh, but the planks are fresh too.
I cannot even begin to describe the flavor!
The one problem with the cedar, though,
is that it smokes on the grill.
A. Lot.
It makes it hard to cook without protective eye wear.

And there is nothing like
a man in women's sunglasses grilling on cedar planks.
Mmmm. 
It is a good thing he has on that Texas A&M shirt to redeem himself,
huh?

Have a great weekend
and Happy 08/08/08!

A real Fuss Bucket

There on top of my fridge,
next to the weathervane that doesn't point anywhere in particular,
is a silver bucket.

At first glace, you would assume that it is a wine bucket.
After all, it was given to us in a gift basket that included,
you guessed it, a bottle of wine.

But this bucket has never held a bottle, or ice,
or even a can for that matter.
This bucket is different.  It is special.
And it gets used
A LOT.

This is the Fuss Bucket.

This is where everything goes that my kiddos fuss over. 
If they both want the same toy, and they refuse to share or work it out,
into the Fuss Bucket it goes.  If the do something with a particular item
that they KNOW they aren't supposed to, it goes in the bucket.
If they hit each other with something, you get the idea. 
This bucket has held baby-dolls, cars,
clothes, blankets, books, games. . .you name it. 
Here, let's have a look-see:

Right now it holds a travel Connect 4 game, cuz they both want red,
a golf ball, cuz Noah tried to give Keira a concusion with it,
and some pirate booty, err. . .coins cuz, well, I don't really remember why.

The Fuss Bucket works wonders at our house.
When I hear fighting, it is now usually followed by whispers of,
"shhhhh, shhhhh, here you take it.  I don't want it to go to the Fuss Bucket!"
I honestly wish I would have thought of it sooner.

Firsts

One of my most favorite parts of being a Mom is getting to watch
my kids experience new things for the first time.  Watching their
eyes light up and hearing them squeal with excitement is such
a blessing.  It totally negates all of the times that they
wake me up at 4:50 in the morning dreaming that they are
being eaten by sharks (Yes Kendra, I realize that you always
get up this early but still. . .) or the times they pour out a whole
bag of goldfish in the floor so that they can count them easier.

Noah got his first fish a couple of weeks ago.  He had caught fish before,
with a bobber sitting on the pier. 
This was his first fish where he actually cast
a lure out off of the boat, reeled it back in
and a fish hit it while he was reeling.
His surprised squeal of "I got one!!!!!!" will never leave my memory.
Ever. 
He was so cute!

And this is Keira's first tube ride.
She LOVED it. 
I kept asking her if she wanted to get off, and she
kept giving Granddad the thumbs up asking him to go faster.
We started out idling and at top speed we might have been going
3 miles an hour, but I think she's hooked.
Grandma snapped a couple of photos for us.

 

And just for some scrappiness. . .
Here's my first experience using Flock.
I painted the number "3" with green paint and then coated it with
yummy, limey flock.  I really like the effect.
I made this layout for ScrapSupply a little while ago.
That cutie-patootie red-head is my Niece.

 

And why does my scanner turn everyone pink?!?!
I'm going to have to just photograph layouts from now on,
I think.  These pink people are making me crazy!

I would love to hear about some "Firsts" that have happened in your world
this summer.