There really isn't much going on this week. My boss sent me home on Thursday because I was coughing so hard. Went to the doc and another infection. One more and allergy testing for me. This is a positive relief for me because I have been struggling so much this year with being sick.
Thursday was also a big day for Nolan. His teacher taught him how to swing! I have been trying to teach that crazy kid most of the summer and it only took his teacher one day. I am so proud of him and he is so proud of himself. He has this huge grin on his face every time he swings now!
Friday I felt decent (after a shot in the hip from the doc) and went scrapping with a friend. I got 3 pages done, but haven't taken any pictures. I think they turned out supa cute! Around 10 I was actually pretty tired and was ready to go. That is so not like me. I can usually scrap till the wee hours in the morning.
I was going to take down some mirrors in the hallway and put up my Dad and Mother-in-law pictures along with my dad's retirement and military items, but we haven't done that. I'm sure we will have to do some patching and for sure painting when those mirrors come down. When we bought the house they were already up...you know, those square ones from Wally World with the sticky on the back!
Maybe tomorrow we will take our trip to Lowe's. I am still in search of just the right screen door. We will also be looking at new front doors. Mostly to price. I would love a new one, but they are soooo expensive, so first on the list is a new storm door. I want one of those hidden screen doors that just rolls up inside the door! So fab!
Maybe later I will get some pics of the layouts and post, but for now I'm going to help James with dinner.

Vote...Register....It Will make a difference

I added a Rock the Vote widget at the top right of my blog. Register to vote. It takes awhole lot of 3 minutes with printing and everything. You can even fold the paper in half and put a stamp on it!!!! This is the year for change. This is the year for You to decided what and whole you want as our President. This is the year that matters. Find a sitter, find a friend, friend a relative to watch your kids, cook your family dinner or whatever it is that you are supposed to do and go vote! You can't bitch about who are President is if you don't vote!


I'm getting off my soapbox now!
Peace and chicken grease.

Not much to say today. Want to post a quick couple of pics. Here are the curtains I made for the laundry room. The wall is lime green, not a buttery color. Weird

Just letting the flow go. I wanted to do something totally different, completely unplanned.


Nolan didn't know if he stopped walking while a treadmill was still going, he would keep right on going!!! heheheh

This weekend has been full of tiding up. Saturday I spent all day redecorating the house. It wasn't a woohoo, I get to go buy new stuff decorating, it was take everything off the walls and mix it us sort of thing. James finished the final stage of the tv wall mount. He got the cable covers installed. I reorganized and rearranged all the pictures in the living room. I took everything off my end table (besides the lamps and digital frame) and either found it a new home (wedding picture is not in our bedroom) or put it away. I am all into to making my house easier to clean, and that means things that have to be dusted have to go! I told my friend today that my living room is so "clean and modern looking" that I need new modern furniture to go with it! Ha.
I got Nolan's art work all framed and got them hung up in my laundry room. I made it into a little art gallery. I love the crisp black frames against the limey green color walls. I also made some cut curtains this weekend for that room. I need to make two little curtains for both doors in there, but for the most part, that room is done. We just need to get a floor in there.
James worked on the yard all weekend. He got all the neighbors overgrown bushes taken down and cleaned up. This does not makes us happy having their bushes/forest on our side of the fence. Next we have to tackle a tree that is growing into our privacy fence. Geesh!
While on vaca, my hubby also cleaned the carpets. He is the man when it comes to carpet cleaning. I'm not sure how he does it, but they always look awesome. I feel for him because it is such a crappy way to end a vacation.
We took a break today to take Nolan to the park a couple of blocks away to play some tennis. Well, we didn't actually play, but you know what I mean. It is a bit challenging to show a 3 year old how to hit a ball. We mostly showed him how to do a bounce serve, but that didn't go very well either. At least we were all our doing something active. After tennis Nolan when and ran through the water park. That lasted about 20 minutes and it was time to go home. I made some of my awesome chili!!! Yummo!!
After dinner we headed outside and I snapped a few photos. These are some of my favs from tonight!

This one looks like a pose he would do for his senior pictures.

One of my favs. I think I will do a color pop on this one. These photos are completely unedited.




I'm out for the night. Everyone have a great week!

Vacation Wednesday-Sorta

So I took a vacation day at work today. James and I have had this planned for a couple of weeks now. The plan was to take my Mom to the airport (5:45a.m.) go the the doctor then head out for lunch and All Star Sports. Well, I get done with the doctor and head home. We go to lunch, but Nolan refused to eat. We gave him sooo many chances. We gave him a time limit....We're talking like 40 minutes here. We even finally told him where we were going (he has been asking to go all Summer) and he still didn't eat. Of course he threw a huge hissy. We come home and put him down for a nap. He wakes up and is still kinda mouthy. I'm not sure what his problem was today, but his missed out on an awesome time. James and I were so disappointed not to go. It kinda of put a damper on the whole day.
I spend a lot of the day scrapbooking. I did a two page layout on Nolan's new bed. I have come to realize that not every page can be a master piece. I do have a new one to share. I did this one today while Nolan was napping. I can't believe I didn't sneak a nap in there. :)
This is my best friend and her little girl.

A new layout

Just a quick post. Blogger wouldn't let me upload pictures earlier, so right before bed I decided to give it another shot.
Nolan got lots of new underwear the other day. I found this super cute boxers. They are just so adorable on him.




I have had a lot on my mind today, so I had to get some therapy in. Here is the result of my thinking and quit time to myself:



Peace and chicken grease!

Go Team USA!!....and some other stuff

First off, Wohooo Michael Phelps and all of his team mates that won gold for Michaels big number 8. What an athlete. It amazes me to watch him. Did you all see number 7? A finger tip, seriously that was so close. How do the Olympic judges do it?
So, after all the Olympic comotion, James and I have been busy little bees around the house today. He went to work this morning-a half day, but is now on va-ca for a whole week. It has been almost 4 years since he has had a week off. The last time was when I gave birth to the Nolanator....not much of a vacation, huh?
So, I get up, Nolan made his own cereal (he is so self-sufficient) and started unloading the dishwasher. While I was doing that I wiped down the outside and the inside of my cabinets. (You know, I may have a 50-s style kitchen with the white metal cabinets, but they are sure easy to clean) After tackling that project I moved on to the refrigerator. I took the whole thing apart and cleaned it all. I have been wanting to do that for some time, but life always seems to get in the way. In the midst of doing this I was doing laundry and Nolan was my music mistro for me. The Ipod was definitely changing it's songs every minute.
James came home and we kinda chilled for a little. Nolan and the girl across the street played almost all day. That really helped us get some stuff done. Around 3 we went to Lowes and FINALLY got our flat tv wall mount and a floating shelf to put all of our "electronic stuff" on underneath the tv. Side not on this, why is the Cox digital cable boxes so freakin' big. It won't fit on the shelf by about 2-3 inches and now I have a decorating dilemma. Any ideas? Ugh....But we are so fantasticly excited about it. It has changed the way our living room looks sooo much. Our tv and stuff has been sitting on our coffee table up against the wall for a little over a year now. James still has to put the cord hiding tracks us (ingenious invention) and we are done....except for the honkan cable box.
Oh yeah.....more home improvement...I installed some track lighting above my scrap table. It was SOOOOO easy! I think I am going to put it all over my house. I bought a little end adapter that you plug into the end and then you can just plug it into a regular wall outlet...no wiring required! All I had to do was drill 2 holes, screw in the track, install the bulbs in the light, put the light on the track and click into place and turn the darn thing on! Voila.....Did I mention how awesome this is? I have so much light now.
I figure since I won't be getting my cabinets and counter top for a while, I will fix my little area up as best as I can. My next project will be taking down the wallpaper. I found so really awesome wallpaper (which I don't want to even mess with wallpaper because it sucks taking it down) but it is $126 a freakin roll. We are talking only 9 yards people. So, I have no idea what color to paint because our kitchen and this area connect. It is all open to each other. I guess I can continue the creamy yellow that's in the kitchen into here, but both James and I are not much of yellow people. I have no idea what possessed us to pick this paint color. It really isn't bad. It is way better than the country blue wallpaper we had. I'm thinking I will do a black and white theme with a turquoise splash!. I want white cabinets with black counter tops in the kitchen and match them into my scrap area. Then I want a turquoise glass back splash. Oohhh so pretty.
All of the renovating will have to wait for awhile. The school Nolan is in costs quite a pretty penny..... very close to our mortgage payment a month, so things are very tight. I also have to reduce my hours to 35 to take him to school at 7:30, so we are losing a little money there. I really should try a little and sell some BeatiControl. I am such a believer in that stuff and I am a consultant. It amazes me that it isn't much more than drug store prices and the quality is amazing. It puts Mary Kay to shame.
Well folks, I think I will post some pictures tomorrow after the wiring is covered. If anyone has any ideas, leave me a comment. I see that people are visiting, but I get no comments. What the hizzle? Well, everyone have a lovely weekend. The weather sure is awesome!

He's off to preschool

So it is official. Nolan is growing up. Like I didn't know that right? Hah! It really hit me today taking him to his official preschool. I believe this place is the best in town. His teacher is a good friend of mine. She won "Teacher of the Year" last year and I totally trust her. Our boys are 6 months apart and used to be in the same class. I'm so lucky that she is his teacher. He is going to get his best educational start that he possibly can.
This morning James woke him up and he said, "Daddy, I'm so excited. I'm ready to learn." How awesome is that. He ran over to my side and was like, "Mommy, I'm so excited." Seriously, I know he was super excited because 1, he didn't eat buy 2 bites of his cereal and 2, he followed James around the house this morning chattering nonstop. He kept saying, "And Daddy......, and Daddy....and Daddy....." It made us feel so good that he was "ready" for school.
We got there and he was gone. I'm mean, he was exploring around the room and finding all the new stuff. When it was time for us to go he gave us our hugs goodbye and he didn't even mind that we were leaving. At a regular daycare before he always wanted me to linger.
When I went to pick him up today he just had to show me everything. He showed me the computer he played on, the 2 rabbits they have, the ready loft, the art, the floam.....just everything. I just tried to take it all in. I just kept thinking that this was a huge milestone for all of us.
My good friend Caitlin moved to Lawrence last weekend. Well she had to come back into town for something and she surprised me and stopped by my work for lunch. The day is just getting better and better.
We went out to Denny's for dinner tonight and then headed to Target. My husband really likes the new shirt I got last night and I said, "Well take me and buy another one." He said okay. So after dinner we headed to Target. I was shocked he bought me 4 new shirts. He said I really need them. Okay, he didn't buy them, but out of courtesy, I usually ask before I buy anything. It is just something we do.
Now Nolan is off to bed and we are just veggie out talking about the days happenings. Hope everyone has a great day. Here a just a couple of pictures from this morning. I wanted to be "in the moment" and not experiencing it through my lens. I think I only shot 6 pictures!











I spotted this peculiar little bug in the parking lot. Cool isn't it?

A few to share from the weekend

Just want to quickly share a few new layouts. I want to apologized for the crummy pictures. My dog kept standing next to me, so her shadow is on the pictures. Thanks for stopping by.


An apron I made for my good friend Caitlin, who's birthday was Saturday.



I added some things to this layout the I have posted before. I stickled the Katt Williams title and added a quote from his infamous "self-esteem" rant.

My son has asthma, so this is a page on his treatments.






A card I created for my friend Caitlin. Her last day was Friday and her birthday was Saturday. Just a combination card for her.

The last week in review

This week has really gone by slowly. Maybe it was the fact the my dear friend Caitlin was leaving. We have worked together and gotten to know each other very well over the last year. I am very happy for her, but yet sad that she is moving to Lawrence. She will be going to school and starting a new chapter in her life. I have one last thing to say. Rock Chalk JayHawk!
On Thursday I went and had some Botox done at the New Leaf Vein and Aesthetics. I have been having a terrible headache for the 2 months or so. It seems that I was having some eye strain and was squinting a lot. I self medicated myself because the meds the doc was giving me were not helping. The Botox didn't really hurt and it can last 6 months or more. I would like to see if it will help the pain in the area in and around my brows. It doesn't help that it will help prevent lines and make me look more awake! :)
Friday I went to Scrapfunattic and scrapped a little. Caitlin meet me there and it was fun to spend our last day in town doing something together.
Saturday the family went to Hutch to go see "Fly Me To The Moon." I won tickets from the radio, so we rode the Party Bus to the Cosmosphere. I guess I forgot to say that it was in the Imax theater. Nolan thought the bus ride was really cool and then you should have seen his eyes when that big screen lit up. He was just amazed because it surrounds you. A little different than a regular theater.
Sunday we just hung out at the house. I hung up some shelves above my scrap table and moved some pictures over to a different wall. Just kinda rearranged things to make it work more for me. James did the grocery shopping while I did all of this and Nolan played with a friend from across the street.
Well folks, it's time to put the Nolanator to bed. Check ya later!

Monday Monday......

It has come, but is not yet gone...................
Back to business. If anyone is needing a humongous craft table, Hancock is the place to get it. You can buy their old cutting tables for 25 bucks people. 25bucks. These things are soooo nice. If only I could get it into my house and If I had only asked my husband before I considered bringing it home. One of us crafters so needs this table. Come on......go out there and get it. It is on the west side at Central and Ridge. Ok, if you're not going for the table, they have an awesome sale going on in their entire store. Like everything is 50-70% off. Seriously. They still have great stuff left. Sewing machines are on sale at 60% off.......While you're at hobby lobby, walk on over there and check out the savings. There is nice stuff people. Even patterns.
Everyone brace themselves for some more hot weather tomorrow. I think I am going to go hop in the shower. James and I are going to make an early night of it after such a long, hot weekend. I am so ready to close my eyes.
Sweet Dreams!

Here is a picture of James and I from Friday. We had an awesome time.





We surprised Nolan with a trip to Rock River Rapids. He has been asking to go there all summer. I wished I had gotten a picture earlier when we had to stop by the ATM. Our ATM is in a Kmart parking lot. I told him, "Surprise. Your surprise is Kmart." To see the look on his face. He was so not happy about it. He was like, "Kmart is not my surprise." He wasn't mad, but he didn't find it funny. This picture shows him seeing his "surprise" for the first time. He was asleep when we pulled into the parking lot.


A picture of him and me.


We tried to get a picture of all three of us, but this turned out to be a nice picture of me and James. You can kinda see Nolan's head down there. :)



Enjoying the fountains. He spend most of his time in the pool. He has definitely graduated to bigger and better things at the water park.


It cracks me up the similarities between Nolan and James. The walk the same, have the same stance and generally have the same interests.



We were in the big pool here, so we had to have the floaties on. Heck, it was getting to deep for me. At 5 feet 1, most pools are to deep for me. :)


Nolan feel asleep on the way home. We were not surprised by that at all. We let him sleep just 30 minutes because he needs to sleep tonight. When we "woke" him up, he was groggy for quite some time. Now he is running around the house and ready for his late dinner. Rarely do we eat this late. We are a strict 6:30 family.

Well, I'm off to eat some dinner. Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Cross your fingers for me tomorrow. I'm getting Botox for the first time......I'll explain about that tomorrow.