Rolling my eyes

So we have this community yard sale tomorrow & I am putting out a bunch of "vintage" and "oldies but goodies" CM stuff, right?

I need a table brought down from the living room/crop room to put out in the driveway so I can sell my wares, right?

I asked Matias and said please and didn't get a response which is 110% typical. It can usually mean two things - 1) he heard me & will do it or 2) he didn't hear me and I'll have to ask again.

So, I 'asked' again & by 'asked' I mean I said "I need you to bring a table downstairs for me tonight" & he said, "I'm not your fork lift, you can at least ask me & not just demand it of me". Bless his little heart. I suppose option 2 occurred and he never heard me ask him politely and properly the first time. So I asked him politely again. Now, let's see what happens...let's see if he "remembers" to bring a table down for me tonight ;)

Going Green - one product at a time!

Slowly, we are switching the household over to more green products - I've started with the cleaning supplies but I've run into a problem. I love love love those Lysol disinfecting wipes, use them in the kitchen & bathrooms. And I use them a lot. The only time I've looked for a identical replacement I found a pack of 25 made by Method - that's not enough for me & it was the same price point as the larger containers of the non-green variety. Have y'all found something comparable? Another thing I've trying to replace is the [lazy people's favorite] Windex wipes - I use these only in the bathrooms and have not replaced them since we last ran out. I bought the Method window & glass cleaner for our master bathroom shower & I love it so I used my last, dried up and waste of a Windex wipe when I cleaned the mirrors with the Method cleaner BUT I haven't discovered a decent cloth to use with the spray! Most cloths (facecloths, towels...) leave fluff behind & streaks & I cannot stand that since it usually looks worse when I've finished...does anyone know of a good cloth I can use (microfiber?) on mirrors that can be reused and not have to washed every time I use it? I do not want to use paper towels cause that seems a little counter-productive to me, plus my husband uses paper towels like normal people use their pants to wipe their hands on ;) so I don't need to contribute to that usage.

I can tell you that I love my new Method products - the glass & shower cleaners. I use a potent Tilex shower cleaner in our shower cause it needs it but refuse to use something that hardcore in Liam's bathroom & I've been very pleased with the results!

An organic product that I LOVE are the organic cotton pajamas from WALMART (GASP!) - they are adorable & wash really well! Their price point is about $9-11, a little higher than I would like to pay (jesus, how cheap am I?) so I only buy about two sets a season and usually one has become my favorite set of jammies for our little boy.

Anyone have any favorite green/organic products that they would like to share?

Love this man!

My dad sent me a link from his Air Canada points newsletter with a link to view the new video from Michael Buble - here it is for y'all - http://michaelbuble.itiva.net/

And I will freely admit that in this time of PMS (thanks!), that I cried watching this.

And also, love his eyes. And scruff. Nice, nice bedroom eyes ;)

ENJOY!

Everyday Easel display

I've been changing this up every month & I LOVE it!

Next month will be Halloween pictures from last year with my little itty-bitty fellow Tigger :)

Obviously, this is from the Concert for VA Tech from earlier this month. Liam loves walking past that and pointing out everyone in the pictures & he just smiles ALL the time at it!

Patting my own back

I've been getting a TON of pages & albums completed in like the last month or so (maybe shorter...) & it's all so [nerdy] exciting for me :)

Here's what I've finished in like the past 3 weeks:

• Our Honeymoon album (circa 2005)
• Liam's FIRST birthday party album
• GParent's Gift
• PicFolio Minutes album - mainly done for showing at shows & such but I like it, of course, and have it on 'display' and switch the pages every other day or so

Here's what I've started in the past 3 weeks:

• Our 2005 Family Album -cropped myself out of pictures in two crops! That amounted to Jan - March pictures.
  
• Our 2005 Cape Lookout Album - completed about 30 or so pages in two crops! I will complete this album VERY soon, like maybe this weekend. It's smaller than I anticipated so upon completion I might rethink the whole "needs its whole album" line of thinking & might just go on and put it in our 2005 album depending on huge that sucker turns out to be.
• Ordered our wedding pictures (that are in our album also) to start the album for my parents - they did not get a professional one in our package as they opted to let me create one for them. And yes, I'm only now getting started on it.
• Organized older pictures of Mystic to pick up working on her "brag book"
• Ordered May - August of 2005 pictures. It appears we did nothing in April...
• Completed Red Rocks 2005 StoryBook but have not ordered it yet as I am waiting on the husband to "edit" it with me
• Changed out the Everyday Easel to put VA TECH pictures in it!
  

Here's what I have coming up:

• I got pregnant in 2005 so I will start my pregnancy album next which will include belly shots, showers & getting ready for bebe layouts
• We went to NYC in the winter for DMB shows & I am putting off deciding if that will need its own album or not until I get through our Summer 2005 pages
• 2006 Family Album
• BabyMoon 2006 - this will take its own album since we were there for 10 days & took approximately 4590 pictures every day
• Arrival of the Fellow & Beyond
• Jen's Girlie Album documenting The Wedding - I have wanted to put together an album that has all the planning pictures & events documented in it that is separate from the wedding. Like showers, trying on dresses, luncheons, the Diva Dinner, etc. This will probably sit on the back burner until I can catch up
• Another GParent's gift for Matias' family
  

Currently, I am back to working on TWO albums at a time :) I like being able to set one aside if I'm not "feeling it" & work on something that has inspired me for some reason at that moment. I find that if I'm bored with my pictures or the events that I don't like the work I do on the LO (industry term for Layouts) so that doesn't make for very good Memory Celebration ;)

I'm having a lot of fun with these albums & really do enjoy doing it - it is rarely "stressful" work for me so that's always refreshing! And since we got the new cutting system blades, I have been making circles & ovals out of record breaking amounts of pictures! Over two days' time, I circled or ovaled over a dozen pictures, were as in the last album (Honeymoon for those keeping track) I probably only did that many total in a gigantic album. And the new paper that I didn't think I would really use (Mod tone on tone), I have been using a LOT of! And I really HEART the new paisley shape maker - I swoon at all things paisley so this is prefect for me :)

OK time to stop blabbering away about this & get back to work!

Things Accomplished Today!

Been a busy productive morning so far:

1. cleaned kitchen
2. sliced up Liam's strawberries & kiwis
3. took care of child
   
4. swept floor
5. cleaned out highchair - then did #4!
6. picked up toys
7. took shower
8. ate breakfast
9. did WorkWork
10. uploaded pictures to order from Snapfish for 2005 album
11. made Target list
12. made this weeks' To Do List
13. day dreamed about moving to NC
14. thought of ways to lure Nana here this weekend
15. procrastinated finishing my laundry by posting this

All Official Like

There's been a change to my acronym. I'm no longer a SAHM. But rather a WAHM!

About a month or so ago, my good girlfriend, Jennifer sent me a very flattering email which included a job offer. One that I really could not refuse. I've joined her team at SPARC (associated with the ARL) to help her in the marketing department, along with advocacy & lobbying for the Association of Research Libraries. As you can see, it's right up my alley & thankfully, Jennifer saw that too.

I work from home. I work my own set hours. I am only contracting at this point. I only work 15 hours a week - or however much work there is for me to do. This week I worked 5 hours but with it being my first week, it was somewhat light. I just deal with Jennifer, so I only need a computer & a phone. No expenses to claim or put out. No commute. No dress code. No time clock.

I get to be a SAHM who WORKS at home. I have been able to work during naps & plan on working after nighttime arrives.

Yes, I'm still doing Creative Memories also. I now have three jobs.

I'm very excited about all of this for various reasons...I get to do something I love, for someone I love, supporting an "industry" I love. I'm earning money - some of which will be put towards a cleaning service since my time during naps will be spent working, not cleaning. I'm using my brain. I'm being useful & needed by someone/something that doesn't require me to change their soiled pants. Do not ever think that I don't like changing the soiled pants but at times I found my mind getting somewhat stale, shall we say, and although I'm no Mensa member, I missed being part of Something that makes a difference outside of my house (for the time being Liam's impact on the World at Large is not so much, that's why I'm home priming him for All Things Great) so this works perfectly for me.

Jennifer is VERY mindful of my intentions & I love her for that. She doesn't want to give me too much to do & her first words over chat the other day were "you didn't drop everything to open excel, did you?" - I'm not sure what more I could ask for. Except maybe one of those MACbooks she speaks of when you are a FTE...

So, I've jumped back into the Library World & I am really truly excited to be back in that field - just seeing all the old school names warms my heart :) Cause I'm a dork like that!

I'm not sure what's going to happen to my Free Time though, we'll just have to wait and see about that one, I suppose.

Procrastination Central

I'm stealing a meme that no one tagged me for but since I'm slightly putting off getting all my stuff gathered up for my Prince William County Moms of Multiples Club (PWCMOMC for short!) vendor & yard sale, I figured I would amuse y'all with 6 Quirks About Me and then insist y'all follow suit...

1) I don't like my food to touch. And if I run out of room on my plate, I'll either get a salad plate for the "spill over" or just eat what I have and go get what I was missing the first plate around. That basically means I don't like casseroles. And buffets can be difficult for me.

2)I cannot handle raw meat.

[wow. these could really turn into Weird Food Issue Quirks...]

3) I only print, I do not know how to write cursive.

4) I don't like making left turns against traffic (no light OR arrow) but even more so I don't like crossing ALL lanes of traffic to cut across. Usually, I will turn right then make a U-turn at the next chance I get.

5) I have to put my right shoe on first. Sometimes I nearly even fall over/lose my balance if I forget and put my left shoe on first.

6) Sometimes I put things on my existing To Do Lists that I've already completed just so I can check them off.

Seriously. I don't cook.

Case in point:

I have this awesome Ruben Dip recipe that is as simple as this - get all 4 of your ingredients & mix them together. Bake for 20 minutes and shove it in your face.

I forgot to drain the sauerkraut. Yeah, don't forgot to drain the sauerkraut. Or if you do forgot to drain the sauerkraut don't wonder why your dip is runny.

I'm a Soccer Wife

And I don't mind one bit. Meow.

Who the?

Looking for a classic picture of Monkey being Monkey, I stumbled upon this gem. This was the first picture Matias took of Felipe & sent to me (on dial up) in NC to tell me he had a new friend over for some ham on the porch. His words were "what do I do with him now?" and I said "name him". Makes us laugh every time we see this picture - how on earth is this the same cat?

Jenny's Lisey's Story

I've been a huge Stephen King fan since my pre-teen years, devouring every one of his books (minus IT), as soon as I can get my little claws on them. With that said, I can usually read one of his books in less than a week and then I get bummed cause I blew through it too quickly & then I am left with nothin'! Until he writes his next one, that is :)

I started reading Lisey's Story on the plane to Creek & finished this 500+ page book over the weekend.

Two things about it -

1. It gave me a nightmare one night. It's the first book since The Shining to have done so.
2. I have incorporated some of the phrases from the two main characters into my every day speech. And it's creeping me the F out. You know how you & your spouse have words & phrases that you use together, that is intimate just between the two of you? Well this book has a good mess of those & I have totally found myself saying them - first it wasn't out loud but in my head & I would stop myself cause that's crazy talk, right? Then I couldn't help myself & have just started using them daily.

You know that this is a sign of fantastic writing when you adopt phrases into your vocabulary but since it's Stephen King we are talking about here, I'm a little weirded out by it. With the whole "horror story" & "love story" mix this novel has going on, I really don't appreciate those words sneaking their way into my brain and putting down roots. Especially since one of the characters is dead (not giving any plot away, that's on the back cover) & talking to his not dead wife (and here's the creepy part) - SHE RESPONDS TO HIM OUT LOUD.

So not only have I adopted this intimate language but it's intimate language between a ghost & his wife in a horror novel.

I just cannot believe that he got into my head that way & has stuck there. Trips me out!

I've crossed The Line

Last night while enjoying a glass of wine outside on my lovely deck, with my lovely husband I said something I would have BET money on that I never, ever would have thought to cross my lips.

"I just cannot get over how fabulous my begonias are looking"

And then the minivan side door slide open, three women wearing sweater sets with pearls, leaped out in their sensible shoes & fabulous Mom Cut hair and handed me my Officially Suburanized Membership Card & invited me to a play date.




(but seriously, the begonias look FABULOUS!)