Jad-n-Blu (more childhood funny stuff)

This is SO darn funny! Here's a peek into my childhood - check out this post on Kelli's blog!

You think that's funny? Check this out!

What kind of contract is THAT!!! ROFLMBO!!!

4th of July Celebration

I did this layout last night for the latest digi-dare. The requirements were based on the date 8/24/07 (the date the dare was given): 8 of the same type of element (I used 8 star elements); 2 pictures; 4 words in the title; 0 journaling; 7 glittery elements (I know, there are 8 in this, but I used a stamped '4' on the one I submitted for the dare. I liked it better w/ the glittery 4, though, so when I print the page for my album, I'll print it like this.)

These pictures are from the 4th of July last year. Not much explanation needed, really. Sebastian is doing sparklers. Where are the pictures of Isaac??? He wouldn't come near them for ANYTHING! Actually, he did one (and I have 1 picture where you can see his hand and he's holding one), but it must have sparked him a little, because he didn't touch another one for the rest of the night.

Seems like the 4th is one of those holidays I'm pretty spuratic about photographic. I don't have ANY pictures from this year. We went to Lucas' boss' house for a lunch/dinner cookout, and just hung out. No fireworks, no parade, no sparklers. I know, pretty uneventful as far as pictures go, but it was a good time nontheless! The best picture years are years we go to Urbana - lots to photograph there!

This may not be funny to anyone else, but....

Hey Kelli - are you reading this? I just got the biggest laugh at your expense this weekend LOL! But let me back up and tell this story properly...

For YEARS now my poor mother has been hauling box upon box of my things from one house to the next (I think my parents may have a moving addiction, LOL), and for almost 7 years now, (ever since we bought our first house) she has been chomping at the bit to hand the boxes over to me and get them OUT of her closets (yes, more than one closet - there are that many boxes). Well, since I was down there visiting this weekend, and since she has waited for so long (and since she cornered me in the room and forced me to stay until we had gone through every box - LOL), we went through all of the stuff she has been storing. In doing this, I came across an old school box I used to keep on my window ledge (in the house that used to be your house). It was full of really random odds and ends - a bookmark that said Becky; some Awanna ribbons; a 'Super Kid' award that I'm sure I did nothing to deserve; and even some little toothpick people and wooden-people-jewelry (don't ask) that I used to make habitually. (Oh, and one cool thing was a little baggy that had 3 friendship bracelets that I had made. The kids all wanted to wear them, so they each picked one. I guarantee when I made those back in second grade or whatever, that I never imagined my children would be wearing them.)

Anyway...I found 2 notes in there. One was hand-written in really smudgy pencil. It was from Scott from way back in the day when he was my 'boyfriend' when we were about 7 years old. He had written I love you, but then had second thoughts so sort of half-way erased it (hee hee). The second one was a typewriter note from YOU! You wrote it when you were getting ready to move back from Baltimore. It was pretty short, and didn't say tons, but the last line actually made me laugh out loud (maybe less because it was really funny and more because I know you LOL). It said, 'A joke, I wanted to be a baker but I couldn't raise the dough.' End of note. I got quite the laugh out of it...and even now, reading this post, I'm laughing again. I brought it home with me so I could show you Friday (assuming I remember to bring it along).

At first, I wasn't sure why I thought it was so funny, and then it occurred to me. Of all the things we could have said to each other in all the time you were away, we choose to communicate as though we still saw each other every day and this was just like picking up the conversation where we left off the day before. Like there was nothing else to be said, because we've said it all, so we'll tell baker jokes. Just typical goofy stuff from Mutt to Jeff (or was I Mutt and you were Jeff? - you'll have to ask your dad). Anyway, it was good for a laugh and for a moment of reminiscing.

(Maybe the funniest part of all of it was that I actually kept that note for the last twenty years. Your turn to laugh at me! See you Friday!)

That's a good day.

What a day! Starting at 7:00 this morning, we hit the ground running. We met a friend for breakfast at Bob Evans around 8:30, where I ate entirely too much! I absolutely LOVE the Country Biscuit Breakfast, and can't seem to tell myself to stop eating until it's all gone! After breakfast, we visited until around 11:00, and then headed home. Our stay at home was brief, though, because we soon got back in the van and headed to the mall to get a few school outfits for Sebastian (more sales at Penny's that I was more than happy to take advantage of!).

From there, another half-hour rest at home and then off to a birthday party (I FINALLY got to see my sister's house - she's only been living there since May 2006!). After the party, we went to eat Mexican food (my favorite - ask Lucas LOL), which was a total circus act since my kids were tired and ready to be done running around. Meagan made a rice mountain under her chair, and topped it off with crumbled nacho chips. Lovely. And Isaac and Sebastian wouldn't eat their cheese quesadillas, but were more than happy to eat a tortilla with cheese dip on it (isn't that the same as a cheese quesadilla????). Anyway....

Finally back at the homestead - we started out just chillin' and playing in the yard. A little later, Grandpa headed out toward the pond, and, no surprise, the three little ducklings followed right behind. That very quickly progressed into wading in the water, which then took a quick turn to swimming fully dressed! They had a GREAT time! They built sand castles and dug for dinosaur bones and just plain played their hearts out. By the end of the night, they had hauled buckets of wet soggy sand back and forth from the water to the beach; they had soaked through at least one outfit each; they were covered from head to toe in sand; and Meagan had taken a face dive into the water (rescued by Grandma - this is about her 4th 'rescue' this summer - she's nuts!). Sebastian said, 'Grandma, this is the best thing I ever did at your house.' That's a good day.

(Slideshow at the top of the page)

Back to Normal

Well, when I went in at 7:00 this morning to wake Sebastian up, he was cool as could be...totally normal. No more fever. He chowed on breakfast, and even announced to me while he was eating that he is feeling all better now. Good...I was really hoping to get my hair cut today!

....which I did. I went at 11:30 this morning to get my hair cut. I've had SOOOOO many bad hair cut experiences, that I'm always a little hesitant to try somewhere new. But, I went anyway. I have had the worst hair for about a month now (long and straggly and stringy; bangs growing out - too long to leave down, too short to pull back; just plain gross!), so anything would have been an improvement. My hair is now much shorter than it was - which is probably a good thing - and it feels TONS healthier. I just have to get used to doing it (and washing much shorter hair, which is always a weird phenomenon). All you girls out there know what I'm talking about - that period of time somewhere between 2 days and 2 weeks when you learn how to do your new do so you look like yourself and not a complete stranger. Anyway, it turned out good, and I'm glad I didn't chicken out! (Hey, nothing could ever be as bad as my 'Darth Maul' hair! LOL!)

So anyway, life is back to normal - no more fever, no more crazy looking hair. Just Normal! That's a good start to the weekend!

Change of Plans

Well, since I got my van back today (yea!) I was planning on heading to Grandma's house this evening with the kids. I was finishing packing (aka - throwing everything into a laundry basket) when Sebastian got up from his nap (unusual for him, but VERY needed today) and came into my room. I gave him a hug, and he was frying. So, I checked his temp - 102.7. Yikes. He was complaining that his stomach hurt and his throat hurt. It dropped a little with Motrin, but still wasn't completely gone. Not surprisingly, he didn't eat much at dinner, and he said he just wanted to take it easy tonight and maybe try driving in the morning. When that kid turns down a trip to Grandma's house, he's not feeling well. So, we got into PJ's early, and watched a movie together. I just finished tucking them in a few minutes ago - everyone crying because they wanted to watch another movie (or more like because they're all tired because they're still up at 9:30). His temp was down when I checked him before bed, and I'm hoping that a good night of sleep will help him out. Hopefully tomorrow will go as planned.

1971

I've spent the day feeling rather icky, and I've tried to do as little as possible (for totally different reasons than this weekend unfortunately). The one thing I did get done (with Lucas' help) is taking the van in to get a transmission repair. Bummer. But it appears as though it is going to turn out much better than we had originally anticipated...about $2,000 better!! Very thankful for that. Still more money than I would choose to hand over to someone else, and still quite inconvenient, but not so bad in the grand scheme of things.

Other than lying on the couch and chilling, I did manage to get another quick page done for Grandma's album. This one is pretty self-explanatory - Grandpa's birthday party, 1971. I used a template for the layout, so it came together pretty quickly. I had 5 pictures, and the template had 5 picture spots, so I went with it.

Credits

Anyway, I have been looking forward to bedtime since I woke up this morning, so I'm gonna go up and crash...think I can pay the kids to sleep in tomorrow???

Unproductive

Aaaaaahhh! I have 2 new pages done that I SOOOO want to share with you, but I can't... not yet anyway. I used new products by Genevieve, and they aren't being released until after the 31st. So as soon as I'm allowed to post, I will.

Well, with the house to myself, I've been taking some time to just chill. Other than straightening up and doing one load of laundry, I haven't done much of anything productive. Yesterday I went to Dairy Queen and got a blizzard, then I came home and scrapped until about 11:00. Then I went upstairs and watched 2 episodes of Dog Whisperer before crashing.

This morning I got up and went to a meeting at church, which was more like a sit-around-and-chat-athon. After that, I had lunch, paid Sebastian's soccer registration, and then went SHOPPING! I never really get to do that - at least not in an enjoyable way. It was nice to go with free hands and nothing but time. I got some good deals at Penny's - 50% off everything I bought. I also found some jeans that fit me really well, and I got shoes buy 1 get 1 half off. Garage sale money well spent! LOL! Tonight I had some really lazy-man's dinner (microwaved TGI Fridays in a box), and came downstairs to scrap some more. Now I'm going to go start a movie and watch that until it's over or I fall asleep - whichever comes first.

Maybe tomorrow will bring something more productive, but I'm not promising anything.

Redeemed

Just a quick post tonight.... I just wanted to say the kids redeemed themselves today. I was a little nervous to go to the grocery after Tuesday's Wal-Mart episode, but we went anyway. There were moments (aren't there always?), but all in all, they behaved like humans. I wasn't embarrassed - not even once - not even a little. They were actually pretty good, and quite helpful at times. Needless to say, I was relieved.

Let's see...other than that, not lots to report. We had a friend and his son (and their dog, which Lilly loved *with a hint of sarcasm*) over for dinner tonight. That's about it. The kids and Lucas are leaving me for the weekend. So, I'm hoping to maybe get a few scrapbook pages done. And maybe even SLEEP. Now that sounds like a plan! Speaking of sleep, I'm off.....good night!

Check

Yesterday at dinner, Lucas asked Sebastian what he would like to do together for the evening. I would imagine that Lucas was thinking something along the lines of baseball, or a bike ride. Sebastian's answer? 'Chess.'

So, after we ate, they set up their chess game. I headed down to the basement (to post on my blog). About fifteen minutes later, Lucas came down and asked me to Google something for him... 'Can the king attack in check?' Well, we found out that yes, the king can capture the piece that has him in check, but that's not the point of my story. The point is that my six-year-old, within fifteen minutes or so, got his daddy in check in a chess game. Lucas was ultimately able to get out of it, but he had to consult the 'rules' to do it. I was so proud of Sebastian (although slightly humbled, because he's now better at chess than I am). What a smarty pants.

Where's the 'Invisible' Button When You Need It?

10:00 this morning - we left the house an hour before story hour so I can run to Wal-Mart for diapers and wipes, which I'm running dangerously low on. We got out of the van and headed into the store. Since we were only going to be there for a minute, I skipped the cart and let all three kids walk. We headed straight to the back, grabbed what I had come for, and headed to the front to pay. This is where it all began. Isaac and Meagan were about 20 feet in front of me, and since they were running, the gap between us was widening. I called for them to stop and wait for me. Isaac listened and stopped right away. Meagan didn't. So now there's me, about 35 feet away from them, hands full with a big bag of diapers and a big box of wipes (Sebastian at my side). Then there's Isaac stopped in the middle of the isle, looking back and forth between me (where he was supposed to be) and Meagan (who was still running away). In a split second, his head turned back and forth between us a few times, and I could see the wheels turning.... what to do, what to do? Then, as quickly as he had stopped, he took off running after his sister. He jumped in front of her, and stopped, facing her, arms and legs spread wide to try to block her forward progress. Then, at the top of his lungs, he yells, 'Stop running! Mommy said stop!' Equally as loudly, she yells back, 'No Isaac!' 'You have to, Mommy said!' 'No Isaac!' Then it happened... He barrel hugged her and tackled her to the ground. He then grabbed her by the hand (while she's still laying on the ground) and starts dragging her by the arm down the isle toward me. The whole time, she's kicking and screaming 'No Isaac! Stop it!' while he's screaming, 'Mommy said we have to stop!' I couldn't decide whether to laugh or hide! I was definitely wishing, at least for a brief moment, that I could somehow turn invisible, and no one would know these were, in fact, my children. But, since no invisibility button was to be found, I approached them as calmly as I could (not wanting to add to the scene they were already making), and put a stop to the madness. It was actually pretty funny, but also thoroughly embarrassing!

Zoo Trip

Spur of the moment, we decided to take a trip to the zoo today. We went to a zoo nearby that we've never visited before. It was an easy, relaxing day. The kids were great, and the zoo was nice and shaded, so it wasn't even hot. The kids got to ride ponies, which was a big deal for them...can never get enough pony rides! Then they saw the camels and wanted to ride them too. But I just wasn't so sure that Meagan would hold on, and it's a long fall from the top of a camel's back. So we passed on the camel ride. But they still had a great time. Only problem was that it seriously interfered with Meagan's nap time, and she only ended up sleeping for a total of about 15 minutes in the van. Oh well, she made it through the day okay - a little more drama than usual toward 8:00 tonight, but she made it. Here's a cute picture of the 3 of them...I'll spare you pictures of animals - I think all zoo animals pretty much look the same!

2 Pages

I did 2 pages today! That's what happens when you turn me loose to scrap after over a week of down-time! I did a quick page for Grandma's book...another Christmas page, which was just as difficult for me as the first one. (Don't know why holidays are so difficult for me). The pictures, from the best I could tell, are all from 1967 Christmas.




The second page is of a game the boys made up one day back in April (see, the grass is still green and thick!). The game was called 'mission' - I think I might have blogged about it. ??? Anyway, I like how it turned out. Both pages have a pretty graphic feel - especially for me. I'm not usually a graphic-style scrapper. Ah, well, as long as it turns out okay, I don't care what style it is.

Journaling: You'd never know it from this picture, but the two of you, at this very moment, are deeply involved in a thrilling game of 'mission.' This spot in the grass, on the side of the hill, on the side of the house, is your 'thinking spot' where you collaborate, deciding what is to be the next great mission. Will it be 'run to the front porch then touch Mr. Clark's tree then jump off the slide' or will it be 'climb the first pine tree then touch the shed then crawl under the bench'? So many missions...The possibilities are endless, which must be why you've been at this game for hours.

The old is new again

Wow, I've been HORRIBLE about blogging lately. This week, I blame my computer...it crashed AGAIN, and I've been waiting for Lucas to get it fixed. After a new power supply and a new mother board, I think all is well, and I'm back in business.
We had company this week too! Grandma H. came up and stayed with us. We had a great time - story hour at the library, followed by lunch at McDonald's and the play land after lunch! Plus, a fun painting project (which I still have to finish - gotta glue their pictures down). The kids had a ball! Always fun to have family visit!
Then today was the first day of my garage sale. It went fairly well actually. I was pleased. It was worth the effort of setting up in the crazy humidity yesterday. So here's what happened yesterday while I was setting up...

When Sebastian was 18 months old, he got a train track for Christmas from Keary. He LOVED that train, and played with it all the time...ALL the time. But, as time passed, the train set lost its appeal, I guess, and Sebastian moved on. The train has been packed away in a storage box since we moved here. I got it out yesterday, cleaned it off, and set it up to put in the garage sale. I figured it hasn't seen the light of day for nearly 3 years, so it was time to let it go. Well, as I was setting it up, Meagan took notice of it, and started checking it out. Not five minutes later, she was deeply involved in an exciting game of choo choo train. She didn't care that the thing doesn't work right anymore...she LOVED it. Soon, the boys came out and started playing too. They spent nearly 2 hours on the garage floor playing with this old train set (which left their legs from their knees all the way to the tips of their toes completely black and nasty...it took half the stack of baby wipes just to wipe them off enough to go from the garage to the tub). They begged and pleaded, and gave their best puppy dog eyes, until I took the sticker off the train set and moved it out of the garage sale. So this morning, first thing, they were all out on the front porch playing with their newly rediscovered train set. The old is new again. I love that!

Her big girl bed

A few weeks ago we took Meagan out of her toddler bed and set up the full bed in her room. She was just not sleeping well in the little bed anymore. Every time she rolled over she practically fell out of bed, so I figured it was time. Thankfully we have had a full size bed stored in our basement for quite a while (like, ever since we got married). It has taken me a while, but I have finally found a blanket and some white sheets and bed skirt that matched and didn't cost a fortune. I took a few pictures, and thought I'd share. I thought a few of you - especially the grandma's - might like to see how it turned out.

Feminine Side

Well, I'm now a few days behind on posting this (see my last post for further details LOL), but I still had to share. I was sooooo happy! I usually don't get more than a few minutes without a Meagan-shadow during the day - especially when the boys have their own game going and she's being excluded. Well, I've been trying to encourage her to play independently while I do housework, but usually she's just not interested. Well, I was folding clothes in our room, and she wandered out into the hallway. A few minutes had passed, and I realized I hadn't seen her for a while. So, I peeked around the corner in the hallway - no Meagan. I looked in the boys' room - not there. Then I checked in her room, and there she was sitting in her closet playing baby dolls! Of all things - BABIES! She was undressing, 'giving tubbies,' feeding, and rocking them. She tucked them into the crib once, but decided it was too crowded for both of her babies. So she emptied out her blanket drawer and made up a bed for them on her floor. Each baby got a pillow, and she sat down and read them a book for bedtime. How cute is she!?! She's still rough and tumble, and may never be the girliest girl in the bunch (which is more than fine with me), but my daughter has finally found a glimpse of her feminine side!

My Husband, My Hero.....Again

Well, I haven't posted in a few days because Wednesday, I think it was, I had a computer catastrophe. The boys had been playing 'making zoo' while I was folding laundry. Isaac came running up the stairs and says, "Mom, Sebastian did something!" which usually means he accidentally opened up a new tab in the browser, or he's accidentally gotten onto the 'print' screen or something. It's never really anything worth worrying about...so I didn't worry about it. Later that night, however, I went to my desk, all ready to start scrapping, but the computer wouldn't turn on. Hmmm...that's odd. Maybe it's unplugged? Oh well, I'll look into it tomorrow. So, I went to watch a movie instead.

When Lucas came up to bed, I told him that I thought maybe the boys unplugged my computer on accident, but he didn't seem so sure that was the problem. Low and behold, the next day he looks at it and determines that my power supply had gone bad (which, I guess was probably not so very difficult for him to diagnose, since it was actually glowing while the computer was not turned on). Well, Friday after work, he headed up to Circuit City to get a new power supply. Got it installed, only to find that my mother board was locked up.

Today at lunch he says, well, I'll just get a new mother board and reinstall Windows. (EYES BULGE, LUMP FORMS IN THROAT, PALMS SWEAT...well, not really, but I knew it wasn't good). Um, Honey-Dearest....."YOU CAN'T REINSTALL WINDOWS UNTIL YOU RECOVER WHAT'S ON MY HARD DRIVE! ALL OF MY LAYOUTS ARE ON THERE!" Yes, I know about the importance of backing up, but no, I haven't backed up for a while. Why? Well, because whenever I'm at a point to back up, he's gaming, and the man nearly has a coronary if I cause lag on his computer while he is playing. And I just don't think about it during the day.

So, his crazy computer wheels start spinning in his head, and he figures out something that just might work...He puts my hard drive into his computer and transfers the files to his computer. As far as I could tell, everything was there. The only thing left is to do the same for my second hard drive ... just in case. WOOOO HOOOO! I love being married to a computer junkie! Even though some of our conversations sound an awful lot like the Peanuts teacher (whaa whaa whaa whaa), it comes in handy when I do stupid things like not back up for months!