Back to school!

We have survived the last week! WHOO HOOOO!!!!!



Yes, this is DS's way of "showing me" that this is "what I get" for wanting to take his picture on the 1st day of school. He is too cool for that now, you know. whatever.... So he informs when - on the way to school on Wednesday - that he keeps an extra sweatshirt in his locker so that if one of the girls says they're cold, he can have it for them. OMG!!!!! Sometimes.... I just shake my head. And of course, DH just says "At least he's prepared" OY!!!!!


And Miss Kindergarten - she has a wonderful teacher and a great classroom. She is thrilled that she gets to take her lunch but thinks "hot lunch" might be good to try too. She was so excited that they got to use the scooters in gym on Friday. Her biggest concern on Thursday (her 1st day) - where they would eat snack. I wish that were everyone's biggest concern! :D


I hope "back to school" has been good for everyone else too.

Book reviews

Yes, I've snuck in some reading lately - YEA!!!!!

16 Lighthouse Road
by Debbie Macomber

Another fantastic book by Ms. Macomber. Set in the Pacific Northwest. I LOVE the characters and such wonderful intertwining stories. This is the 1st in a series by her and I can't wait to read the rest!!!!!

Souvenir

by Therese Fowler

A wonderful story about life, loss and tragedy. I enjoyed the characters and writing style of Ms. Fowler. However - my disclosure on this one - have the tissues ready! I cried through probably the last 30 pages.

Artwork from amazon.com

'At least you have...'

(yeah - you know what's coming)
'...your health.'

I always thought that saying was so cliche'. BUT - after the year we've been having, let me tell you - there is a lot of truth in it. It's not been a great year for us but we are all healthy (knock on wood). Which is more than I can say for some people I know - sadly!!!! We haven't had to deal with cancer treatments or hospitalization for anything serious. In that way, we feel very blessed.

I hope you are all having a great week! The weekend is coming!
HUGS!

What?

So few doses of reality hit me over the weekend....

1. Those of us who ride our bikes casually for a few miles every week or two should probably NOT ride a 19 mile bike ride while pulling a 5 year old in a bike trailer behind us. My legs are KILLING me today!!!!!

2. Our DS is starting his junior year today. A junior!!!! How did I get to be a mom of a junior? As one of my co-workers said, "Are you ready for college visits?" Ah - NO!

3. Our DD is starting kindergarten on Thursday. I was TOTALLY ready for it until I talked to her teacher on Friday. Now I'm a little sad. She's very excited but oh man.....

So I guess it's time to suck it up and continue on....

J & M

This is my brother and future sister-in-law. One of the pictures I took of them about a month ago - no editing done to this...sorry!
They are planning their wedding for October, 2010! I'll post more of them in the coming weeks. :)

Harden, Harden!

Mr Rich Harden - the Cubs one shining star at the moment! Yes, they had some offense last night (finally!) but Harden again, pitched like a surgeon. Just this time, he had the offense to back him up.

Way to go, Rich!!!!

Dear Chicago Cubs,

WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING??????!!!!!!!!!!!

You have looked TERRIBLE for the past month. I am about ready to come get my uniform and show you how it is done. Good grief!!!! I don't stay up late to watch west coast games to watch you LOSE!

PLEASE find whatever is wrong, fix it so we can carry on with a winning season!!!!!

Sincerely,
A VERY disappointed fan

Please explain (a rambling my Jen)

the OBSESSION with Facebook and Twitter. I don't get it!

I have a blog and that's all people really need to know, right? Is it too much that I think sharing every move of your day is too much information?

Sorry - I don't understand the obsession. If someone/anyone can explain it - I'd LOVE to hear it! :)

Tuesday

MOrning!

I hope you all had a good weekend. It was a good one here - too short, as always....

I got some reading done, a little scrapping and we went for one very wet bike ride. :) This coming weekend is our town's festival and the college students come back (I'll refrain from commenting on that right now).

Other than that, not much else going on. I'll try to catch up with some of my scrappings later.

Scrappings from last weekend

Sorry the lighting was crap for the rest of these shots....

I know....

I know - there are still no pictures of my scrapping from last weekend. I will do it - I SWEAR!!!!

Anyway, TGIF~
I hope you've had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend. Not much planned here - it sounds like it's going to be warm, so maybe a little craftiness. :)

Have a SUPER day and weekend!
Thanks for stopping by.

PS: Scrapping friends - there will be a new challenge up on Saturday at my scrapping blog -------> (challenge u 2) if you would like to "play" along.

What the hell happened????

I turned 35 - that's what happened!

I can't eat and not exercise the way I used to be able to. My metabolism is fighting back, as is my out of shape body. Pitiful.... I'd heard it happened but didn't really believe it. I believe it now! Now I'm being told, wait until 40. WHAT???!?!!?!?!?! Good god - what happens then?????

Random ramblings

Welcome to another episode of random ramblings....

*Race to Witch Mountain - not a stellar movie but it was ok. Duane Johnson - come on, he's "The Rock", always will be to me anyway.
17 Again - pretty funny and a little lesson in there about being careful what you do and reject while you are growing up.
*Anyone else find it ironic that David Hasselhoff is juding America's Got Talent? Eh, eh??? :D
*The Cubs....1st place after the All Star break to losing 4 in a row. Come on, guys!!!!!
*I got 6, yes 6 layouts done over the weekend. (photos to come)
*I added about 10 rows to the afghan I started over the weekend too.
*To my scrappy friends, if you are interested/willing to have a layout or card scraplifted, please let me know - I am running scraplift challenges on my other blog. ;) Thank you! ------>
*It's Wednesday - the week is 1/2 over - YAHOO!!!!

Have a super day! Thanks for stopping by!

Long time, no review

So here's a few books I've read since May that I enjoyed.

Must Love Dogs

by Claire Cook

I have read a couple of her other books and LOVE her characters. This is another good one! Sarah is looking for love through the personal ads. Her family is quirky and shows up at the most inopportune times - and her father's girlfriend....HILARIOUS! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Time of my Life

by Allison Winn Scotch

What if you could "re-do" your life? What if you had done thing differently in the past? Jillian is about to find out. Interesting concept and wonderful characters. Far fetched? A little but a fun summer read.

Coming Unglued

by Rebecca Seitz

The Sisters Ink girls are back for their second book. It's a scrapbooking filled story. I love these 4 and their lives together in small town Tennessee. I can't wait to read the next 2!

Paper Scissors Death

by Joanna Campbell Slan

A mystery with MANY scrapbooking and St. Louis references. I truly enjoyed it! Kiki is a great "girl power" character - bumbling at times but that's what makes her a little more real. Book 2 of Kiki's awaits....

Happy reading!

Artwork from amazon.com

What a week!

for our DS

He turned 16 on Monday. He's still getting his driving hours in with us and has about 8 more weeks of having his permit before he can get his licence. So by mid-October, he should be good to go! I'm still trying to figure out how this kid.....

became....this kid!

Thursday night, he received/earned his adult black belt in karate. However, DH & I did not know he would be getting it so we could be there for presentation, so - that's right - no pictures of that. I will try to get him to cooperate this weekend and get some of him with it on. We are VERY proud of him!

********************************

On another note - to my cheerleaders - I did finish a layout last night and started another.....

Sigh....

Motivation!
That's what I need!!!!!!!!!!

I want to scrapbook.
I want to start my quilt.
Have I?
NO!
Why?

You know the answer....
No motivation!!!!!

My goal this weekend is to get 2 scrapbook pages done (at least). Unreasonable? I think not!

I am hoping to have a "craftier" (is that a word?) August.

I need some cheerleaders.... :)