Here Fishy, Fishy

My latest card. I made this using the PTI Pond Life stamps, Lemon Tart cardstock and ink, and Summer Sunrise ribbon. This is the last card I made before going on a scrapbooking frenzy the other night. I did 10 pages in one night, granted they were 8x8 but still 10 in a night is quite a few. Finally finished my Chicago album... yes I did take that trip LAST summer. I am a wee bit slow.

Today I took my kids, my friend and her three boys on a 30 minute drive to go to our local splash playground. We get there and would you believe it? No freaking water until May 1!!!!! So we had 5 very disappointed kids, 2 irritated moms and drove back 30 minutes and went to a regular (no water ) park. That lasted about an hour but it was so HOT. So we went back to my friends house and the kids played in the water at the house. Now we are home and its time to get back into the school /work routine. I always hate Sundays for that very reason.

PaperTrey Ink Blog Hop

PaperTrey Ink is hosting its monthly blog hop tonite. You can go here for the details. This is my entry. I stamped the mum from the garden of life set with summer sunrise and black noir. I colored on it with some of American Craft scrapbooking markers. I cut my small squares of PTI ppaper into a lovely little border to frame my image. Its all adhered to PTI cardstock and tied with a lovely summer sunrise bow. I really like the way it turned out.

Handwriting- Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Have you ever had the pleasure of teaching a small child how to make their letters? It ranks right up there with potty training or being stabbed repeatedly in the eye with long, sharp stick. My son is in preschool. I went back to work, so as part of my punishment my son has to go to "daycare preschool" not to be confused with "parent volunteer-free love hippie preschool" that my daughter got to attend during the few short years I could afford to be a stay at home mom. So anyway, I digress. My son goes to daycare preschool. Its a nice place. The teachers are lovely. However they feel the need to send home homework. The homework involves lots and lots of writing practice. Its horrifying really. Try teaching your 4 year old boy who can barely hold his pencil how to make the lower case a. The correct way mind you, where you start from the top and go around and then up the stick and down the stick. See I know this stuff. I teach school. I have taught handwriting to whole classes of 1st graders, even Kindergartners. It sucked then too... but nowhere near the way it sucks now. My son is a perfectionist. He HATES to be corrected. But unfortunately letter a can only face one way and when one makes it backward one must be corrected. And then the crying, the whining, the gnashing of teeth. I participated in this for a half an hour tonight and I must say I feel as though I have been tortured. Want to break those detainees in Gitmo? Give them a four year old, a penmanship sheet and tell them the 4 year old must produce legible writing.... within the next hour... without a snack. Yep that should do it.

New Stamps=New Card

PaperTrey had another release on the 15th and I managed to spend LOTS of money on new stamps, paper, and ribbon. The package came Friday and now my crafting corner is a HUGE mess. For some reason I am unable to clean up as I go. So far I have made a couple of cards and done a whole lot of playing around. This card is going to my dad for Father's day (that is if I can find it by the time June rolls around). Between school (my job) and two extra committees I am on I havent had a moments peace to do much of anything except take care of my children, which explains my once a week blog posts. I will try to do better. Happy Sunday.

I'm Back....

So after being in bed most of the weekend, I sucked it up and went to work yesterday. I am still not 100% but I am feeling MUCH better. Unfortunately now the girl is sick. She is going to miss school today, hopefully she will be on the mend soon.

My computer and wireless router (mac airport) went totally crazy on Sunday night. I did everything possible to fix it. NOTHING. Now it used to be I could sit and surf tethered to my DSL but once I went wireless... well people there is nothing like surfing from the comfy couch or bed. So I knew I could not live with this crazy mafunctioning (and might I add BRAND NEW) airport. So I called my tech guy from work (He does not work for the school district and that is why he is AWESOME). And would you believe he came out the same day, worked on my computer for over an hour, fixed it and then only charged my 40 dollars!? I heart him very much. He has a friend for life. He was telling me that he and his friend do it so cheaply because they just like helping people, especially teachers. I know of no one else who makes a housecall for 40$. Again, I LOVE him! So I am back to surfing wireless again which is wonderful.

Hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!

Freaking Sick!

So its been like five days since I posted... my life is boring as heck so that could be why... but actually its because I have been sick or have been taking care of a sick child all week. I did manage to drag myself to work, which is probably why this thing has hung on for so long. My body decided it was done earlier this evening and I have been in bed ever since. This of course means my two children have had the run of the house with little to no supervision. Lucky for me my girl child made her brother peanut-butter and jelly for dinner. She even served it up with a side of goldfish crackers. She made herself a bean burrito and then she brought me a soda. I have raised that girl right. (She is 7 by the way). Anyway after she served up her brother dessert (skinny cow ice creams) he came up here, crawled in my bed and fell asleep. I dont have the strength or energy to move him so I am just hoping he went pee before climbing in. My dd is watching Sponge Bob downstairs, how could I deny her after the excellent care she has given me and the boy. Anyway thats my update. Hoping to feel better tomorrow because I have a billion things to do and not one of them revolves around lying in bed all day.

PS. Katie and Tommie, I haven't forgotten your prizes... they are packed and ready to go, just waiting for me to take them to the post office... hopefully tomorrow, but definitely by Monday.

New Card and Funny Story

So this card is made with all papertrey ink supplies. Its an expectant parent congrat card for some friends of mine. I really like the way it turned out. I wasnt sure when I first started putting it together. I had to rework it a few times.

And Now onto the FUNNY STORY
So my boy is in the bath splishing around and of course, because he is a boy, grabbing his parts. He looks up and says, "Mom where are your intestines?"
"In your stomach" I say. He glances up looking at me very strangely.
"Where??"
"In your stomach."
"No they are not!"
"Yes they are in the area of your stomach, inside you."
"Look MOM! They are right here!!!" He is grabbing his sack
Yeah Cole those arent intestines... those are testi*les!
"Well thats pretty much the same thing!"
rofl (changing the spelling of certain words so I dont get some bizarre google hits)

We Have a Winner! (And a runner up!)

Here is our winner! Congratulations Tommie! Please email me (derbylea at mac dot com) with your snail mail info and I will get your prize right out to you! And then because my son threw a huge fit when my daughter got to draw the first name, we have a runner up. So congratulations Katie! Katie, I still have to check my prize drawer but something crafty will be making its way to you as soon as you email me your snail mail info. My email: derbylea at mac dot com

Almost Finished Castle and blog candy

So here is the nearly finished playhouse. The kids are beyond happy. FunDaddy just needs to put on the finishing touches. What color should we paint it? The boy wants fire engine red with green trim (ummm NO!) The girl wants "rainbow" (I am afraid to even know what that means!). What color do you think we should paint it? (Our house is a yellow color... like wheat maybe?).

BLOG CANDY

I have been meaning to do blog candy when I hit 5000 hits... well Nichole Heady (from Paper Trey Ink) linked me on her blog the other day ( I should mention I screamed, shouted, and danced with glee) and since then I have had like 900 hits... LOL. So I am well passed 5000, which means its BLOG CANDY TIME! Up for grabs is one brad stencil from All my memories, one package of studio G stamps, and one pack of stickers (of which I cannot remember the brand at this time). Leave me a comment, tell me what color you think I should paint the house, and I will use one of my children to randomly draw a name from all my commenters. You have until 12 noon on Sunday, April 6th to leave your comment. I will draw names and post a winner on Monday. I will ship in the USA or Canada. Thanks for playing!

Builder Predicts Castle to be Finished Soon

What? You cant really see the progress in this photo? Well, I guess thats what I get for sending the camera with the seven year old. This was the best picture out of the bunch. By the time I looked at them it was dark and thanks to Daylight Savings its still dark! Why cant they just leave the clock alone? Anyhow, I digress. The castle now boasts a roof, four finished walls, six windows and a new enlarged balcony. It has a front porch and a breakfast bar (you can see the bar in this picture). The children are just waiting for FunDaddy to put the finishing details on. FunDaddy predicts it will take another week to finish out the balcony railing and put on the shingles. More pictures to come.