Happy Birthday, Dear Brother of Mine

Happy 31st birthday little brother! Hard to believe we are this old! I hope this year is good to you!

My New Toy

I scored at Mike's (Michaels for you non crafters) tonight! Yay...got me this cool file tab punch and some neat little mike's dollar acrylic stamps... I had been looking for those for months! Now I just have to find some time to use them. The file tab punch is huge. That sucker is heavy too. Where in my teeny tiny scrap area am I going to store this monster?

Santa Cruz

Just got back from a 3 day trip to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk with my kids, mom, aunt, uncle, niece, and mom's husband. Much fun was had by my children. Can I just say that amusement parks rock when you are the kid, but not nearly so much when you are the mom. Even if we put aside my neurotic constant worrying (that something will happen to my babies) there is so much stuff that just bites when you are the parent. Lets start with cost. Holy Hell this crap costs alot... I didnt even have to pay for tickets (the benefit of traveling with mom) but the drinks, the lunches, the dinners, the games, the souvieners, the ice cream... I swear all this stuff is going at a 99% percent profit margin! Then there is the whining, the I am so tireds on the way the home, the dirt (my kids were so FILTHY), the cranky sugar crash after the wild sugar high. But honestly, all my bitching aside, the kids had a wonderful time. They came home very, very happy.

My sweet girl and her toothless grin

My dd, niece, and ds riding the carousel

My niece, ds, and dd riding "baby doubleshot". My niece and dd rode the "real" doubleshot later and my heart was in my throat the entire time!

My Hobby

When I have free time (read next to never) and I am not wasting it on the computer (read which is nearly always) I scrapbook. I love anything to do with art. Once upon a time, before my spawn came along, I took art classes. I drew, I painted, I designed. I at one point was planning on being a graphic artist. In highschool I had hoped to become an animator. HAHAHA, so NOT how I turned out. I am neither a graphic designer nor an animator, the closest I get to art work is when I cut out construction paper letters for my bulletin board. (I am an elementary school science teacher at the moment.) So I get my art fix from scrapbooking, which I adore. I love paper. I could buy paper for days. I probably have enough paper to scrap a thousand books. But I always find a reason to buy more, mostly because it goes on sale, and who can resist an opportunity to SAVE money!

So that was the long introduction to why you will suddenly be seeing pictures of my scrapbook pages...especially now that the scanner is in good working order. So without further adieu, here is my latest project, a friend wordbloom book (you can purchase blank books here: Scrapbook Corner ) This book is all about my very special internet buddies that I made when I was pregnant with baby girl.

Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime? Yeah, he has taken over my house. Currently he has been bossing me around...saying things like, "Mommy I will no longer eat my vegetables.... Mommy... you must listen to Optimus Prime" That kid cracks me up.

Who Doesnt Love a Party??

Me and the boy

My daughter and friends

The boy celebrated his fourth birthday with his friends today. I love that picture of me and him even if it is blurry. I am going to scrapbook it for sure. The kids had a grand time destroying my house, pigging out, and scattering toys from here to eternity. It was total chaos for awhile! But the boy said it was his best birthday EVER... hows that for praise?

Wild Card Wednesday!

I give you my boy and his Water loving friend, the River Otter

Excuse me while I get teary....

My baby is turning four tommorrow. I never thought I would have a son. For some reason I imagined myself with two or three girls. No boys, not ever. While I was pregnant with my boy I swore he was a girl. I have ultrasound after ultrasound saying the opposite but I swore he was a girl.

Now my girl (my first born) I love her dearly but she was not an easy baby. She cried nearly all the time. She nursed, she cried, she nursed and then cried some more. There were times when I thought I would go insane. So when we decided to have number two I prepared myself for the nonstop crying. Imagine my surprise when this little guy was born and he did not cry. Not only that but he slept in his crib, he liked the swing, he would sit in a bouncy chair. He did not need to be hooked to my body 24/7! His babyhood was a joy!

He makes me smile daily. He has the sweetest smile and the funniest sense of humor. He loves to dress up, he loves weapons, he loves to pet the cat until the cat runs and hides. He is the sweetest thing.

Thanks for indulging me as I prattle on about my kid. I leave you with some pictures of the boy.




My guy is the one in the orange

I'm Leavin on a Jet Plane....

Whoohooo! I am going to Chicago. (in a few weeks) I have never been there before. I havent been much of anywhere in the last 12 years. So I am going to Chicago to meet up with some of my internet friends. I have known these friends for quite a long while, about 7 years to be exact. We met on a pregnancy board for moms due in August of 2000. Now I know everyone giggles a bit about internet friends but these ladies... they are friends in every sense of the word. We have an email loop that is active daily where we share just about everything. I heart them so much, I wished they all lived just down the street. The closest one lives about 2 hours from me, so I got lucky there. The ones I am meeting in Chicago are from New York and Iowa. I have met two of them "IRL" before and the third, well finally we will both be in the right place at the right time. I absolutely cannot wait for this trip!

My Summer Vacation (or how my children managed to completely cover every surface of every belonging in dirt and provide me endless laundry)

This is my darling boy in his ill fitting lifejacket. Oh why is he wearing a too small life jacket you ask? Oh that would be because my husband decided to not listen when he asked, "Which life jackets should we take? " I told him which jackets we should take but he decided to choose the exact opposite of what I said. sigh. Anyhow the boy was a joy to have on the beach, what with all the whining, crying and carrying on about how the jacket was poking him. I finally let him take it off as long as he didnt go past his knees. Bad mother I am... I know, but my ears could take no more.



These are my children squashing my mother in law as she gives them "a ride" around the lake. Better her than me, I say. I sat my fat butt on the beach and read my trashy novels. Nothing better than lots of sun and trashy novels....well unless it was lots of sun, trashy novels, no kids and a beach in mexico.

I have a ton more pictures but for some reason my mac is hating my camera. I did manage to download my pics to my old pc and then transfer them to a jump drive. Next I will try to move them to the mac....but gawdddd what a PITA! I think this means I need to go buy a new digital camera. Any recommendations? I need something small, I do not want to back some big BAMF (like my favorite photographer, Kami) I need something small that can go in my purse but still take awesome pics... yes I want it all

I am Outta Here!

Off for a week at the lake with the family. Hopefully we all come back in one piece and without burns! My sun is like a little vampire, instantly fried by sunlight. I have packed a ton of good books, magazines, and thinkin on bringing some scrapbookin stuff. I am really hoping for some R&R!

4th of July

We went to my mom's. Thats my brother showing the kids how to set off those little popper things you can get at Target. Lots of fun had by all!

Wild Card Wednesday!

This weeks wild card Wednesday, brought to you by the owner of a haunted Mayan desk, stars the letter H! Whooohoooo! H just happens to be the first letter of the crappy last name I inherited when I got married.

I give you Halloween! This picture is about 3 years old. My son was a few months old. The girl was 3. She was a dog... and he was her bone. This was totally her idea. Its an idea that continues, each year she decides what she will be and then she makes him an accessory.


Halloween...the following year...she is Cinderella, he is Prince Charming



And so it went....Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, The White Witch and Peter (from Narnia).... who knows what this year will bring!

My Kids are the Cutest

The boy and the girl at swimming lessons this past week. I know I am their mom but I just think they are adorable! The goggles on my son... they kill me! He loves them.

I am a Scaredy Cat

So I mentioned the wasp/yellow jacket nest? Its in the eaves of our shed. There are a ton of yellow jackets going in and out. I ran out to the store and bought yellow jacket killer and traps. I beg the hubs to spray the nest. He says ok. Does he do it? nooooooo. So tonight I get all indignant and tell him I am going to it myself while he is at work. I go out after dark like it says. I stare at the hole in the eaves.... hmmmmmm its kind of high. I need a ladder. Cant find one so I get a rickety crate. I haul my fat butt onto the crate. I aim the spray. One Yellow jacket flies out, I nearly tumble off the crate and land on my ass. I think, "hmmm perhaps if one yellow jacket can nearly knock me on my rear.... twenty or so pissed off yellow jackets are going to cause me to break an ankle." So I climbed down off the crate, backed away from the hole, and like the wuss that I am slunk off into the house to wait for the hubs to douse the nest tomorrow when he gets back from work. GAWD! I am such a baby, I irritate myself!

Worry

I worry alot. Do any of you all do this? I can worry about anything, serious or trivial. And then once I start that worry just becomes a compulsion. Its almost like I cant stop! It kills me. Currently I am worrying about my garage door, which broke last night for no reason whatsoever. I am also worrying the yellow jacket nest in our shed, global warming, soldiers in Iraq (now that I personally know one over there, I have stepped up the Iraq worry, my weight, my kids, my future trip to Chicago, flying, security at airports, money..... you see the list goes on and on. Its amazing I am not one giant ulcer. Oh and also that list is not in any kind of order. Like I dont worry about yellow jackets the most. Mostly that stuff just cycles through my brain all day long. I am sure I probably need a shrink.... hmmm maybe I should worry about that.

Wild Card Wednesday!

Wild Card Wedneday! WCW is brought to you by She Who Would Rather Reside in Texas


This is my darling daughter in first staring role in the play called Waves. Ummm no actually it was called Tide Pools. But I did paint that wave scenery in background so I feel bonus points are in order.

Where I Have Been (For my one or two sometimes readers...)

This is Me! In all my "I just got up and have not bothered to fix myself glory" taken with my new MacBook. Cool little built in camera.

So Where Have I Been??
My computer died. And it went out in a big way! I still dont know what happened to it. The geeks I hired to work on it have no idea whats wrong...oh they talk a good game, but the computer is still not fixed so I presume they are as clueless as me! Poor computer, it was a Gateway, it lasted a good 4 years. Which I hear is ages for a computer. Anyway what did I do? I went out and bought a Mac. I, a dedicated PC user, slave to windows, went out and bought a Mac. A MacBook. I love it! I do! But I am still trying to figure out exactly how to work all its parts. I am particularly disturbed by the no right click. However I just spent a bundle on it and so I am going to have to figure it all out. Wish me luck. All my Mac using friends say I will never go back. Yah, I know this to be true because it will be YEARS before I can afford a new one! Hoping to get to WCW this Wednesday!

Wild Card Wednesday

This weeks WCW brought to you by the absentminded TKW and the letter K. I give you kids getting ready to go to KINDERGARTEN! Well not my kid, he has one more year of preschool to go, but lots of those other kids are going to Kindergarten....so hopefully I will still get my quadruple bonus points.

These kids look totally possessed! My son is in the whiteish button down.

I only wish this hot chick were me. She is my son's teacher.

Wild Card Wednesday

Ok I wanted this first picture last but me and blogger dont agree. This is my son and his best friend (seen in the pictures below) as they look now.

Wild Card Wednesday brought to you by the diva of Wisconsin, TKW.

I am calling this set of pictures, Some for Me, Some for you! (Sorry no W this week!) Here is my boy's best friend having his share of the fake baby bottle while playing legos.

And now we have the same friend feeding my little guy the nice, slobbery fake baby bottle. These are old pictures of course. The feeder is ready to start Kindergarten and the feedee is about to turn 4.

Wild Card Wednesday

WILD CARD WEDNESDAY.... A STORY OF TWO WADING POOLS The girl WADING pool. Look how sedate, look at those unhappy faces, just sitting there, comparing bathing suits, trying not to mess up the hair, probably comparing who has the best pedi or something. Girl WADING pool = NOT FUN (side note: thats my dd at age 3 in the middle there)
In contrast I give you the boy WADING pool. Look here, whats this? Splashing, jumping, laughing, moving, rolling around on the tummy!! OMG could it be? Yes the Boy Pool = FUN! I tell you take a look at just about any pool or beach and you will see the same. Girls lolling about looking bored and boys running wild having fun. Why is that? (side note: I am not responsible for any of those kids in the boy pool. But the one with his back turned is still my girl's best friend. She is almost 7 now and that kid is 8)

ONE YEAR

I have been blogging for a year... and I have a total of 28 posts!! How sad and pathetic is that???? I wish I hadnt even looked! Well I guess I will take ideas now for my 100 th post to be published in ummm 3 years or so!

Edited to Add: Well I was suppose to put this out on the 19th I think, but I didnt . That is the story of my life, suppose to...but didnt. Anyway here it is now... 1 year and some change.

A Mom's Social Life

So I have a mom's wardrobe (crap that doesnt need ironing and can hide the miscellanous garbage my kids rub on me) and I drive a mom ride (lovely minivan, complete with car seats and enough snacks to stock a 7-11) and now I have a mom's social life. In my previous life BK (before kids) I spent Saturdays sleeping in, going to brunch, shopping with the girls, going to lunch, meeting friends for drinks, taking in a movie. Now my social life consists of parties...no no no not PARTIES! but parties, birthday parties....not for my aquaintences but for my daughters. And today was a red letter day because I had two parties, back to back. So it was 3 hours in the blazing hot park, eating cheap pizza and grocery store cake and then it was 2 hours in my friends packed house, chasing my kids and talking about which age/stage is the best/worst. Ah the excititng life I lead. I know you all want to be me! Tommorrow I get to follow up this day of partaying with a day of housework....well it just doesnt get better than this!

Wild Card Wednesday (or yet another post to embarrass my son)

I give you: Wailing! My boy can throw a fit like no other. He was upset because we wouldnt let him play in the kitchen why we were laying the new floor. You can see how he postioned himself to ensure no more work got done!

WILD CARD WEDNESDAY

Presenting the special letter 'M' edition brought to you by she who makes more tutus than you can shake a stick at. This would be His Majesty, the princess. In his defense he was only 2.5 at the time and his sister was the one in charge of his wardrobe. Not to mention the crown and necklace had flashing lights and featured that hot babe, Sleeping Beauty.
His Majesty and his royal assistant, who is looking way to pleased with herself.

Wild Card Wednesday (or the sole reason I post on my blog)

This is my daughter when she was three (she is six now) exhibiting a little bit of sibling jealousy by trying to squeeze into my then newborn son's bassinet. This has absolutely nothing to do with W unless you count all the whining she did at that age.

WILD CARD WEDNESDAY

Wild Card Wednesday is brought to you by the multi-talented, hibiscus pillowcase sewing, TKW

WEAPONS! A favorite topic of my three year old. Here he is posing with his sword next to his Knightly friend. This knight actually stands at my dad's house. Its the boy's favorite part of visiting Grandpa. Until very recently he thought there was a real person in there. You should have seen his eyes when my dad took off the head.

I've been ebay jacked!

OMG someone idiot ass stole my ebay id. And then did they do something cool like post copious amounts of shit under my name and make me pay the fee? NOOOOO they used my name to send stupid ass spam to hundreds of ebay sellers. Who in turned sent me angry emails...which is good I guess because thats how I found out about this madness. And I will tell you what really sucked.... trying to find the million year old phone number I had listed on ebay account so the ebay security people could help me out!! Jeez what a freaking nightmare... which I believe now is nearly over. So the lesson here is if you steal an ebay account.... no wait thats not it... the lesson here is keep an eye on your ebay account even if you only use it twice a year.

Stupid Blogger Sucks

Hey do they remove your blog for titles like that? Seriously though, its been a bitch signing in, trying to post, trying to comment! I was visiting some early WCW and I cant even comment because stupid blogger just hangs in limbo! And this makes me want to curse! Actually I do curse, alot! Anyhow if any of you WCW players stumble through, please know I looked at your pics and of course was impressed.

Wild Card Wednesday!

Wild Card Wednesday brought to you by the lovely TKW. Here we have the boy Working. It seems all my WCWs will be starring my son....so next week i will have to look doubly hard to find one of my daughter, who is very cute as well. Maybe I can take some pictures of her this week...I already know the w word.... whiney!

Help Ease My Mother Guilt

This is a picture of the wall in my son's room that I have spent the last three days painting. Pretty much none stop. The picture takes up most of the wall. I also had to primer and paint all the blue because prior to this three of the walls had a Peter Rabbit theme mural. So why the guilt you ask? Why arent I signing my self up for Martha and Mother of the year? Well let me tell you why, its because of the picture below:
Ah yes, this is the second wall. This should also have a lovely Cars theme mural, you cant see it but I actually have the bare bones sketched on to the wall. Now heres the problem. I am TIRED! My spring break is almost over, the kids will be home tommorrow, the room is in no condition to have a three year old in it, I need to sew the curtains and the blanket.... and I am tired of painting. So heres the thing...I am thinking of painting this wall solid blue, finding a couple of cars posters, framing them and hanging them. would that make me the worst mom ever? I feel like I am cheating my kid. But I just dont think I can get it done. And I need to decide before the kid comes home from his aunties tommorrow, because if he sees the sketch I will be painting but if I paint it blue he probably wont remember I had planned on doing two murals...my daughter will remember but I will bribe her with m&ms to keep quiet. Tell me its ok to paint it blue. I need to think I am not a selfish horrible person for not wanting to spend another week and a half on this room.

Wild Card Wednesday!

Wild Card Wednesday brought to you by the recently wounded TKW. This week's installment also features my boy, who is very wet eyed in this picture. This was taken shortly after he covered most of his body in black and green marker. When I started to yell (because lets face it I am not going to win mother of the year over my reactions to stress) he started to cry and began smearing marker all over himself. Finally I found my sense of humor and took some pictures. However I still cry over those 40$ stride rite shoes (they were a gift) that he had worn only an hour before covering the sides in green marker.

Is There Any Question About Who Rules This House?

My cat Frank. He found us one day. Shortly after we moved in. He arrived at the backdoor and stood there until we let him in. (We are weird that way, we let strange animals inside). Since that day 8 years ago Frank has ruled this place. He had destroyed my carpet, blinds, couches, various throw rugs, and favorite blanket. Yet here he lives in total comfort. Sure I curse him (alot!) but for some reason we love him. This is where you can find him on any given day. Yes, thats my bed. Yes, his head is on my pillow and he has managed to tuck himself in. I guess I should learn to make my bed and these things wouldnt happen.

Wild Card Wednesday

Wild Card Wednesday brought to you by the fabulously funny, TKW. This is my boy...looking up from under our sink while the hubs was trying to install a new garbage disposal. So there you have it my WIDE eyed son in our very WHITE sink!

LOTR SAM- Extreme Weapons Edition

My boy, he is 3, he loves weapons. Why? I dont know, I guess because he is a boy. Anyway he's got a zillion action figures and even more weapons. He wants nothing to do with an action figure that doesn't come with weapons. Today I tripped over this guy, that would be Sam from Lord of the Rings. (Which, btw, is a movie I have never watched and probably never will). Anyhow Sam came with just a frying pan, which my son decided was no kind of weapon, so he modified Sam. Now Sam has an arsenal...ready to do battle with anyone or anything.

Why Is It?

Why is it when kids vomit they can never get to the toilet? Or just lean over and hit just one spot on the carpet? No, they have to throw up on the bed covers, the sheets, the dust ruffle, and a crap load of stuffed animals. And then when you are summoned at 4 am, you need to do the laundry, and figure out how to launder stuffed animals, and move the mattress to somehow get the dust ruffle without spilling puke everywhere. Now if confronted with this problem at say, 4pm I might be able to figure it out. However at 4am I am just not in my zone and puke ends up everywhere, which of course means more cleaning. Somedays Mom is a pretty thankless job.

One Last Wildlife Shot

I was looking at that other photo and I noticed Tiny looked kind of evil. See he is ever so much cuter here.

Suburban Wildlife

Look at this adorable little thing we found in our backyard! Dontcha want one? We were alerted to its presence by my son who was standing at the sliding glass door screaming, RAT! MAMA! RAT! I fully expected to see a huge rat...but we saw this little guy instead. (It's a baby possum) My cats really wanted to have it for lunch so I made the hubs pick it up and move it to a safer location. But apparently possums are extremly stupid because "Tiny" here decided to go back to the patio and sit in the cat's food dish. We moved "Tiny" again because my children wouldnt stop screaming. He came back to the patio. By this time my husband was getting sick of being hissed at and nearly chomped by Tiny. However we convinced him to relocate Tiny one more time. Last I saw Tiny he had several cats stalking him but he wouldnt stay hidden. I told the children Tiny's mom came back and got him....but I am not entirely certain thats what happened...however no remains have been recovered.

Sometimes Life Sucks

So I found out yesterday my aunt has rapid spreading small cell lung cancer. wow. sometimes life just plain sucks. The prognosis doesnt look good so far. I am hoping for the best but it seems its probably going to go the other way.

Come to the Dark Side

Why the picture of Darth Vadar? Well I finally managed to upload a pic and unfortunatly I had clicked on the wrong one. Ehhh oh well, live and learn.

So that pic is from our little trip to Disneyland. I am a west coast girl so we always go to disney LAND, not to be confused with the much larger Disney WORLD. It was a fun little trip, especially if you enjoy 7 hour car rides with two kids, eating over price burgers for a week, and sleeping on a lumpy bed thats two sizes two small. Oh and lets not forget the money sucking drain that is the Magic Kingdom. I cannot believe how much green they sucked out of my pocket this time. Most of it spent at the star trader, after my son did not get picked to join the jedi training for the third time. Yes it took numerous toys and copious amounts of money to soothe his broken three year old heart. Thats some marketing plan disney is working.

Sad and pathetic

So apparently its national delurking week? Who knew? Not me, obviously. Anyhow since I have been delurking at the many blogs I frequent I thought, oh no! now they may come and see my pathetic and sad little corner of internet. I should go clean it up! I should get my blog ready for company! Add pictures, put up links, make it snazzy! Those were my intentions...honest to God. However I got here and well it just seemed like it would take so LONG. So if you are stopping by for the first (and probably only)time please know I would have cleaned up but I am so lazy! Instead I will just come and visit you!

Sincerely,
Iamderby (who would probably be better named, Iamlazy)

Whoohooo!

I added some links in the sidebar. Eh, it only took me the better part of an hour to figure it out. But I DID IT! I feel so proud!






I am back from my trip to the City. It was so pleasant to be free to shop for as long as I wanted. Much money was left in the city by the bay. The Macy's there rocks! 7 stories! Freaking amazing! Shoes take up almost one whole floor, truely a sight to behold. Alas, I was mostly buying for others, however I did manage to score a few things for myself.

It's December...

so I thought I would stop by and check on this sad little rag I have created. Yep, its still here. Yep, its still pitiful. First off I would like to thank TKW for being my audience! If you surfed in and you arent TKW, I tell you go to her blog, its everything mine isn't, beginning with entertaining. I urge you to hang out there.

So since its December I am heading to the City. And by city I mean San Francisco. It is time to shop. More importantly it is time to shop without my kids! So I have two glorious days to spend in the city with my girlfriend and without little hands tugging on me, little voices whining at me, and little feet stomping constantly. I will get to eat a meal without jumping up 50 times and deciding just how many bites deserves dessert. I will get to partake in adult beverages! In short I will be having a glorious time!

Until next time... take care!