Project Life Layout, March 19- March 25 {Week 12}

March 19 - So now my oldest daughter is healthy (after a bout of flu last week), my husband has been so sick all week {went to emergency this morning with borderline pnemonia}, and now my second oldest come down with the flu.  She was so sad because today was her Sunday School swimming party.  Sadly she could not go.  My oldest though was standing at the door this morning eagerly waiting to be picked up for a birthday party, that was going to be a swimming party at the same place that the Sunday School swimming party was going to be.  So one could go, the other could not.

March 20 - Our second oldes is on the mend and energy is starting to pick up.  Tonight after supper all four of the kids were wound up and a dancing competition began.  I wanted to capture the 'motion' so I slowed the SS.  If only I had a video camera!!!

Monday is my weigh in day...this past week I am down 3 lbs!  I am following the weight watchers old points plan {I am a lifetime member but there is no meeting anywhere close to me so I am doing it at home, weighing on my scale}.  I am using two dvd sets by Chalene Johnson {I love her and I love her energy},  ChaLEAN Extreme and Turbo Fire.  In addition, I am using the treadmill on the days that I don't use a dvd.  I am well on my way to getting that Epiphanie camera bag!!!  Not to mention, a new wardrobe {YAY}.


March 21 -  After his emergency room trip on Saturday, things have improved immensely.  {He dislikes that I took this photo, with a passion, but it is our life right now...}.  The doctor sent him home with a nebeulizer to use until Wednesday and some very strong drugs.  It is working.  So thankful!

March 22 - Today, I wanted to make something.  I am not a 'creative' person, but I have been following some DIY blogs like Centsational Girl, The Nester, I Heart Organizing {You can see my right side bar for those links} and wanted to do something with a coffee tin that I had.  This was the result.  You read how I did it by clicking on here.

March 23 - Happy Birthday to my sister who turns 34 today!!!  Today I continued on my organizing obsession {better get as much done as I can before the ambition runs out...}.  Cleaning out my dresser and I came across this dvd that my husband made a couple of years back - he used windows movie maker to put all of our 2009 pictures to music.  This is what we gave both sets of our parents for Christmas that year.  Finding that was quite a treasure for these kids.  It is so hard to believe how much they have changed in two years!  It is 45 minutes long and they sat and watched it twice.

March 24 - Today was our first attempt at these chocolate dipped marshmellow pops.  So easy to do, and wow, the kids devoured them!

March 25 - I love to open up the boxes of new curriculum for my kids.  Today, we received some of the books they will use starting in the fall. 

Can you believe that we are almost 1/4 of the way through this year?  It has flown by and I know that once the weather warms up, it will go even quicker.

Now, see you in a week for my {Week 13}.

A Recycled Coffee Tin

Today, I was inspired by Jenn at IHeart Organizing to take an empty tin and turn it into something.  She did a post on her son's closet that features some refurbished tin's on his closet desk.  How cool!  I can do this.  I am not really 'crafty', but I can do this.

My simple little coffee tin went from this:

To this in a few simple steps:

First I took the label off of the can and laid it across my bold scrapbooking paper then cut it to size.

I used Stampin Up's snail adhesive to stick it onto the can.  There maybe something else stronger, but I didn't have anything else on hand, and so far it is still holding strong.

It was 3/4" short so I just cut an extra piece and stuck it on.

I used some Creative Memories paper ribbon to go around the top and bottom of the can.

I used my DH drill to drill a tiny hole into the lip of the can to attach my tag.

Once all was done, I realized that I had no pictures of making the tag.  It was simple.  Using a scallop and round punch, I punched one of each shape.  Layering them one on top of the other and attaching an embellisment on the top (mine says the word 'fun').  I used a star brad at the top and strung a silver cord through it to hang it on the can.

And this was the end result.  Kids love it, I love it.  Sounds like I have to make one for each of their school desks to hold their 'tools'.

Thanks for looking.  Click on the buttons below to be taken to Today's Creative Blog, or to Skip To My Lou Made By You Monday.  Here you will discover hundereds of people and their own DIY projects.

Have a great day.

Christie

Project 64, {Week 11} Scarlett

Project 64 is a 64 color challenge using the 64 color box of crayola crayons.  One color per week is the chosen color that you are asked to 'hunt' and snap, then link up.  We are in week 11 this week but you can join in at any time.

Week 11 has been assigned the interesting color, Scarlett.  Here are my two submissions.

Here is a set of Unifex cubes that my daughter used for math counters in her math class.

I went digging through our craft supplies and was able to drum up some wooden beads and pom pom balls.

Click on the button below to be taken to the Project 64 website to learn more about this weekly challenge.

Project Life Layout, March 12- March 18 {Week 11}

I am going to start this off with a web collage to bring you up to speed on the events of March 11 {they lead right into the continuing adventure on March 12}.

1 - Leaving for Winnipeg, Manitoba.  Weather is worse than it looks.  Should have stayed home...
2 - At times, we could only drive 40 km/hr
3 - My husband is feeling a bit stressed
4 - Daughter playing her Leapster Explorer, oblivious to what is going on around her (that was a good thing
5 - Our trip is interrupted now by the highway now being closed....
6 - My sister texts me to say roads are slippery...sure are...
7 - We decide to wait it out til the road opens... they didn't open...weather is bad bad bad, over 300 roll overs on the highway
8 - Finally, we check into a room for the night

March 12 - We wake up early early (honestly I don't know that we really slept).  Highway is still closed.  How can this be???  We head off to get a bite to eat for breakfast and wait a bit longer before we decide head South to travel a secondary highway to get to Winnipeg.  Then, we see two vehicles driving down a service road that connects to the main 'closed' highway...could this be our chance to get going...IT IS.  I think we were breaking the law by doing this {eeekkk}.  We follow these cars and finally we are back on the road to our destination.  8:20 am and we are heading East-bound again.  The closed highway was in good condition to travel, trucks had been out and salted so it wasn't icy anymore - and there were no barricades blocking side roads so there was traffic.  We travelled without incident until we hit Portage...police at intersections, hundreds of cars and semis and stationery, barricades everywhere, we are being forced off the highway again.  We watch a half dozen or so semi's taking a different route and we think we should follow them because they likely know back ways to Winnipeg that we don't.  What were we thinking....we actually came across a train track where two trucks were pretty much hidden in a snowbank.  The drivers had likely gotten stuck the night before and left their vehicles there and as the storm continued through the night, their vehicles were pretty much covered.  As we follow these semis we come to the conclusion that we shouldn't have followed them.  They were heading right to a Hutterite Colony and unfortunately that wasn't where we wanted to go today.  So back track we go.  We headed in the direction that we were sure would eventually connect us to this 'closed' highway again, and lucky us, we were only 2 miles away from it.  There were no barricades here and no police so we were free to enter the highway.  Finally, once again, back on track.  We made it to Winnipeg within about a half an hour after all of this.  Why, WHY did we want to get to Winnipeg so badly...all for the Love of

 MONSTER JAM!!!!!! 

 We didn't make it to the pit party that we wanted to take the kids to {you get to meet the drivers and get really close to the trucks...}, but we did make it with about 40 minutes to spare before the show started.  What a show it was!!!!  WOW, WOW!  If we had the means, I think DH would be planning a trip to Vegas for March 25/26.  The top 24 Monster Jam trucks are there at the same time for the World Finals.   Next year...lol?

March 13 - While in Winnipeg, we visited with family.  Here is our most adorable {and sophisticated} Grandma. 

March 14 - Today it was time to head home.  Of course, that means laundry laundry and more laundry.

March 15 - Today is weigh in day - nothing was lost this week.  I had a pretty amazing week last week and did really well with exercise and eating all week long, so I think it may just have balanced out.  Looking forward to weighing in on March 21!

My POTD is my boys and their monster trucks.  They always play with them, but now that they have seen some of the trucks in person and know that they are not just on TV, monster truck play has evolved into 'sound'.  The boys are imitating the roaring truck engines, the 'beep beep' that you hear when a monster truck is being pulled over from landing on it's roof back to sitting on all four wheels and the crushing sounds heard when they launch off of obstacles that are in front of them.  These trucks have come to life in my home.

March 16 - Every single morning in our house we do school.  I am at the table going over some things with my daughter and told my son to go downstairs and play with his brother for a little break.  He comes up stairs to tell me something and turns around to walk away when I notice what he was doing to himself and to his brother during their downstairs playtime...practicing his barber skills...his brother fared just fine, can't even tell, but his 'new self hair do' is very noticeable.

March 17 - To wrap up the pool season at the community pool, there is always a 'fish swim' {end of August}.  About 250 goldfish are dumped into the pool and you have to catch them {the filters have been turned off for a couple of days and no new chlorine added to be 'easy' on the goldfish}.  It is HARD to catch those little guys.  In the end, we caught 4{I really should say my husband caught 2 of the 4.  The kids had a tough time because the fish all swam to the deep end so DH jumped in and caught some for the kids}.  This one is the sole survivor.  The other three died before Christmas, but this guy is doing well.

March 18 - At the beginning of this school year I purchased a kit to help with sentence building.  Today, was the first time we cracked it open.  It was a huge hit with my oldest daughter.  For this lesson she was primarily working with nouns and making sentences out of the chosen noun blocks.

There wraps up {Week 11}.

Project 64, {Week 10} Plum

I love this color!  Here is my submission this week:

I almost didn't make the deadline for submissions...thanks for looking!

The Joy Of {Luck} Day 02

02 green

Assignment: St. Patrick’s Day is all about the wearin’ o’ the green these days!  Green is all over the place today as we celebrate Saint Patrick and being Irish.  You can also see green when you look out your window at the new buds forcing their way up.

Green is also symbolically the color for newness, new beginnings, spring and life.  Today I want you to find the green – this can be ANYTHING that is either the literal color green OR something that brings newness, new beginnings, life, or hope to an otherwise dismal situation.  Look at your day not as a series of hurdles/problems, but as a blessing!  We are SO lucky for all that we have.  Capture this with your lens!

This is my daughter sporting her favorite outfit, just so happens the vest is green.

Settings f/5.6, ss 1/800, ISO 200.

Click on the button above to learn more.

The Joy Of {Luck} Day 01

01 gift

Today is the first assignment of 7 in The Joy Of Luck workshop at Willette Designs.

Today's assignment: What inanimate object/thing/concept is something that you take for granted on a daily basis?  What would someone who is not as fortunate as you are say about your “luck” to have such a thing in  your life?  Think about your blessings today – (don’t focus on people for this one…that will come later)…focus on opportunity/experience/something you have/do EVERYDAY that is an unforeseen blessing in your life.

Honestly, this is sadly an easy assignment.  I take so much for granted, and I know I should not.

This shot is reflective of my ability to see and read.  If I was blind I could still read with braille, however, the ability to 'see' the world around me, I take for granted. 

Click on the above button to join in on this seven day workshop.  It is free and will be fun.

Project Life Layout, March 5 - March 11 {Week 10}

March 5 - Headed back to Minot for some shopping.  Picked up my new 35 mm lens and this was the first picture I took using it.   Got the kids to stand for yet another photo op in the mall {oldest says, why mom, why more pictures....lol, it might be wearing on them abit...}!

March 6 - I titled this shot 'facts and feelings' because the facts are that my youngest is three and in the last few weeks he has been going through a 'bad case' of the terrible two's...here he is in a 3 minute time out, clearly by his expression {feelings} he isn't happy about it.  I had to take this shot, it really is the story of my life right now...I can't wait until this passes.

March 7 - Weigh in day....{insert drum roll please...} Down 4.5 lbs in 7 days.  WOW!   I followed a high protien diet for this week and daily exercise {about an hour each day at high intensity} and this is the result.  This week, I will follow a more well rounded meal plan that includes more fruits and vegetables and will continue the exercise.  I aim to be down 2 more lbs for my next home weigh in.  Wish me luck!

My POTD turned out really cool I think.  Over at Shutter Sisters today, there was a challenge to find something around the house, put it in pretty light and make something of it.  I used oil and water, how simple is that.  All I did was mix oil and water in a clear pie plate and elevated the plate a few inches above some colorful scrapbooking paper, then gave it a quick stir and here is the result.  I love how it turned out.  I entered this shot into an online contest.  I could win up to $700 in prizes.  Click here to vote for me.  Thank you!

March 8 - Oh my, during our trip to Minot on Saturday, a friend of mine took me to this place called Chocolatopia - all I can say is wow, yum, delicious.  They make gourmet chocolates, and they are sooooo good.  I couldn't leave there without something for my kiddos so I bought these very colorful, and unique suckers {I don't know what else to call them}.  They have saved them until today as a treat after supper.  I didn't get to eat them, but I smelled them and they smelled good!

March 9 -  My poor little girl {my oldest girl that is}, came down with a fever lastnight.  Advil seemed to take care of things until tonight.  Two hours after her last dose of advil and the fever was still 102 F, so I was forced to put her in a tub of tepid water for a while {it helped a bit}.  My six year old thought it would be nice to read her some stories so she went a grabbed some of her grade 1 phonics readers and started reading her 'The cat sat on the mat...' type of stories.  My oldest appreciated that her sister wanted to do that for her.  You can see she is trying to enjoy it but it is hard when you feel the way she does at this very moment.

March 10 - What I love about his is that it is symbolic that spring is on it's way.  Icicles mean there has been some melting going on right...YAY, I can not wait until spring is here!

March 11 - Today can be summed up very simply, An Unexpected Adventure.  We headed out at around 1:30 in the afternoon heading to Winnipeg for the weekend.  Honestly, we never should have left our yard, it was storming so bad outside, roads were horrible.  By the time we made it half way to Winnipeg, the highway was closed - no cars could leave on the No. 1 out of Brandon.  By now, it is 5:30 and we decided to wait it out, they are going to open it once it clears...right, WRONG.  Eventually by 9:30 we checked into a hotel and prayed the roads would be open in the morning.  They weren't.  I guess you will have to wait until next week to see what happens on March 12.