It's Your Birthday...Soak It Up!

Wow, doesn't this look nice...soaking in the bathtub?! I can't remember the last time I've done that. Something about having kids to take care of, a house to take care of, a husband to take care of, a dog and cat to take care of, and a part time job just doesn't leave much time or energy to do such activities of luxury. Heck, after about 4 months I just found time yesterday to get my hair cut. I don't know, relaxing in a tub of warm water filled with soothing, sweet smelling bubbles, surrounded by candles, listening to the hypnotic sounds of...silence is highly overrated. At least that's what I keep telling myself. It's probably dangerous too. I would surely fall fast asleep and drown. Don't tell me any different. Please let me live in my world of denial. I like it here. Mary

Happy Tuesday...and Wednesday!

Happy Tuesday! Well, it will be Wednesday when you all get this so...Happy Wednesday too! Boy was today ever productive. I hate those kinds of days where you have the entire day to yourself and you have big plans to get lots of things done but instead you sit in front of the TV or take a nap or just laz around. Those days have their place, don't get me wrong. I love a good lazy day as much as the next person. But I hate it when I plan big but do nothing. I feel like it was such a waste. Anyway, today was definitely not a day like that. Today I got the kids ready for school, made them breakfast, got them on the bus, did all of our laundry (washed, folded and put away), cleaned the downstairs (cleaned, like high dusted the walls and wiped down the kitchen cabinets kind of clean), showered, made 5 cards while watching a movie, surfed the web, answered some e-mails, helped with homework, made homemade chicken fried steaks, washed the dishes, helped with baths, put the kids to bed, made lunches for tomorrow, and am now typing this post. Whew, I'm tired just thinking about all of that. But it's a good kind of tired.
So here is one of the cards I made today. It's a Valentine's Day card as you may have guessed. I really like that it doesn't have the typical red Valentines-y color. Hope you like it!

I'm Obsessed!

Ok. I'm officially obsessed with these boxes. They are so fun, easy, useful, and pretty. I keep thinking of all the occasions for which I can make them. Here is one I made for my in-laws who are currently on vacation in Florida for 3 months. Though it's not really a great time to be visiting Florida right now since the temps aren't that much warmer than they are here, it's still fun for them to be away for a while. I thought they could use this to keep their photos from trip. You have got to try this box! Mary

Memory Keeper/Card Box

Are these not just the cutest boxes or what?! The idea and instructions for these came from Gina K's site "Stamp TV". She has top quality video instructions as well as a free template that you can print out. I know I say things are easy a lot, but these really are. From start to finish it only took me 30 minutes to make one. To me I think that's pretty good. And it's such a versatile box. You can use it for cards that you wan to give as a gift, or to organize photos that eventually will be placed in a scrapbook or as a little scrapbook itself, etc. I love it and will be using it a lot in the future.
PS: Dad, don't let Mom look at this post...I'm going to be giving these to her for her birthday. :) Mary

Happy Belated Birthday to Me!

Happy birthday to me...2 days late. I was too busy enjoying myself on my birthday to post anything that day, and then I had trouble logging on to blogger yesterday. So I had to wait until today to share my birthday with you all. But I don't know what I was in a hurry for...after you hit 40 who wants to share, or even acknowledge their birthdays anymore anyway. :) My kids had a 2 hour delay in starting school that day because of the weather, so my birthday got started a little late. I had a nice day to myself, crafting and watching/listening to a couple girl-y movies. Then we went out to eat and back home for cake and presents. I got a really nice silicone rolling pin and an insulated tote to carry my 9x13 pan...boring gifts to some, maybe, but they're just up my alley and I love them. It was just nice to be singled out for the day. My husband is really good about thanking me, and reminding the kids to thank me, for being such a good mom and for taking care of them. It does my heart good and makes it easier to do all of that for them when they are so appreciative.
Anyway, here are a few of the things I created on my birthday: a set of cards to give as a gift and a post-it note holder. Enjoy!

3 Boxes

Yesterday I made 3 very fun and very different kinds of boxes. The one with the snowmen on it is one that I cased from Julie Buhler's site. The other two came from the Chicnscratch site. They were posts that I had saved over the past few months and always meant to get to but never did. The kids were occupied with their Christmas toys for quite a while so I was able to get a lot done. All of these boxes were easy and really fun to make.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone! I hope your year is filled with hope, promise, peace, and health. While my husband and I were out for dinner last night we talked about 2009. We agreed that it really was a pretty good year. Sure we had some bumps in the road but they were bumps that we have endured before and will assuredly have to again, but we survived. More than survived...we came out better for them. We gained knowledge and experience that is more valuable than anything. And really, those bumps could have been worse if we look at the big picture of how bad things could be. So overall, we had a pretty good year. Which makes me nervous for what 2010 has in store for us. Good luck must run out sometime..."waiting for the other shoe to fall" kind of thing, you know. But we'll just have to take it day by day, always remembering to be thankful for what we have, and knowing that nothing is a sure thing. And I hope I am writing the same kind of letter this time next year. God bless you. Peace and love to all, Mary.