CHA and the garage.

I'm not going to CHA this time. I'm missing the excitement and seeing all the new, fun releases. But I'm glad I'm home with my family, too! CHA should always be 10 minutes from home. That would be ideal, I think.

I made this card for the Prism Papers booth. They have such lovely cardstock. It always makes me think of ice cream that doesn't melt...yummy.

I've been working in my garage. I call it "the landfill." Soon I will be hoping to call it "the place where I park my car." Yesterday, my sweet hubby and my two older children hung the bikes in the garage. Wow! What a huge difference it makes to have all those bikes hanging from the ceiling rather than parked all over the floor. Then my sweetie got the "hanging stuff" bug and hung up some fishing poles, too. I can't say it made much of a difference space-wise, but it's nice to see people wanting to get organized!

last week's email.

I sent this email to a few of my close homeschool-mom friends last week. They understand. The email:

I have to share this.

Today I've been working on my "need to buy" list for the upcoming school year.

It's a spreadsheet.

It's not a huge list, but it's a lot of $$.

I was so excited this evening because I was working on my "landfill management" (a.k.a. digging through the huge pile in my garage).

I found all of my Abeka 7th grade stuff.

So I pulled it all out and hauled it into the living room and dropped it on the floor by my sweet Jolie.

And I'm so excited and smiling and happy.

And excited.

And she's looking at me strangely.

I say, "Here's your school stuff for next year!"

I say, "I just need to order workbooks!"

Did I mention I'm excited?

She looks through it and doesn't look excited with me.

I say, "What?"

She says, "I'm not going into the 7th grade."

Dang.

So.

365 days from now, we're good.

(I'm hoping the Abeka 6th grade stuff is in a tub in the attic. I vaguely remember putting something like that up there.)

That was the email. Since then, after some searching, I've been informed that 6th grade was the year we tried Switched-on Schoolhouse.

So.

I still have to buy all the Abeka 6th grade stuff.

menu plan monday.

I forgot to share last week menu, oops. I also didn't follow my menu plan very well last week...think there's a correlation? Don't share, don't follow...hmm.

Actually, I think it was just all the birthdays.

Anyway, this week:
Monday - Cheap Pizza Night
Tuesday - Taco Ring
Wednesday - Sandwiches
Thursday - Pioneer Woman's Pot Roast
Friday - Breakfast for Dinner
Saturday - Hamburgers on the Grill and Fries

If I'm going to stick to my plan, I'll definitely need to go to the grocery store!

I'm planning to try a new ranch dressing recipe I found yesterday on Sherelle Christensen's blog. It looks heavenly.

Wouldn't it be lovely to have an arctic cold front on Thursday morning so I could cook the pot roast in the oven? I'll have to do it in the crock pot. Hopefully it will come out the same...it's my favorite pot roast ever.

And now, a picture (a few) of my barn-kitty-turned-royalty, Hannah. She likes to be the most important thing in my life, but only sometimes. Other times, she ignores me. But when she is loving me, she plops right down on my keyboard or my book or the card I'm making and shows me where she'd like to be scratched, petted, or rubbed. This particular day, she got up with a big bunch of Kaiser Self-Adhesive Rhinestones stuck to her furry bum. (Click the image if you want to see every detail of her...)

tiny recap and free stuff.

Do you love the October Afternoon Wild Cards? I think they are so cute! I made a card on my my last post with the Ducks in a Row Wild Cards... Anyway, go to the October Afternoon Blog RIGHT THIS MINUTE and leave a comment for a chance to win a package of those cutie Wild Cards!

I think I forgot to post who won the spot in Tania Willis's Cards: Beautifully Handmade class. Java Diva won (I did email her). I hope she enjoys the class - I know I am! It's not too late to register if you still want to jump in and take it.

We have finished a week of birthdays in our house, whew! Lots of cake, presents, smiles, doughnuts, flip-flops, and legos. I'm behind on everything, but I'll be caught up soon - just give me a day or two!

I have a big red blister on the inside of my wrist from hot oil I splashed on myself last night. It hurt like heck when I did it, but now it's fine unless I bump it or get hot water on it. The weird thing about it is that my dad had the same exact scar on his wrist in the same place - his was at least three times bigger than mine and it stayed there for years and years. I was about four when it happened, so it was 38 years ago. I don't know, it just made me feel connected to him in a strange way. I wish I could have showed him and talked about it.

My world is a mess, but I did get that silly dry-erase board hung. We start school in a month. Where has the summer gone? I am so not ready. The beginning of the school year means order and neatness and new charts and clean closets...something about homeschooling makes me feel like I need to have every little thing in order when we start back again... My Finish It Friday list is looking pitifully unattended at the moment. Oh, well, there's always next Friday!

I've been working on the insomnia. A couple of things have helped. (A melatonin supplement did NOT help. It gave me a two-day-long headache.) I have turned the A/C down at night, decluttered my bedroom (it feels so peaceful), turned the lights down in the evening, and made the kids get to bed earlier so I get some quiet time before I feel like I am "supposed to" go to sleep. I have also tried to relax and not pressure myself so much about trying to fall asleep. Thinking about last night's inability to fall asleep really makes me tense when it's time to go to sleep the next night. I'm still struggling a little, but I'm trying to "go with it" rather than fight it, and I think this is helping a lot. I think keeping the lights down all over the house in the evening helps quite a bit. And the temperature of the house. Oh, and I read a little before bed, but not IN the bed. Thanks for the suggestions!

Don't forget to leave a comment at the October Afternoon blog!

{And He will be their peace. Micah 5:5}

finish it friday.

If you are here to win the spot in Tania's Cards: Beautifully Handmade Class, scroll down to the next blog!

Here's a card I made recently because every post needs a photo:


[Patterned Paper, Wild Card - October Afternoon, Chipboard - Maya Road, Corner Punch - Fiskars, Cardstock - Prism (Intense Pink)]

My friend Dayna told me I had to do this. I'm scared of her, so I did it, no questions asked.

Actually, I got tingles of excitement, expectation, and plain old organizational happy thoughts as soon as I started reading. I love lists and I love organizing and I love being motivated.

Why is it that I have to be motivated to do things I love to do?

Anywhoo, I made my list of things that I have recently left hanging. I also added some things that have the obvious potential to be procrastinated. And I've crossed off a few things!

Here's my list:
Finish It Friday

1. Hang other dry erase board.
2. Remove small pile of things that need to be put away in MBR.
3. Finish MBR closet clean-out.
4. Purge old scrap collections.
5. Landfill management (garage).
6. Report publications.
7. Move frames from LR to entry.
8. Ebay Feedback
9. Pay bills
10. Curriculum from Alice
11. Co-op Writing Class requirements email
12. Make school books list for 2009-2010
13. Supervise cleaning boys room (delegate)
14. Finish mowing backyard (delegate)
15. RETURN COAT RACKS - put in suburban on Sunday (delegate)
16. Move photos from memory card to hard drive
17. Back up hard drive photos
18. Submit Card
19. Bank Deposit
20. Set date for birthday party
21. CPS card

I only had to complete one thing to not get beat up by my friend complete the requirement, but it's so fun to get things done!

The one thing that is bugging me is the "hang other dry erase board." It's a 5-minute task - at most! Why does this have to go on a list?? I don't know, but I still haven't done it.

A couple of random things before I go...
1. My neighbors had a garage sale this morning. You WOULD NOT BELIEVE what someone did right out in the street some time during the morning! A person, not a pet, did this. Blech.
2. The heat is making me crazy. Crazy, I tell you.
3. We are in "birthday week" here at the Kingman house. Cody's was Wednesday. Mine is Sunday. Corey's is next Wednesday. Cake, anyone?
4. I am working on my insomnia issues. Any suggestions?

{Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. 2 Corinthians 13:11}

win a free class!

I remember the day I discovered Tania Willis on Two Peas in a Bucket. It was the start of a beautiful friendship! We have so much in common, happy and not-so-happy (she suddenly lost her sweet mama two months after my dad passed away), and we have bonded in an eternal way. She's a precious sister in Christ and an amazingly creative girl!

Read about her upcoming class and leave a comment here. I'm giving away a spot in her Cards: Beautifully Handmade class! I'll randomly choose a winner on Monday morning. Here's a cool rule: if you post a link to this post on my blog, you can enter again! That's double the chances of winning the spot in the class! Soooo...leave a comment! Then go blog (with a link!) and enter again with another comment!

Here's the scoop:



Looking for something to creative to do this summer? Join Tania Willis in Cards: Beautifully Handmade and in three weeks you'll have a big stash of beautifully detailed, handmade cards your friends and family will treasure.
This is the perfect summer class-- grab your scraps and trimmer, some adhesive, a basket of extra embellies or your favorite stitching tools, and settle onto the porch to create. The children in your life can craft along next to you.

Tania will show you tons of awesome ways to add detailing that wows, and she'll inspire you to look at the goodies in your stash in new ways.
Registration Now Open: $25
Class runs with 2 sessions per week on Mondays & Thursdays starting July 13 for 3 weeks and includes 6 downloadable lessons and online teacher interaction in a private forum. Frequently asked questions regarding Tania's online class can be seen here.