Busy Busy!

Ugh! I was so busy this past week I did not create one single thing! Unless you count this fun collage I meant to post of our Valentines Day, haha....

I did however get many things accomplished last week, soooo I suppose I'll take it. I am still plugging away at my goal of mailing off cards and letters this month, and have a long list of catch-up weekly scrapbook pages to do. In the meantime, I thought I'd add a follow up that Sherri tagged me back on the Liebster Blog award. Here are my answers to her questions...

1. How would you describe your creative style? Quick and simple. I don't spend a lot of time fussing over details and I don't spend a lot of time worrying about it. I'm not a perfectionist, if you hadn't noticed....
2. What inspires you? All sorts of things. Music, nature, my kids, color, my faith...
3. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? New England or the British Isles.
4. Do you like to cook...and if you do, what is one of your favourite recipes to make? I don't like to cook, I don't think I'm very good at it. I cook because we need to eat. I am spoiled rotten in that my husband loves to cook and is more than happy to do so any day of the week. I have a recipe blog tho, listed on my sidebar, and I like to make treats. a lot.
5. If you use pinterest, how do you find new pins? (ex. pin directly from the internet, repin from those you follow, specific searches, review popular posts, etc) I don't use Pinterest a lot, but I am on there. Mostly I see things that people have pinned and I check it out, but I don't repin very much, I tend to bookmark something if I really love it. I do search for things when I need an idea, like a Halloween costume or something.
6. What is your favourite decadent indulgence (food/beverage related)? cheesecake!! Any kind!
7. What is your favourite way to pamper yourself or a friend? Hmm. I guess for myself painting my toenails, eating bad food and craft time... I really don't know?
8. Do you journal? If so, what is your method/frequency/what inspires you to write? I started keeping a diary/journal when I was about 8 and did so til my early 20's. I quit writing in my journal a few years ago tho, and blog a lot instead. In addition to this blog, I have a private family blog where I record almost everything going on in our house. But then I have a separate private blog that started out as a healthy living {weight loss} record, where I keep things I don't want anyone to read at this time, such as my struggles. So that works as a journal as well.
9. Where would you like to retire?/What would you like to do in retirement? I don't know where, but with my husband, and probably near our children. I would like to travel the country and serve a mission with my husband.
10. Who is someone you admire and why? Well here's a long list...! I admire my closest friends, which is why they're my friends. I admire my husband, my in laws, and several other family members. I think for this I'll focus on my parents. I admire my father for his testimony, his hard-working attitude and his love for his family. I admire my mother for her dedication to her family and her responsibilities. My parents are very generous and willing to give of themselves to just about anybody. This is a trait I need to work on in myself.
11. Do you have any unusual/off-the-beaten path blogs/websites that you visit? Could you share one or two and what you like about them. The three blogs I check every week day are Meg's, Sarah's and Shawni's, but they all have tons of followers and are not off the beaten path. Just not stamp related, haha! I love these blogs for their lessons in parenting, their photography skills and their story-telling.

Who else is going to play along with the Liebster Blog award? *grin
.

Liebster Blog

We interrupt this regularly scheduled crafting to get a little personal. *grin.

Jill nominated me for this little game and I agree with her- I rather like talking about myself from time to time, haha, so sure! I'll play along too! {This took me about three weeks to complete! *sad! Turns out I don't like talking about myself in a public forum quite as much as I thought, haha!}
In order to do so, I am supposed to

• Post 11 random things about myself.
• Answer Jill's questions for me
• Come up with 11 questions I would like people to answer
• Nominate 11 more people to play along!

This one is the hard part: random facts about myself...

1. I do not like the phone. I will always email or facebook or instant message to contact a person before surrendering to calling them on the phone.
2. I make up new lyrics to songs as a way to tell my kids what they need to do. ie: Jingle Bells: "Brush your teeth! brush your teeth! brush your teeth right now! Then you need to comb your hair so you can go to school!"
3. I could read when I was 3. I cannot remember learning how to read.
4. I don't mind laundry but I seriously loathe washing dishes by hand. I will avoid making certain meals if I know it means I have to use something that can't go in the dishwasher.
5. I love carbonation. I love Pepsi and Dr Pepper but it isn't the caffeine I crave, just the carbonation. Sprite or grape works too, lol. Can you be addicted to bubbles?
6. I love to go for walks. Mosey-ing nature walks, hikes, fast exercise walks, whatever. I enjoy the non-strenuous activity and it just makes me feel better!
7. I like DIY projects in my head. I want to do them until I realize how much needs done. then they just sit...I am hoping to change that in coming months, because I have a LOT of projects I'd like to accomplish!
8. I like to cut my hair off because I love putting my hair in a pony tail. I never keep up on hair cuts/styles because I hate spending the money on myself (unless its for my business-lol) but if my hair is long enough its in a pony tail before dinner is served- almost invariably!
9. I remember the weirdest things. I remember conversations for years, birthdays waaay past knowing a person (classmates from elem school?!), and all sorts of little odds and ends details. But if its something I need to do, I have to write it down immediately or I forget..
10. I love to have my toenails polished, but I cannot stand that extra coating on my fingernails. Right now my toes are all different colors because my daughter did them for me one evening when she needed a distraction. I'm going to paint them soon with a new shade of red I bought for Valentines!
11. I am a night person. I used to regularly stay up til 2am. And I love sleeping in late. I was blessed with two morning people for children...not to mention the rest of the world starts in the morning, so now I go to bed early: about 11pm.

 Jill's questions for me:
 

1. What is your favorite breakfast cereal? Reece's Puffs. Yep, really.

2. Do you like camping? Why or why not? This is a totally complicated question, haha. For me, camping involves a tent and a firepit. And if that's the case the answer is - I think so. I have never gone as the grown up, except one little overnighter in a tent last summer, when all I had to do was help set up and take down a tent. I have camped with my kids and my parents in their camp trailer, but having a fridge, freezer, stove, oven and shower is not the same to me. That makes it too easy, haha...which may change my opinion if I ever go camping with children the way I think people should camp. confused yet?

3. If you had a super power, what would it be? To clean house while I slept.

4. What music motivates you, gets you going or cheers you up? My first thought to this was "the stuff on the radio" which doesn't answer your question and its not completely true either. Lately I'm digging Train, Neon Trees and One Republic for "getting going" and "cheering up".

5. Do you have any nicknames past or present? Please share. Just baby names. I called myself Nana (naw-naw) when I was little and my dad still calls me that. My sister called me Chawna and sometimes my dad calls me that. *grin

6. What was the last movie you saw? What did you think of it? In a theater? The Hobbit. It was my first 3-D movie ever and shockingly did not give me a headache! I don't like "scary" (read: intense, violent, creatures, etc) movies so I closed my eyes when I knew things were getting to be too much, haha, but I thought it was a well-done adventure movie. And I would like to read the book...!

7. Would you rather live in the city or in the country? Where I live may very well be classified as country. I do not want to live in an actual city, but I need people nearby so lets just say the suburbs.

its a blurry shot but its about 3 blocks from my home, capturing the fall colors

8. If you could visit any country in the world, where would you go? The British Isles have always interested me, except I don't like flying...and the idea of traveling across water (boat) is even worse.  

9. Do you have a favorite book? What is it? I have thought a lot about this and I don't know the answer. I was constantly reading books as a kid, and really up until I became a mother. I get too sucked into books and forget about things like mealtime...do people need to eat? Now that my kids are older I keep thinking I need to read again, but there's so much else I need to do that I just don't read. but I have a biiiig stack of books next to my bed that I would LIKE to read, I've even asked for books for Christmas in recent years...only to sit and collect dust. ...do I love that the dust shows up in the picture??

10. What is your favorite word? Least favorite? I should have an answer to this question because its something my kids comment on a lot. I like words that sound like what they are- musical, twinkle, sparkle, wonky, magical, ...I like words with the hard K sound? haha! Dislike: "can't". I use it, but I don't like it.

11. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Pretty sure we'll go with introvert. I can be an extrovert if I'm with people I'm comfortable with. Very shy introvert if I'm not.

My questions:

1. What's for dinner at your house tonight?

2. What talent or skill do you wish you had?

3. What is your favorite way to travel? Where to?

4. What did you want to be when you grew up? Are you anything close to that?

5. What started your passion for your favorite craft?

6. What is your favorite movie?

7. What technology do you use even tho you hate it?

8. If you had a weekend completely free to spend exactly how you like, what would you do?

9. What is your favorite holiday, and favorite memory of that holiday?

10. What kind of blogs do you enjoy?

11. Why do you visit this blog?

annnd my nominees for blogs I really enjoy are....

1. Melissa - Christensen Chaos

2. Ellen - Career Volunteers

3. Susan - Rainy Day Creations

4. Christy - Snapdragon Stamps

5. Sherri - Roses In Her Heart

6. Kim - Life Thru the Lens

7. Kelly - Atomicbutterfly

8. Chelle - Painter Girl

9. Amy - Scrapping Mommy

10. Julie - Stampin' Jul

11. Cathee - My Life In Color

(this part was hard too...I can't tag-back Jill, 97% of my irl-family/friend blogs are private, the mommy type blogs I check daily are super extremely popular, and a lot of my fav stamping bloggers haven't blogged in a long time...miss you peoples! So the last few are new-to-me, but I definitely enjoy them! And if you weren't tagged, feel free to play along anyway!! I'd love to see anyone's answers!)

Some things

Well, even if I DID have time to stamp yet, I couldn't show you. At least temporarily my camera is broken. Yes, go a head and imagine the tears... lol. My husband fixed it last time, hopefully he can again!!!

But here's a couple things while you wait...since I'm sure someone is out there on the edge of their seat waiting for me to post something I made....LOL!

Remember THIS page? (I know, of course you do, just scroll down!) But guess what?! That page was randomly selected to win for Jennifer's Sketch, but then it was also *chosen* for the SCS challenge that inspired every thing else about the page!!! WOW!!!!

I am really one of those people who admires every one else's work and usually wishes mine was as good! So that is really funny and really amazing to me! YEAY for an awesome page! haha!

Then finally, Andrea gave me two awards. This first one has SERIOUSLY had me stumped. Who am I supposed to pick?! It says something about being no-obligation, but you can't win an award and leave it at that!

So here is the Gift Of Love award...!

Well. Susan and Heather leave me lots of sweet comments so I picked them. :) You are not required to pass it on, just ya know, if you feel like it! hee hee!

Then she gave this Honest Scrap award..haha. Is that because I'm not including more details than the photo description lately? Okay, okay...here are 10 honest facts about me...

1. I *love* to be with my husband and kids. Home is just as good as anywhere. Wish it happened more often.

2. I am more addicted to my computer than I like to admit. Summer is helping cure that one.

3. I love history. Especially our family history. Connected to my love for taking photos and scrapbooking? Definitely.

4. Chocolate calms me. So does cheesecake. (haha- ok, cheesecake doesn't necessarily, but if you want to bring me some, I'd be happy to eat it!)

5. I love music. My newest favorite is David Garrett. Wow.

6. I love going for walks and hikes. I need to do that a LOT more.

7. I have not stamped anything since last Tuesday. By the time this is posted, that will be a full seven days. Yikes!!!

8. I am becoming less helpless every day. I can read a map, plunge a toilet, change a smoke alarm battery............. HAHA!

9. I love to stay up late and sleep in. But I have kids. That doesn't happen much, lol!

10. I am allergic to 98% of the fresh fruits/veggies available in my area. To eat them, they have to be cooked. I don't like cooked veggies.

How was THAT?! yeah that's what I thought. Lots o' honest! HAHA! I think ya'll should play along. Its fun. hee hee. Actually, I saw a scrapbook page...something...that was like a confession kind of layout. Like "here's the REAL me, like it or not". Sounds like a really neat thing to do.

Maybe I can stamp later this week. Nights to come should be long...

Tags & awards - finally!

Yes, I am FINALLY getting around to posting these things!

Heather awarded me with this I Love Stamps award and gave it to 5 people, so I presume I do the same. :) ...and I pick people who love stamps. Hmm. That should be easy, its the narrowing down that's difficult!

1. .........Can you just browse my link list on the side and call it good?? That counts? Oh I'm so glad! *grin*

Then she also tagged me with this, and I'm supposed to share five things I'm addicted to and five things I "really, really do not like"...

So, Five things I am addicted to?

...such a strong word, "addicted".

1. Like Heather, I am addicted to my kids. Because even when I get a much-needed, much-welcomed break, I miss them. And I'm so happy to be back home with them! So I think that qualifies.

2. My husband. I really do need to be *with* him! And if I'm not, he gets plenty of calls and instant messages. LOL!

3. This computer. Holy moley, I spend waaaay too much time here! Blogging, blurfing, browsing... I tell ya...! It was down one day this past week and that made for One Long Day. Its a good thing I have kids to keep me MOVING! LOL!

4. Stamping! I do so love stamping. I like to make cards for people, send cards to people, scrapbook, tho I don't do nearly enough to call it anything CLOSE to 'addiction', and I love browsing for stamps.....liiike....in my brand new Stampin' Up! catalog!....!!!!

5. I suppose we'll go with.... snacks! Not food, because I'm really not a food person. But snacks. Crackers, chips n salsa/dips, treats, granola bars, you know, SNACKS!

And two things I really really do not like...

...tho this is easier than the above...

1. I do not like stress. About anything. Just so you know. *wink*

2. I do not like to clean. I like to have a clean house but I don't like the process. Especially the bathrooms. Any takers?

Oh wait, I forgot to tag people.... 5 people, you think? Ok...

Kari Lyn

Chelle

Eve

Susan

Sherri!

Tagged!

I know, I know, me too..."Again?" But I got tagged twice this week from Heather and Melissa, so ok folks, if you wanna know more about me...hee hee..........................altho, I know very little about myself that Melissa doesn't know...

Rules: Always the same... come up with 6 (from one and 7 from the other) facts about you. Pick your adjective: random, weird, unusual, surprising, un-spectacular- things people don't know about you and share it with the world! Then pick the same number of people to TAG. Leave a comment telling them you tagged them and hope they play along! LOL!

1. I am not currently reading the Twilight series (or anything else) because I am not a good mom or wife or housekeeper when I'm reading. I have to just READ til I'm done. Now you all know why I've read exactly 5 books since my boy was born........! Plus, this blog thing is taking up a lot of time I could/should spend reading....LOL! (One day I will read again...I have a lot of books on my list!)

2. The above statement is still a weird fact because as a child I read at least one book per evening. My favorite series was BoxCar Children, but I loved Ann M Martin books and Judy Blume too. I also really liked the American Girls Collection with the stories about the dolls!

3. This is what we had for dinner last night. "Quite tasty." Quick to make and good, but not something for every day.

4. I am happily whittling down our Christmas shopping list. I can hardly wait- Christmas is my FAVORITE!

5. I'm hoping to do fall pictures with my kids again this year. But with the weekend packed, I need to have them both look fabulous at 3:30 in the afternoon...haha!

6. I was wondering...Is it "better" for me to munch on Jelly Belly's or peanut butter M'n'M's all afternoon?

7. I cannot think of another single thing to tell you. But I am going to go thru my posts and find all the TAG's and label them as such and you can now click on my side bar, read every time I've been tagged and and learn way more than you wanted to know! LOL! (its ok, its kinda fun til #7 where you run out of things to say!)

I Tag......... Theresa, Mandee, Yvette, RaeAnne, Eve, and Susan! Yes, that's right girls...!

Tag...I'm it??

Yvette tells me she tagged me. I dunno HOW since I tagged her on May 22nd AND June 9th and left a comment telling her, and she hasn't done it, so there! LOL!!! But, here we go again! Let's see if I can think up some new fact-oids for ya!

The Rules A - Each person has to list 6 facts/habits about them. B - After part A, go to 6 people's blogs and leave a comment letting them know to read your blog, and that they have been tagged. C - List at the end of your posting who you have tagged.

1. I was going to announce that I am a klutz because I am still feeling the effects of falling down the stairs last week...but evidently I've already told you about that. Hmm, am I a proud klutz??

2. Ooo! I have a totally original one! When Princess Diaries came out (7 years ago?) my sister thought I looked just like Anne Hathaway. I thought, Well sure, straight dark hair, wears a red tshirt for a 'day' whatever. Then with Get Smart, BURT told me I look like her. Hmm....again, whatever. Then, S and I were watching the bonus features on Princess Diaries. It includes black and white footage of her audition tapes....Holy Cow! When she isn't looking at the camera she looks EXACTLY like I did at 15!!! WEIRD! (betcha didn't guess THAT!)

3. To explain something about that one, I wear a lot of red. When I get a red shirt, it usually becomes my favorite...to death!

4. I stay up WAAAAY too late. And I really don't like to be tired. I need to work on that!

5. I get a kick out of grocery shopping! I love bringing home 'new' food to eat, 'new' soaps to use, whatever. I also really like crossing things off the grocery list.

6. I eat waay too many of whatever treat I buy! Today's selection- cheap-o jelly belly's.

Now! This time I tag.... whoever hasn't done this one! LOL!

Tagged!

Chelle tagged me a while ago and this one is pretty easy, so now that I have a chance, I'll play along too!

1. Because I'm in "soundtrack" mode, as it turns out, I really enjoy sword fights in movies! This is really weird if you know me and movies...I don't like intense movies, I don't like scary anything, I don't like a lot of action or violence...unless its swords! How odd... (Yes, yes, Yvette, cute guys winning the sword fight helps...! And they have to be FUN movies (not scary!): Princess Bride, Pirates, Star Wars, Zorro...)

2. I really am NOT an "orange" person. I have a hard time liking it...and yet the first ink I picked from the new In Colors is Tangerine Tango! (and I do love Stampin' Up!'s Pumpkin Pie too)

3. I LOVE mail. When I was little I once sat down and wrote a personal letter to every single one of my aunts and uncles, hoping for anybody to write me back! Later, I had pen pals in 4 different countries at one time: Scotland, Australia, Germany and Egypt.

4. On mine and Burt's first date we went grocery shopping...twice! And I asked him out!

5. I like to dip pretzel sticks into peanut butter. It's a great snack!

6. I love having new shoes, but I reeeally love to be barefoot!

7. I was tagged a month ago and there's a thing about to-do lists. I love to cross things off my list...that list a month ago? I've gotten TWO things done! ACK!

I tag YOU: Dawn, Marcy, Melissa, Yvette, Darci, RaeAnne & Carrie!

Tagged again!

Melissa tagged me twice this week! So here are both of them lumped together! So the first...

3 Joys: Watching my kids discover something new; Spending fun time together as a family; Creating something that makes someone else happy. (joy is a strong word, to me)

3 Fears: Anything happening to my children; Anything happening to my husband; and along with Melissa- not doing good enough as a mother.

3 Current Obsessions/Collections: Stamping/Scrapbooking obviously; Books (collecting, not so much reading anymore, unless its a children's book); Pictures and photography (taking pictures, editing them, printing them...hoping to scrap them!).

3 Surprising Facts About Me: Typo's and spelling errors make me absolutely crazy (even tho if you get an actual message from me it will be full of them!); I have never recovered from my pregnancy aversion to chicken and yes, I will still get sick if I eat it; I am not allergic to any animal.

Annnd the second tag:

5 Things on my To-Do List: Finish the pages for the foreign exchange kids; Hem the cutoffs for Hunter; Clean up and organize my bedroom; Make doc appts; Clean the dang bathrooms.

5 jobs I have had: Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, Camp Business Manager, Children's Sampler, Lion House banquet server, Kirt's Drive Inn (which should not have the second 'n'!)

5 places I have lived: Mesa AZ, Phoenix AZ, Page AZ, Ogden UT and Cedar City UT. (but I'm not in any of those places today!)

5 favorite snacks: Peanut butter granola bars; Wheatables (with Laughing Cow cheese!); Kettlecorn; Craisins; Little Debbie SAYS Snack Cakes so it must qualify!

5 things you may not know about me: (Can I first just say that this is hard?! Not much about me surprises ME!) I love attending plays. I love soundtracks from plays. One of the coolest things Burt and I have done is see Lion King on Broadway in California; I think the world's schedule should have days run from about 10am-2am; I do not like peanut butter in my ice cream, not even Bunny Tracks; I am total and complete klutz! I trip over nothing, walls move right in front of me and I regularly hit my head on the dryer door; I do NOT like to make phone calls. There are possibly 10 people on the planet I can comfortably just pick up the phone and call.

5 things I would do as a billionaire: Pay off ALL debt; Pay off my family's debt; what the heck, pay off friends bills too!; Send Burt to school to fill his days with something he's interested in; Stop stressing about money!

5 things I love: My family (yes, all 700 of them); The Church; Christmas; My birthday; Daisies!

Now! I tag Yvette, RaeAnne, Marcy, Melia and Karyn! Go nuts girls!

Mom Tag!

Ok, this was way too funny! I came up here to stamp since today I got a darling new stamp set I've been itching to get for MONTHS now. But what did I do? Check everyone's blogs! I tell ya...! So, I'm going down my lists and I come to my upline, Kari Lyn's blog. I thought her post started out funny, how she saw her name at the end of a tag and was shocked, and I enjoyed reading her responses to the tag. Anyway, just exactly like she said, MY name was one she tagged! WHAT?! ME?! Um...ok! So, after figuring out it IS me...here's my Tag! 1.Typically, what time do you wake up? 7:30am 2. On a good night, what time are your kids in bed? Both of them?? Not til at least 9:30. 3. How long have you been a mommy? More than 5yrs 4. How old were you when you became a mom? Not 23 5. What is your favorite kids T.V show? I miss Wiggles. And I really loved Mr Rogers. I even donated to the local PBS when they were asking for interest or removing his show! 6. What is your least favorite kids T.V. show? This is a LONG list! But we'll start with Teletubbies. 7. What is your favorite chore? Laundry. I do not mind sorting, washing, drying or folding. Hanging is a different story... 8. What is your favorite meal to cook? Stuffed Baked Potatoes, usually served with some kind of meat and always veggies. 9. What meal do you cook most often? Cheese Crisps. (open quesadillas) 10. What is your kids favorite meal? S does not like repetition in meals, H would live off corn dogs and grapes if we let him. 11. What is your favorite thing your husband does with your kids? Boys Days Out! And bedtime with S! 12. What are 5 things that make you smile when you’re being a mom? Random hugs and kisses, when they sing, H's stories, S doing my makeup for me, 'moochy kisses and how they both randomly say "I'm so glad you're here Mom." 13. If you could take your kids anywhere, where would it be? An ocean beach 14. When was the last time you went out without your kids? I don't remember. ...My birthday/valentine date? So mid-March. 15. What is your favorite pastime/activity to do with your kids? I like to read to them and we sing together a lot. 16. Name one thing you said you would never say as a mother? "Well, that's what happens when you don't obey." 17. Name something you do, that your own mom did? Sing church songs as lullabies. 18. What is your favorite quality your mom has? She loves children. 19. What is your favorite kids book? I don't know, but One Fish Two Fish always comes to mind. We have a LOT of books! 20. What is your favorite advice for new moms? Have fun with them! 21. What is your most heartbreaking moment as a mom? Any time they suffer. In any way. If they're scared or sick or dealing with allergies that make their eyes water..... You just ache for them, and you can't help. 22. What is your most joyful moment being a mom? When they are trying so hard to do good. 23. When was the last time you told one of your kids you loved them? Tonight. 24. When was the last time you were told? Tonight. I tag Yvette, RaeAnne, Melissa & Melia!

Which Disney Princess Are You?

I'm laughing more at this one than at the Jane Austen character- that one was almost right on, this one...what?! You Are Pocahantas! Free-spirited and wise. You have a strong passionate spirit that touches and changes all who know you. The wisdom and common sense that you have is really what guides you through life. Even so, you also have a very playful side that loves adventure and excitement. Which Disney Princess Are You?

Who are you?

I know, I know, three posts in one day...WOW! But I was 'blog surfing' finding people I knew listed on blogs of people I know and I found this fun link. My second major Christmas gift was a Jane Austen collection. All of her writings in one big fat book! Now if I just had more time (or took more time) to read! Anyway, I just had to try this one...

Take the Quiz here!

And this is too funny! The movie Sense & Sensibility was my introduction to Jane Austen's works. I was about 16 and empathized far too well with Marianne. I watched it again in the past year and laughed and laughed thru tears becuase I remember being exactly like that! According to my answers at least, I haven't changed too much! This is what it says about me... "You are Marianne Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are impulsive, romantic, impatient, and perhaps a bit too brutally honest. You enjoy romantic poetry and novels, and play the pianoforte beautifully. To boot, your singing voice is captivating. You feel deeply, and love passionately."