Blogger BEWARE!!!

Welcome!!! To my Halloween Party! I didn't have much time this year to REALLY enjoy getting in the Spirits of Halloween... Bwahahahahaha so I decided to tell the Tale of the DIRTY JOB...

Once, there were two boys. They were good little boys, who only got into mischief a little bit, and only sometimes. One of the boy's mothers let them carve pumpkins one day. The boys were given tools to carve... saws, and scoops, and various goodies. The only thing she didn't give them, was CLEANING tools.... as you know, pumpkins can be very messy. Especially if you are taking their insides and putting them outside. Still, the boys decided that dirty or not, they WOULD carve their pumpkins into scary and goulish Jack'o'Lanterns...
Are
you
scared
yet?
You should be....
Because one of these lanterns has a UNIBROW!
and the other has STITCHES..
And both little boys got VERY dirty....
One of the boy's told his fellow in mischief...
"It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it!"
And so ends the Tale of Dirty Job... Some has to do it... if you aren't carefull....
It COULD be



YOU



Look if you DARE on the mess that became the Jack'o'Lanterns on our front step...

Week 43 Deck of ME

This week's prompt is sCaRy and I know that it was meant to be spooky and Halloween... but our Guest Design Team member STACI COMPHER on TallyScrapper.com lost her husband unexpectedly. His death, and the impact it has had on me as a friend who has never even met Staci in REAL life has been hard. My husband works in Law Enforcement... and as much and as hard as I try to keep my brave face on, there is a deep fear in me that one day, the man who plays the bagpipes will be playing for a funeral I do not want to attend. If you have a moment, please visit Staci's blog. There is a button on her blog for donations if you are able. She is facing MY biggest fear. I can't even tell you how this makes me feel.

Scrappy Organizing

Mmmmm It feels so GOOD to be ORGANIZED!! Even if it IS only in my scrapping area! lol I have re arranged even furniture in the house, and got all my scrap things in their new homes! I love it! Feels less chaotic than it did BEFORE....

Ribbons Galore!

I'm so proud of myself! I made my VERY OWN ribbon storage all by myself! When mom and I were driving to CA, we saw a cute portable ribbon tote made basically out of a clear make up bag, with holes all over it, and ribbon pulled through the holes! I thought that the idea was GENIUS, and decided that I wanted to try my hand at making one for myself... only I wasn't SURE that I wanted to use..

Then I decided to try the plastic system with holes using the clear plastic "table cloth" from WalMart's Fabric section, and my HolePunch/Eyelet Setter from Making Memories! I used the grid on my self healing mat as a guide for my holes, and punched holes all over the top half of the container... then I folded my plastic in half so that the ribbon would have a place to rest. I used ribbon and eyelets along the sides on the bottom to make a pouch for my longer pieces to rest. Then I hung the whole thing on my wall! I love it. All my ribbon RIGHT at hand... none of them falling into the bottom of the jar where I will never see them, and all covered so they won't get dusty... I love it.

Here is the storage system on my wall! There are tons of holes still in the top area for more Thrift Finds...

This is the bottom of the system... I added closure to it with ribbon and brads... but I think if I were to do it over, I'd sew it.

My THRIFT STORE FINDS yesterday.... LACE LACE LACE all in original VINTAGE packaging... All of the stuff on the left. 10 cents each pack, and I spent about 3.00 on it all... just to give you an idea of HOW MUCH I bought! lol The ribbons on the left are part of that find too...

Close up of a ribbon so you can see how I pulled it through the plastic. The red ribbon... another thrift score from yesterday! (and the lace next to it too!)

This was so easy! I had all of the supplies on hand, but I figure it would cost about 2.00 to buy the plastic, and if you sewed the sides, that would be it!!

Really No Resemblance...

I am her Donkey. Princess Ogre, or Fiona, as you have all come to know her on my blog, is a friend of mine. She's trapped, you see... In her Tower... Her tower of pukey pregnancy. Her tower isn't LIKE most princess's. It's much worse. She's been to the hospital a few times because she pukes a lot. Has the same medicine that they give Chemo patients in a pikline in her arm. It helps, but she still pukes. Just not as many times as before. We joked one day that she had to get back to her cave when she had managed to get out of the house for a bit, and one thing led to another, and the cave became a tower, and her sickness is that Dragon that kept Fiona in her tower, and because I'm SUCH a nice friend, Fiona turned into Princess OGRE (she CAN look a bit green some days) and then, she decided that if SHE was Princess Ogre, then I must be Donkey. So there you have it! My mysterious letters to that Ogre girl... I promised I would blog for her... and you all got to read! lol
I love you, Princes Ogre, and I'm so glad you are my friend.

Weeks 40 41 42 Deck of ME

WOW!!! I got a little behind with my vacation to California! Here are the three that catch me up! Can you BELIEVE it's week 42!?!? Wow. Thanks, EMILY for a great year of inspiration and prompts!

Squirrel Corn... and it's many uses

This is Squirrel Corn... MOST people would use it to FEED SQUIRRELS... but if you are ME, (and I am) then you see the COOLEST THING EVER for a toddler (or bigger kid) to play with. When I was assistant director and taught Toddlers at a Daycare/Preschool center, I used these seemingly out of place goodies in the Sensory Bin in my classroom. You can create a sensory bin at home from a large, under the bed plastic bin. This idea came to me because Oregon is a bit WET in the winter, and I wanted my kids to have a "sandbox" experience without the wetness in the cool and wet months. I took the corn, cob and all...(actually, the cob is sort of important) and let them work those pinching skills by picking the corn out of the cob. This usually took a few days of short play times in the bin, and I usually helped them "finish" this job after a few days.

Be sure to save those empty cobs for cool painting tools some other day!

After all the kernels were off their cobs, I would let the kids play in the bin like a sand box... bodies and all. They LOVED scooping and pouring the corn, rolling around in it, driving cars through it, all sorts of things. At the end of play, we just swept the corn that found it's way out of the bin, and put the lid on until the next time we felt like playing in it! The kids LOVED playing with the corn! It's a great GREAT way to get some outdoor play INDOORS.

*be sure to supervise smaller children to make sure they don't place the corn in their mouths while they play!

Sonic, Fiona!!

For the whole trip, I've managed to miss seeing ANY Sonics! I knew they were here, because you told me they were, but I've not seen any until today! We stopped in Woodland, and we are staying in a Hotel that has one across the lot from it! So I got my burger, and my Cherry Limeade... Thinking of you while I'm sipping.

Stop Tectonic Plate Movement!!

News today says that there was an Earth Quake while we were sleeping, but we didn't feel it! Just thought I'd let everyone know that we are fine, and that we missed the excitement! lol

No Pictures, My Dear Princess....

But I wanted to give you an update on what my Whirlwind weekend! I walked myself to blisters wandering around my mom's neighborhood, and listening as her childhood relived itself as we walked... One home on our path was still owned by the mother of one childhood friend, and we even got to stop and talk her! The next night, I got to hear tales of my mom and her teenage ways from MANY long lost friends! I loved EVERY word! My mom hasn't changed a bit. Inside or Out. Sunday, we visited the happiest place on earth, and I can't WAIT to bring my boys here someday... it's magical no matter WHAT age you are. Today, we visited my mom's High School, and even had the chance to walk the campus! We visited an IKEA, and I'm in LOVE... I'd never been before. I bought bags. LOTS and LOTS of bags... for our trips to the beach when I get home, and the sun is shining again, and the Dragon has let you out of the tower. I miss you tons! I can't WAIT to talk to you.

While the Cat's Away

Be sure to stop the music on the music player to your left. Just a little something my boys were up to while I've been gone.... Thanks, Mr. for making this. I love you.

Dear Fiona,

Today I learned that I HATE traffic... and that the AM/PM station in Hawthorne doesn't have any white people in it unless I am there. I also learned that they have THE grossest bathroom EVER , and that they keep it locked because they are afraid someone will CLEAN it. There is poop in the trash can, no toilet paper, no seat protector, and no towels, and I still peed because it was there, or the car.
I also learned that I love GPS.... Colby has shelby, and my mom and I got Lucy today. She can find ANYTHING, and if you mess up her directions, she doesn't cuss you out, she just gets you back to where you need to be another way. So really, you never EVER get lost!
Our Hotel has shotty Internet, so I'm not sure I'll be posting, but I'm still going to TRY.

pump it, pump it GOOD....

We made it to Sunny CA today... No help or questions for the Gas Attendant.... OH WAIT!!!

THERE

AREN'T

ANY!!

We took video and pics with our first gas reciept! lol
crazy, I know...
you don't have to tell me!

So Princess Ogre, this one's for you! I'm hoping to blog everyday. Hope the Dragon's keeping you entertained! I'm thinking of you.

California Emotional

I leaving this evening for my MOM'S house... She and I are going on a trip to CA. We are going to visit her childhood home, and some other places important to her. We are going to her 35th year High School reunion. It's going to be really cool. It's going to be really emotional. I remember the home she grew up in. I remember it, because my gramma lived there before she moved to Oregon. It's going to be hard to spend time thinking about her. It's almost like going to a funeral all over again. It's sad, but it's also nice to talk about that person you love, and think about all the things that made them WHO they were. It's just going to be emotional. Another reason it's going to be emotional for me, is that there is one really IMPORTANT place that we AREN'T going. We aren't going to see my mom' s Aunt Angie. We had been planning to. We were planning to talk with her about her childhood, and about my gramma's childhood, and things that we don't know about our family because Gramma died young, and without unlocking those doors. But we aren't going there. Because Aunt Angie says no. She says it's been 30 years already, why now? She says there's no sense in talking about those things. I just don't understand. I don't understand at all. I feel like a part of my history is dying with this trip. Like the questions I wanted to talk to my gramma about won't EVER have answers. I'll never have a family recipe for tamales. I'll never know... I know we could just show up. I know we could push the matter... but it's not that simple. Things don't work like that in this family. So this trip is going to be emotional. I'm getting the chance to meet friends of my mom's from HER childhood, and listen to HER stories. I'm so excited about that, and at the same time, I'm sad about the stories that are dying on this trip.

Scrapping the Music

A peek at my submission for this week on ScrappingtheMusic. com!! Hop on over and see all the talent there this week! Mary added a slide show to last week's prompt for the pages submitted by viewers! Check it out!

.... and a sneak peek of NEXT week's page! It will be going up while I'm on vacation with my MOMMY!!!

Hauntingly FUN!

I'm feeling very spooky today.... Loving the new avatar... I'm going to be so sad when I have to think of something NEW!!! Had a very Halloween night scrapping and playing with my photo. Hope your hauntings are going well! The swap goodies are trickling in!
OH
MY
GOSH
girls! It's going to be SOOOOO cool! I love EVERYTHING so far! LOVE it. Thanks so much for playing with me! I'll TOTALLY do this again next year. So if you missed out this year, I promise to start sign ups earlier, so that more of you can play!

Canning, my Pretties!

I've finished my canning for our Apothescaries Swap! Scary, AND edible! Those are bubblegum balls from Oriental Trading Co! They come individually wrapped, so I plan to hand them out for Halloween, but I unwrapped them for this project. No worries! I didn't touch them!

I need Mailing Addresses!

Well, I got the PAY IT FORWARD project DONE! Now I need mailing addresses for Tiffany, and Roos! I seem to have misplaced them! Smurfy, I got yours in the mail today!

Week 39 Deck of ME

Emily's prompt for Week 39 was "someone spesh! (special that is)". This was the perfect prompt for something that I've been thinking about a lot lately. I found an old teen days journal and the things I said about my mom were terrible. I'm so glad that she didn't let me push her away from me for good. She's one of the most important people in my LIFE. I don't know what I would do without her.