DECEMBER!!

Wow, the month has arrived. The last month of the year. The month our oldest daughter turns 12. The month where my hubby gets layed off from the job he has had for the last 11 yrs. The month where things change forever. The month we celebrate the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. The month we exchange presents. The month we spend time with family. The month where we create memories and celebrate traditions. The month we look forward to all year. The month we do more baking than is normal. The month where, in my family, we have more birthdays than any other month. The month when we scurry about to get last minute things for our loved ones. The month when giving means more than receiving. The month in which we experience the shortest amount of daylight, with the shortest day of the year.

What does this time of year mean to you, this month, mean to you?

Have you ever wished...

that you hadn't said something after you said it, or maybe the opposite, wished you had said something and it was too late. I have probably way too many times that I'd like to count. For whatever reason or another, there is a hint of regret. That is probably why I am a quiet, shy person. Don't want to say something that sounds stupid, or have people look at me in a strange way for what I said. But I also have to realize that we are not all perfect, we are all sinners. We all have our faults. I wish I was outgoing and had lots of friends, I wish that I was a funner (that doesn't look like a word) person to hang out with. I wish I was more smarter...okay, I did that on purpose, really, I ain't that stupid. Okay, I did that on purpose too. I wish I knew more about the bible, so that I could quote something or look up something when I need.

I am self conscience, I am a homebody, I am shy, I am easily intimidated, I am a follower of Jesus Christ, I am a mother, I am a wife, I am a sister and a daughter. I try to be a good friend, and I know I could be better, but am also afraid of trying too hard to be a friend, and afraid I will scare people off, so I hold back. I love to host parties (ya, even though I don't very often lately), I love to bake, and share with others, I love to go out to peoples houses, I love to go to movies with friends, and I love love going out on dates with my husband. I love my children so much, and am afraid of them growing up, cause that only means I am getting older. I love organizing things, and having things organized, but have a hard time knowing where to start. I love to exercise, and I love change. I love to have time to myself, but also get lonely when that does happen. I have a skin disorder, and I have women issues. I have pains, and hurts. I'm afraid of getting cancer, and dying at a young age. I am overweight, and I don't like it. I am human, just like you.

For those reading this, thank-you for reading. I want to apologize for anything I said that may have offended you, or hurt you in anyway. If I have, please forgive me.

Pictures of stuff!!

My stamping/crafting area (hubby's tools weren't put away :/) The open, organized basement! We need to do some more renos down here, its stuck in the 80's

My fun new toy, don't know it's official name, but I LOVE it!!! And it spins!!

And this is what I made after I organized my tools!! I think its home will be our bedroom!! (I don't know why they don't open bigger, but you can click on My Stampin' Gallery on the side and see a bigger image I hope)Quick Update: Kids were sick last week, Em and Lex had flu symptoms for 4 day, (Lex at the beginning of the week and Em at the end of the week)and Noah had it only for a day. Bre had an ear ache somewhere in there too, but her and I and daddy all managed to not get the flu. We pretty much stayed home, cept for the odd thing, and made sure we washed hands and stayed in only one part of the house! We went for a quicky visit to the farm, and are now ready to start a new week!! No more sickness!!

My MOM ROCKS!!!

Just hafta tell you that! She was here for 2 days, and we accomplished so much!! Her main goal was to organize and purge my laundry area, and maybe move into our office/ exercise room! But we did sooo much more. Her intentions were to do everything, but I couldn't let her do everything. So we worked together, she did the majority of organizing and moving things around, I cleaned my washer and dryer area and organized the shelves beside them, and vacuumed, and helped throw things away and worked on laundry all day. We came out of there with I think 6 garbage bags full. AND we moved the exercise equipment out of the office and made the office area my new stamp room!!! I have a room! It might not be all mine, half hubby's and his computer junk, but it is a room, and it has a door!! Now all I need is a locking door knob, and it will be all good! I want to go to Michaels tonight and Staples to look for a better paper storage system. I need one for my 12x12 paper and for my 81/2x11 stuff! I have grown out of my other storage compartment!

AND she also painted my entry way and stairwell!!! No more bright yellow, it is now a neutral gray, that looks different in different lighting, same colour as my living room and hallways! LOVE it!!

The basement looks amazing and has so much room now that it is organized and my stamp area is outta there!!! The whole reason we bought this house was the openness of the basement! The kids were playing football down there yesterday!

I will take pictures and share sometime, when my life settles down a bit!!

Mentally Drained and Field Trips!

That is what I am this evening, I don't know why, maybe it is spending the evening with a 9 yr old who is having melt down after melt down (which is unusual), maybe it's after spending the day running from here to there, listening to children bickering, or just plain old non stop talking. I'm tired. I'm hardly ever like this lately. Don't get me wrong, I had my times when I was tired like this, back when my kids were 5, 3, 2 and new born. I know there are days like this when one home schools, but like any other mom, or human, I'm allowed to not like these days and just want to quit. I don't want to do anything, and my mama is coming tomorrow to help me organize some of my long lost rooms. Which I am ever so grateful for, and I am hoping tomorrow will be a better day! I need to get down on my knees tonight and pray, cause otherwise it is going to be a very very long week. As we have to be out for two more field trips, after the one this afternoon.

I'm loving field trips, it's fun to getting out and mingling with other mothers, and having the children play and 'socialize' with other kids! We haven't done very many field trips in the past, mostly cause the kids were little, but now that they are all older, and not as crazy out in public, it is easy to go out. It still makes it for a long day, cause when I am out with all four of my kids, I kinda get in panic mode, hoping that they behave, that they don't get lost, hoping that they don't get hurt, or hurt someone else by not paying attention to what they are doing. I get very stressed when taking my brood out, and besides I don't like answering the questions like "No school today?" or "Where do you go to school?" It does get tiring after awhile! So I tend to stay home, which is one of my favorite places to be!!

I still haven't had time to upload pictures and videos to a online photo album place. I looked once, but was on the wrong laptop, so I couldn't upload any pictures. Don't worry, I will share, once I find a place!!

I will leave you with one picture from our vacation, one of the things that was my favorit thing to do, sit and listen to the waves crashing against the rocks, and starring out at the great big ocean!!

Where do I even begin??!!

Let me start of by saying that I tried to blog while we were gone, but it wasn't working, the computer and we only had working internet at 2 of out 5 spots.

We had the most amazing time, honestly, it was awesome. Our first real family vacation in a very long time!! We were gone for 12 days in total. We surprised the kids and left Friday after hubby got home from work. They thought we were leaving early Saturday morning! They were soooo excited, I wish I would have videoed it. We drove about 6 or 7 hrs and stopped in Fort McLeod for the night, and slept in our vehicle....ya, we won't do that again. I think I only got 3 hrs of sleep. The kids fell asleep about an hr before we stopped...but as soon as we stopped they woke up, ya, at nearly 1 in the morning, all 4 kids were awake in the back seat. My darling hubby crashed as soon as he put the truck in park! So here I was with 4 wide awake kids at 1 in the morning. I tried to fall asleep for well over an hr, and was almost in tears at one point cause I was mad at myself for not planning on getting a hotel room. But if I were to do it over again, I think I would do the same thing, it was an experience, one that we had to experience in order to decide never to do it again with 4 kids!! We all eventually fell asleep, and at 6am were ready for our second day of our journey!! By the time we reached our hotel room in Abbotsford, we were in the truck a total of 27hrs!!! We were ready for a 'break'!

We had an amazing trip, no one got sick, even though hubby started the trek with strep throat. We all remained healthy and no one was severely injured, a scrape here and there was it. We had fun hotel rooms, almost all with kitchens! We did well with eating out too. That is a big kicker for money, besides gas. We managed to eat out once a day for over half the trip, 7 days, and for 5 of the days, we only had 2 meals out.

I could go on forever, we saw Orca's, a few Grey whales, sea lions, 3 bald eagles, on the ocean. We went to the Vancouver Aquarium, a Roughrider away game, enchanted forest, skytrek adventures, had supper at my husbands cousins restaurant in Banff, went to Drumheller and climbed the largest Dinosaur in the world, walked on a suspension bridge, went to the most amazing concert I've ever been too, Chris Tomlin. It was so much fun. I can't even begin to choose what pictures to share....maybe I will make an online photo album or something, I will let you know!!

Tuesday we get back to our regular scheduled day to day life, and dream of our next vacation.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all, safe travels!!!

Honesty!!

I hafta tell you, I read a lot of blogs, sometimes I skim over what people write, sometimes I actually take the time and read it. I read one blog posting tonight that I wished I could write like. Maybe not so long winded, but I wish I could write so, Honestly!! Here is her blog, My Charming Kids

There is a part especially that stood out for me:

"I think that sometimes, many times, exceedingly often, for one reason or another, we think one thing in our heads, but say quite another with our mouths. Sometimes we aren't totally honest. And please don't get me wrong. That can be a good thing sometimes.

And there are other times when not being frank and honest can also be beneficial, if it protects boundaries you have set for yourself.

But other times, you just grow sick of having to watch what you say. Sick of not being totally honest. Like me. Tonight. And the irony is that even though you catch flack for not being honest, you will also catch it when you are honest. It is a completely stupid no-win situation and that's why I'm crabby! I've put a zipper on my lip and have refused to spend every minute of every day defending the stupid freaking lies that some people see fit to spread about me. I have focused on the fact that I am comfortable in who I am. That my husband loves me. That God has redeemed me and it is His opinion of me that ultimately matters. I have tried to take the high road, show my maturity, not stoop to anyone's level and refuse to get involved in unnecessary drama. I have been hurt, back stabbed, and ridiculed and have made the decision to fugetaboutit."

There are things I choose not to write about in my blog, if I'm having a bad day, or having a personal struggle with certain issues in my life, or if I'm just not in a good mood, but sometimes I wish I could. Or sometimes I wish that being honest doesn't hurt so much. I have always been a non-confrontational person, they (confrontations) really make me sick. There may even be things in my life right now, right this very instant, I am struggling with, or that has brought me pain deep inside. It makes me sad to think about it. I wish I could be honest, I wish that when I was honest, it didn't haft hurt so much. All I do know that God knows my heart and has redeemed me and it is His opinion of me that ultimately matters!!

One last Hurrah!

We went camping this weekend, and couldn't have asked for better weather! Wow, every morning was glorious, and every evening was just as fabulous! I did end up going to bed earlier than I usually do, which was ok, I suppose. I feel pretty proud to have accomplished something pretty big! I took the trailer out to the Park myself, and set it up all on my own. Hubby stayed and had to work Thursday and Friday and we went out Thursday afternoon. It was sad to not have him with us, first time ever, but I was so glad to have been able to accomplish something I was scared to do. It was fun to spend time with my mom and sister before the men arrived!!
I'd have to say that Sunday morning was one of the best mornings, even though it started of chilly with the fog, and clouds, it turned out to be a fantastic morning, walking to the lake with my mom and dad and sitting and watching people fish. We saw one lady catch a fish, and the kids loved that. The kids played on the park, and we went to the restaurant and had a drink, and then walked back to our site and made lunch with some of the leftover stuff we both had! I hadn't eaten anything since lunchtime the day before, so it was the best meal for me all weekend. These were our neighbours, you'd think they had a few kids around (mom and sisters campsites combined in middle as the common area).

These little guys were most annoying this weekend.

I don't think have anymore camping trips planned for the year, just maybe here and there at our parents for a night or two. I'm kinda happy to pack up the trailer, but kinda sad, the summer went so fast. I'm looking forward to a real vacation, no making meals and washing dishes afterward.

We went to my nieces 4th birthday party on Saturday and this is the card I made for her the morning before we left. The pink flowers are on pop-dots so they are raised a bit higher, and there are 4 of them cause that's how old she was turning (and pink is one of her favorite colours) yes, I do quirky things like that on some of my cards.

First Day of School & our school room!

~I wrote this yesterday, but published it today~

Yesterday was our first official day of school!! Whoo hoo! It feels good to start!

This is view from the doorway, it was Noah's room before we transformed it into the school room! That is why there is the car border.

And the view from the window of the chalk board, which we don't use alot, but it's fun to have! It was actually in here before the room became the school room!

And here is the teachers area, which used to be my stamping area before I created on downstairs in the basement, I needed more space for all my stuff, I don't know how I ever worked in this small space!

Here are my awesome kids in their new threads!! It was so fun shopping for them<--insert sarcasm here

It's going to be a fun school year!!

Good Bye swing set, hello sweetness!!

I've got to start off by sharing some bad news!! Our beloved swing set, that we've had over the past 9 yrs, had lost it's battle with the elements last week. It was only a matter of time, with sometimes 8 or more kids playing on it on a regular basis, and the winter of 6 months or longer, that this day would come. It has done us good!! Little did I know, when I took these pictures, they would be the last pictures taken of the swings in use, a few hours later, a child who will remain unnamed, caused the untimely end to it's long and wonderful life. Onto other news, the fence is done and here is a picture to prove it!!

And a picture of the handyman himself!! Ain't he cute!! (Just putting this out there, I hate his shorts he's wearing in this picture, just hafta make it known)I absolutely LOVE this picture of my baby girl, Breanna!! It's so her personality!! I was taking pictures of the kids in the sandbox the other day, and they didn't know it!! My favorite way to take pictures, actually!And here is one on the new toothless smile! Yep, our last child has lost her first tooth. While we are on the subject, our third child only has one more to lose, and she's done! CRAZY! The same child, lost her first tooth, just days after she turned 4!!!

In my next post, pictures of the new, clean, rearranged school room!!!! I love it!!! We officially start school tomorrow!! We were out getting a few supplies tonight, and of course the new school clothes!! It's tradition now, every year, just as if they were going to public school, my husband wanted to do the whole new clothes thing, and I couldn't object!! Pictures to follow!!

And just on a side note, the hat Bre is wearing, was crocheted by her oldest sister, who it now selling them, along with other things, in her new 'business'! She has 2 customers!! :)

Stay with me for a moment

While I brag up my husband!! He works so hard! He's never built a fence in his life, or a deck for that matter, and he's not scared to try it, and is willing to give it a try. Sometimes it frustrates me, cause it would get done a lot faster if we just hired someone.But all the time he takes, prepping and purchasing, thinking and building, I just gotta love on him. It always turns out fantastic, and we are always proud to sit back and say, ya, we built that, and I know he's proud cause he's always asking for people to come and see it, sit on the new bench or see this or that. It may not be perfect, but life isn't about being perfect. If we tried to make something perfect, we'd be there forever, trying. He he sweeting HUGE this day, we rented a gas powered post whole digger, it was HARD to get through the clay...

Here is a card I made recently for a little girl in Arizona, who has a brain tumor. Her name is Kate, and she is soo sweet! (Click on her name for a link to updates regarding her health)

More pictures of the finished fence to come!!! Soo excited!!

September 1st tomorrow

Bet you all didn't know that, did you? It's hard to believe, but it's true. Quite a few kids have already gone back to school, some more today, and some next week Tuesday. I still haven't set a date to start for sure, maybe next week Tuesday! If we can organize the school room this weekend, we will try! I finally just got my 08/09 school reports in, last week Friday!! Yay me!

We got back from a fun camping trip with some friends this weekend, and had a blast! This is the second year we have gone with this family, and it is now annual event that I'm going to look forward too every year! Hope they do too ;) Camping season is almost over for the year, but my favorite time of year is just around the corner! The end of summer, beginning of fall camping!! It's so nice, not busy and we have the whole place to ourselves pretty much! Love it!

We are working on another project, yet again...start a new one when the old one isn't finished.....sigh The backyard fence. It was falling down, kids were climbing it so that didn't help, but it has been in need for a few years! So, after a bout of the weirdest flu, my hubby got started! It's a slow progress, I thought it would be up in a few days, and if we had a crew of guys helping, I'm sure that would be the case, but when it is just one man, and his wife, it's a little slow going! Pictures to follow, sometime! I have to find my camera, it got unpacked yesterday and I haven't seen it since!

Well, I better get back at it, getting this house in some kind of order, and not be so lazy, which I am very good at, btw!!

Oh, and no real update on the job front. The company he applied at wanted to start sending out his resume for contract work right away, but hubby turned it down, opted to stick it out at his present company till the end of December. There will be many more opportunities I'm sure, God has us covered, I can feel it in my bones!! ;)

Prayer Request!

Hi, I would like to ask for prayers for my husband!! He has a job interview tomorrow, and we are praying that the people who he is interviewing for would be accepting that he can't start till January 2010! Pray that all goes well and that he will be stress free and the interview will go smoothly, and that they will want him!!!! In January!!

Thanks so much!!

What I'm Thankful for today

I am thankful for my own bathroom today, and last night at midnight. Thankful I didn't have to walk to the park bathrooms in the pitch black of the night, with only a flashlight and my cell phone to protect me!!

But, anyways, back to regular scheduled posting! We went camping this past weekend, August 14th-18th, arriving back in town to celebrate our 14th Wedding Anniversary!!

Here are some pictures of our recent camping trip to Douglas Provincial Park:

I love cooking, chopping, preparing lunch, supper, and especially camping, it's so fun to prepare food outdoors. Everyone wanted to help, and I took full advantage of that!Sunday was a wet day, we spent the time eating inside, which is fine by me, it's kinda fun to do! We were having Ultimate Hamburgers for lunch this day, which just means hamburgers with almost everything on them, lettuce, tomato, pickles, mayo, ketchup, mustard, way better than just plain hamburgers!!

We spent the majority of the day keeping dry, even though it was still moist air! Yes, I know that it is rather pointless to have my dish towel hanging out to 'dry' on a rainy day, but by the time I noticed, it was way to late to try to bring it in the trailer...We had a couple towels!!

I tried to get a picture of the rain drops off the awning, it didn't work too well, this is as good as it gets.

Also on Sunday, we has some kids who weren't feeling so well. Not quite sure what it was, we went for a long drive that day, they watched a DVD in the truck, we went on a Ferry ride, so it could have been anything really. The next day, they were better!! Thank God!

I made Pizza for the first time camping...it was ok, I don't think I'd make it again though, unless I have a different crust.

We did have plenty of these, which is by far one of my favoritest part of camping!!

But we had lots and lots of fun!!!

Life as we know it

Is back to 'normal'! Yes, my kids are home with me. After a busy busy busy Friday, getting ready to leave, we drove 2 hrs to go stay the night at the farm, where the other 2 children spent the week. The night went well, (besides a horrible Rider loss) kids were soooo excited to see each other, they were very loud, but had fun. Hubby and I made lunch for the next day cause we were heading to the Ex in the near by city for a majority of the day.

We spent a few hrs at the Ex, and after almost dying from heat stroke, we left to come home, and then got to the farm, had a little bite to eat and then headed out on the road again. After 4 1/2 hrs spent driving that day, we were beat!! Glad to be home with our happy little family.

The living room is a slow process...mudding and sanding is still happening, I will post pictures once it's back together again, and the furniture isn't piled up in the middle of the living room (see previous post)! I still LOVE the colour, and can't wait till the kitchen is painted, but I don't want to try to attempt that for a while. At least the kitchen won't have as much 'prep' work to do!!

This is a mumbo jumbo blog entry, sorry bout that, I must just not be in the right frame of mind for writing today...maybe it's cause I SHOULD me making my kids lunch, cause we have to be out the door in 45 mins to drop off my oldest at a birthday party!! EEEK...

Its August already?

Someone the other day said what the date was to me, he said it was July 30th, I almost found myself correcting him, but thankfully I thought about it first...and then shared with them that I thought they were wrong, but realized that they weren't wrong...I was. Geesh, time is going by so fast, I want to halt it right now. My kids are getting so big, and that only means, I am getting old. Please don't remind me!

We are currently working on our living room, trying to get it painted, but we've had some set backs. We had a wall in our living room, the far wall, it was wallpapered covered panelling. We had a wall in our hallway that had the same wallpaper covered panelling, which by the way, was easy to remove, and fill holes. So we assumed in the living room it was the same situation. We were wrong. We tore off the wallpapered panelling, to uncover another layer of panelling. Yippee, no big deal right...wrong. We took that panelling off and discovered as we were pulling, that the panelling was glued to the gyproc!! This is how the conversation went, husband pulling the panelling, Me "it sounds like it's glued" husband, "na, it's fine" Me "no, it really sounds like it is glued" husband tearing off the whole sheet, Me "fiddlesticks, it was glued, now what, we can't fill all those holes with drywall mud" husband "no, we re-drywall" Me "fricken frackin". Aren't you happy I shared that with you!? (that was all Sunday night) So, it is drywalled, mudded and taped, and now my DH is working on the fun job of sanding it all. I am just patiently waiting to put some paint on the walls!!

I am really thankful that we have parents who can take the kids for a week or so at a time. They have been away twice this summer!! They are having a blast, and so are we ;) Well, maybe not a blast, but you know!

We went to one of our nieces 1st birthday on August 1st, and this is her gift. I have made one for the last 5 nieces and nephew. I really like how this turned out! My kids are asking for a name frame of their own. Noah said to me, "Momma, for my 10th birthday, I want a name frame!" I guess I have some work to do in the next few months!

Teeth

Wow, they are costing us a lot of money!! Our oldest and middle child are on a tooth losing streak. If they keep this up, we are going to go broke, oh, I mean the tooth fairy. Our youngest child hasn't lost any yet, and our son, he's only lost a about 8 I think, I can't keep track any more. And one of the reasons why we, I mean the tooth fairy is going to go broke, is cause they keep loosing their teeth when we are at a hotel, or camping, and when they lose their teeth in either of those two places, they get $5!! They get $1 for the front teeth, $2 for molars and $5 if they loose their teeth while on vacation. So, ya, now you understand why we, I mean the tooth fairy (sheesh) is going to go broke. Emmalee lost a tooth while camping this weekend, and I pulled out another loose tooth today. And Alexa lost a molar today! Craziness!

I think I will be sad when Breanna looses her first tooth, her being the baby and all, it's one more step for her becoming a big girl :( She's a big girl, but she's my baby. I am sad for that, her getting so big, and grown up. Not much I can do about it now, eh?

We are hoping to start painting our living room next week, as the kids are leaving to grandma's and nanny and papa's again. The living room is a little more work, having to pack it all up, no windows to open, lots of furniture, some not coming back in, and needing to buy a few new little things to add to the 'new' room, which can be fun too! What I wish is that we could redo our fireplace, new brick, get rid of the hearth (or whatever that's called), but that seems to be a lot of work!? We would also love to redo the original hard wood floors, but that too seems like a lot of work! We knew a family that had to move out of their house for a few days while their hard wood floors were getting redone, cause it's so dusty, and stinky. Sigh... We will be getting new windows this fall sometime, so that's exciting! I will keep you updated, and hopefully take pictures. Usually when we do a 'reno' I can envision the outcome, like I did for our bedroom, the main bath, the basement bath, and the girls room. I can't envision the living room finished results. But, I am looking forward to the finished results, finally!!

Camping

**Edited to add pictures

We just got back from a fun, spontaneous camping trip. Well, mostly spontaneous, since we had no place booked, and had planned on going to Rowans Ravine, thinking they'd have some sites, well, we phoned and they never did. Plan B, hmm, we never had a plan b. So, Friday afternoon, we quickly phoned a few places and had a plan b, Echo Valley. It was fun, and we are so glad we went. I was a little under the weather with a woman issue, but made it through the weekend. Very glad to be home though.

I didn't take too many pictures at our site, I need to get better at that, but take some at the beach when we were there for an hr, the water was gross apparently, even my husband didn't want to go in.
I am now looking forward to having a relaxing Sunday afternoon. On the list of things to do today, get the kids bathed...fun times!

It's finally summer

Isn't it exciting?? Mostly!! I'm not a fan of the high heat, I'd rather be indoors in the air conditioning. But it it much better than the "should I put my furnace on in the middle of July" kinda weather. We did get the bench put on the deck. It was pretty easy, and again, my hubby and I worked well together!

We've been camping twice since the beginning of June, only twice, ya. Compared to our 9 times out last year, it's nothing. This past weekend, we decided to do a spontaneous trip to Lake Diefenbaker to see the Gardner Dam, and go to the two Provincial Parks that are on the East side of the lake. We stopped at Danielson, to find they really had nothing we were looking for, which was a place to picnic and a place to swim. Off we drove, south to Douglas. We go there, and they had a HUGE beach and a decent picnic place to roast wieners and have supper. What a day, it was so awesome, I loved every minute of our time away. I wished we didn't have to leave. It was fairly windy, as you can see from the first picture!!

This was such a neat site, I just had to take a picture! Of course, I had to do it, the sand was sooo nice! Emmalee said to me "Mom, this must be the sand they use in hour glasses" It was so fine, and soft!

A picture of my feet in the soft sand!

Look at what the wind did to the sand, beautiful!!I love this picture, my little family!!Breanna, my baby, walking along the shore.
I absolutely LOVE this picture, look at those sun rays!!!

We are hoping to go camping this weekend, we'll see how it goes. I've been keeping busy catching up on laundry, and scrap booking! I have so much stuff, I need to start using it, so I don't feel so bad buying new stuff!! Right? ;)