My husband's doing what?

This morning, which is Polish Mother's Day, I received a phone call from another mother at Seth's school. She called to tell me that my husband is driving like a lunatic on his motorcycle and to ask a question.

My brain stopped at the motorcycle part. Today, as previously mentioned is Mother's Day AND Memorial Day. Dylan has the day off, but the kids do not...so it was his job to do all of the kid duty this morning - waking up with kids, packing lunches, taking them to school and orthodontist. So my husband has 3 of the 4 kids with him. Now, he's an industrious sort, he COULD have them all on the motorcycle.

So after I got off the phone with her, I went to the garage to check. Yeah, the minivan is missing, but the motorcycle is still there. Is there a rip in the space time continuum? Is there someone riding around that looks like my husband and giving him a bad reputation of driving like a maniac? Does this mother drink this early in the morning? All possibilities.

And I think she asked me a question...

And that explains everything...

Toby – “We are the Vikings and Blaise is the Mermaid”

Me - “Why did you make your brother a mermaid?”

Seth – “We didn’t make him. He just is.”

And a very Happy Birthday to Robin!

I Just Love You All

All I have to say today is that I love all of you! I don't know how to express it any better than it's expressed here.

Comments are just awesome, for every reason she cites and more. You all seem to get when I'm feeling down and leave me a little something to make me feel better.

Thank you.

Death and the Incontinent Cat

So awhile back I posted the inevitable death of my cat, which has still yet to happen. But yesterday when I heard on the news that Ted Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor and then his buddy, Robert Byrd was in tears saying that he would miss him, I thought, "Aren't these guys pretty old?"

So I googled/wikied them and found that Ted Kennedy is 76 and Robert Byrd is 90!! I turned to Dylan and said, "When you're 90 it's like 'Knock, knock', 'Who's that at the door?', 'It's Death and he's got a taxi waiting!!!'"

Dylan said, "I do NOT want you around when I'm old."

On that note, a scrapbook page:

I am heartless

After Pamela's confirmation, we attended a party that we "jointly" threw with another family whose daughter was also being confirmed. Following that, we attended a party thrown by another family whose child was also being confirmed, but Pamela and this child do not get along...this is all a rather long explanation for my current issue of heartlessness.

A mother at the second party kind of hit me at a bad time. She told me how adorable my two year old is and how she so very much wished that her son was still two.

I'm VERY tired of being told how I will miss this time in my children's lives. How my two year old is adorable and how it sucks to have a teenager. I really tire of this because I DO have a teenager and even though most people don't see her, because she can stay home, she does exist.

I remember when she was little like the boys. I remember when we made cookies for Daddy who was deployed. I remember playing dolls and tools and playing on the playground. Putting her on the back of my bike and trekking across Germany. I remember those sweet times.

But apparently, something that others forget, are the less than sweet times. The times when after the spinning ride at the carnival, they vomit on you. The times when they dump an entire cup of Sprite on your silk blouse and the couch of the person whose home you're visiting. When they pee, poop, or spit on you. When you leave the playground covered in mud, chocolate, dirt, or blood (or on a particularly bad day, all of the above).

They are still sweet times, and I have four children, so it's not like I don't like children, but I doubt I will wish, when my boys are all teenagers, that they were back to being those little creatures that didn't listen to me AND covered me in every imaginable substance. For now, I will enjoy the time I have AND try to teach them to be responsible, polite, engaging human beings that, I assure you, I will enjoy being around when they are teenagers.

I may be heartless. But my goal is to raise good people that will grow up and leave me...not necessarily because I want them to, but because that's what they need to do. And that's what being a parent is all about.

Acrylic Revealed!

And now, without further ado, the most anticipated acrylic project:



Yeah, so, it's not that great, but I had to keep it a secret because it was for Pamela for her Confirmation (and she reads my blog). It's all of her sacraments (so far). And because Confirmation was only yesterday and they didn't let us take pictures I'll have to wait for the photographer so that I can finish that last panel.

Dianna asked what kind of adhesive I use on it. For the first one I did, I just used the normal adhesives (3M adhesive runner, the bling was already adhesive, as were the chipboard letters). For Pamela's, I bought spray adhesive and used that on the transparency and the pictures, but it seems to me that they both work just as well.

Mine were one sided, if you were to do two sided (like a book) you would probably want to use the spray adhesive because you can see the tape runner through the acrylic. Also, I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch the holes (because it can punch holes through 2mm thickness, but anything thicker might be a bit much), but I would recommend using the larger of the two. I used the larger one for where the ribbon would go, but the smaller one for where the binder rings would go. There's not enough give for the smaller ones and I broke the panel RIGHT before I gave it to Pamela.

Just a page, kind of

So for all my scrappy friends out there, this is a gift for Pamela's friend. I blurred her face because I don't have permission from her parents to post her pic not because I'm a horrible photographer. This is on acrylic PLEXIGLASS, from the hardware store. I paid about $4 for a piece that's 50 cm x 50 cm x 2mm (about 20" x 20"). This piece I cut down with a box cutter to 8" x 8". So for my cheap scrapping friends and those who live where there are no scrapbook stores, if you were interested in getting on the acrylic bandwagon, here you go:)

Anyway, I kept this simple, 'cause acrylic is actually all about simplicity, the appeal is in the transparency of it. This friend likes black, but her mom doesn't like that her favorite color is black so I threw in the red around the edge. The letters are chipboard that I used my Tim Holtz inks on and I accidentally got the pinkish color in there, but it was a happy accident 'cause it looked pretty. I covered the letters with faux stickles (Tulip glitter fabric paint).

Sorry to be boring today. Hope you liked the "page" though:). I have another acrylic project I'm working on that will be revealed on Monday...stay tuned!