Guess who's going to Disney World!

Wahoo! I just found out today that my baby sister is coming with us to Disney World! This will be her first time ever! I am sooo excited! This is photo of her is from when we were waiting for our nephew Zayden to arrive. We stood in that darn hallway for what seemed like years. We were punchy by the end. I am thrilled that I will be the one to share this with her. We are truly going to have a ball! So happy she's going to be there. Thought I would share a few fun photos of her before Disney and a few when we return. You know darn well that I am going to make her buy a Mickey Hat with ears! Or atleast place one on head for a photo!

Happy Belated B-Day JOSH

We went a place called Margaritaville for dinner while at Kalahari. The billboard sign said WORLD FAMOUS. I have no clue what they are world famous for but it was enjoyable. Here is another fine example of why I am world's worst wife. I didn't even get DH a card. Man...what's wrong with me? It just seems like it always sneaks up on me. I was gone to Chicago then came home and left for the water park. He says he could careless...but I care. I am a terrible wife.

So I will semi-publicly say, I am sorry and HAPPY 36th BIRTHDAY! You are as old as me now!

Top Seller

Zander was a top seller for the fall fund raiser at our school. He won a "limo" ride and lunch with the principal. They finally got to go on the trip today! They got to ride in a touring bus. There were so many kids that qualified that in order to fit them all they had to rent this bus! Either way...it was still an honor and very cool! They rode around our tiny little town for a few minutes (they probably went around four times then!) and then went to Hungry Howies for pizza. The smiles on those childrens' faces were HUGE! I think it's so cool that they did that for these great kids!

Everybody's goin' surfin'

Surfin' Kalahari Style...

My FIL cut his foot on glass in the water and was given two free passes for lessons on the surf/body board ride. So Josh and his sister, Erin, went down to the pool at 7:30am to take a 45 min. lesson. We could see the whole thing on the TV back in the room too! It was awesome! I made them take my camera with them and they ended up getting some good shots! I was impressed!

No way in H E double hockey sticks I would EVER put my bod in that situation. NOPE. No way. No How. I would break something for sure.

Home

Back home again from whirl wind trips.

Will post later with pictures and updates! Off to work the fluoride program at school and tell one of the teachers she has to pick out a new fabric for her tote. We ran out on her bag. opps...my first blunder with Elisalou. FIRST! in 5 1/2 months. Not bad!

Be back later!

Ice & Stuff

Well, per typical, the weather is not great here and I had a sick child last night.
We got ice then snow through the night last night at about 12:30am, Zander got sick all over the bathroom floor. UGH...He had been complaining that his stomach hurt all night. Made him take "the bucket" to bed. Well he said he thought he could make it to the bathroom. Indeed he did but not to the right spot.

Seems like every time we are going someplace, some on is sick or the weather is not what we need. This time we get both. Zander did say he feels great now?! So let's hope it was just nerves. Unfortunately, my son has my anxiety problem so he can easily work himself up to that point just like me. We are a sure to be a drug manufactures dream come true. One for anxiety, one for depression, one for thyroid, one for acid reflux, one for insomnia, and probably someday, cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease. Gosh, what a Rosy picture! LOL We have all that in the family so it will have to come true at some point, right?

Off to walk! I will fight it as much as I can now. well, actually it's off to pack. We are leaving at noon. I will swim it all off today!

Unfit

Oh my gosh...I am so completely and totally unfit. I thought I was going to die with all the walking we did this weekend. UGH...I have huge blisters on each foot and a sore on my heal. AAHHH....

I just want Shell to know that as of this weekend, I promise to make an effort to MOVE more! Oh my goodness....We had to walk about 6 blocks to catch a bus then we walked the whole area at McCormick Place from one end to the other on several several occasions in one day. Plus we walked to every place we went for dinner in the evenings...again...UGH....and OOOOUUUUCCCCHHHHH. My whole body aches. UNFIT...Sad, but true.

Wendy, I move the slide.com thingie so you could tell when posted a new entry! LOL

Jan, Hope you are feeling better.

Debbie, didn't get your email until I was HOME from Chicago...sorry I never called.

And to my MM friends...I have to assume without having read any emails...that NO ONE has heard a thing? SAD....

To my shins, knees, hips, butt, back, and feet...I promise to take better care of you in the months ahead. I will not allow you the chance to feel such pain again. I will move more! I will not be UNFIT any more. I will make an effort to be FIT!

Off to pack for my next trip! Kalahari water park, here we come!!

Keyboard graveyard

Ok...I just sat down to check some stuff on the computer before I head out to Chicago. Oh my gosh...you would not believe all the little things I see buried down inside the key board. Sprinkles from donuts, pieces of shredded cheese, crumbs in general, dust, pop dribbles, dog hair. GROSS...I can't even tell what some of it is?

Am I the only one who has this issue? I let my son eat in here and obviously it doesn't make it all in his mouth. I am sure I am guilty of some of the crumbs too. I have been known to eat a meal or two while working on the computer. I really need a new computer. Just waiting for the money to hit the account from Uncle Sam. I really think we are leaning towards a dell this time around. My mom has one and they really like it. But I have always had gateway and never had a problem really either...what to do, what to do.

Off to drop of the youngest so I can head out. Of course, my poor stomach is in knots. Not sure why? Guess I am a little nervous about leaving for some reason? I haven't had that problem in a long time. odd? Usually I can't wait to leave! LOL

Happy Wednesday!

100th post

Wow! This is my 100th post since I started blogging. Odd that I would notice this today. I have not paid much attention to that ever and it caught my eye tonight. What does it all mean?! I have strange things like that happen all the time to me. For instance, I will look at mileage in my van it will be some sort of repetitive number or sequence of numbers. I have always had a number thing. I can remember numbers (usually) very easily. There is a running family joke actually about me and my number issue! My sister can testify on my behalf about this...my grandma's phone number and my phone number are similar and I made a comment about it once and they all thought I was nuts! LOL Remember, Amy Jo!!

So anywho...CHEERS to my 100 th post! How do I ever find enough to write about? And why do I bother?!

I had someone ask me the other day if it bothered me having others looking to my life. I got a chuckle out of it. If they want to take the time to read my boring life, then I can not be responsible for their death when they die of boredom. Nope it doesn't bother me at all. I have nothing to hide and nothing posted will ever come back to haunt me! I mean what I say and say what I mean.

That said..."The owners of Maddy Moo Creations are among the world's worst people at running a business." QUOTE/UNQUOTE
I can't believe the $$$ that they still owe consultants. I just sit back and shake my head and count my blessings for getting out when I did. For once, something worked in my favor. Sure I lost money, but nothing compared to some. One of my newest friends, is owed near $1K still. I can't even imagine...glad I don't have too.

So...how about those Elisa Lou bags! My dear friend Wendy got hers today in the mail! I wonder if she got the 'brown paper bag wrapping' I sent it in?! It was in reference to my latest eBay scandal. Someone had emailed me to ask if I would ship the porn in brown paper bag. So....I mailed Wendys bag out to her all wrapped up in a brown paper bag! I figured she would get it! I hope she did! I laughed the whole time I was wrapping it up! I hope I finally got that eBay mess figured out.

I leave tomorrow for Chicago. Not near ready. Nothing packed. No clue what I am wearing. Still not packed for Kalahari either. UGH...I hate to pack. Never sure if I am taking enough, too much, or what. I guess as long as I have clean undies and socks it all works out! LOL

Gateway or Dell

Ok...I don't normally share this personal type info but...I am so excited!! I showed a profit on my TLC business this year!! LOL Over $1000! NO JOKE!! So, as a treat to myself and a needed deduction! LOL I am going to buy a new computer. This one is starting to die on me. It will randomly just shut down and one of these days I know my HD will go. So before that happens, I want to get a new one.

I have always owned Gateways. BUT...I have heard many people say DELL is the way to go. "Dude, you're gettin' a Dell." I just love saying that...

So I want to take a poll.

Gateway

OR

Dell

Tell me which one and why.

Play photos

This is our Family photo. The girl on the far right is very close friend of the family. She lived with the In-Laws for awhile as well.

Josh in a skirt.

Zander (the Black Knight) --"Off with her head!"
Just a crowd shot. It was packed to the gills. We had to give up the "wenches" table so that guests could use it. We ran out of room. These are all the cast members. Plus we had 9 "wenches" to serve!
This is all I can upload tonight. It was so awesome! The Daily Telegram showed up and took pictures too! (a local newspaper) The actors got a standing ovation at the end too. It was such an incredible night! I can begin to tell you how neat it was and the decor was perfect. The fine details didn't go unnoticed. I would do it again in a heart beat!

Winter items

So I was watching Josh run the snow blower today and decided to slip my boots on and just go see what I could see. Here are somethings I saw:

Dripping icicles hanging off the eaves.Boy, one could get seriously dizzy watching this thing go round. It's been so cold here that we have to keep the furnace running all the time. Thank goodness for the budget plan.Snow Chunks...HATE 'EM. They stick to the wheel wells and you can hear the tires rubbing against them at times. I always kick them off and Josh yells at me. "Don't do that. You might break the plastic part." Why are cars made of plastic? And since they are, why do they cost more now? hmm....

I saw this really cute kid laying out in the snow! At least all the snow was WHITE in the area he was laying! The dogs hadn't been in that area yet!! Love his hat! GO LIONS! We really are over due for win you know. This next year has to prove to be "the" year for the Detroit Lions. RIGHT? Well, I need to get my things ready for the play! I am really excited about it! I can't wait to see how well the public enjoys the event.

Dress rehersal

My Mother In Law made all the Shields that are hanging around the room. She painted each one by hand and each one is different. Cut dowels, stained them, drilled holes for hanging. I sat and put the cording thru each dowel hole. The pictures probably don't do them justice. They are truly amazing.

This shows some of the decor.

This is the "head table". This is the Queen's table. The HC stands for House Of Carnige. Carnige is the name of the founder of our Library. This is a fundraising event for our Library. So most of the names in the play revolve around things in our town.

We have a bag pipe player coming in for tomorow night. He was there tonight warming up the pipes. I just love listening to bag pipes. I can't wait for tomorrow night! It is going to be sooo fun! We have 106 people registered! At $30/head! YEAH! We are hoping to make this the most profitable fundraiser ever! It makes me proud to be apart of something so giving. My MIL & FIL have put a ton of time, energy, money into this event. And it is so awesome that we are all doing it together! We just added my oldest son as a cast member. He is going to play the black knight. He will introduce the Queen and dismiss the "killer" once we solve the crime! He is so excited to be apart of this event too. He has been asking for past week to please get a part in it. So we figured out something for him to do to make him happy. I am so proud of him for wanting to be a part of this too. I just hope he will follow thru with it once he sees ALL the guests! 212 eyes all on him?! And he will be the first person to speak!

Murder Mystery Dinner

Not a lot to post. Kids are WILD tonight. Man, I just want to come home and check emails and veg. But both the boys are strung out on Something? Screaming while playing the Wii, acting out. AAAHHHH....My head is pounding.

I have the play this weekend which means I have to set up for it tomorrow and do the last minute running around. oh, just realised, I didn't make that post. Let me step backwards. Our Library Board is putting a murder mystery dinner event as a fundraiser for the Library. Josh has a part in it and I am a "bar wench" (insert, "server"). So we have been doing rehearsals for the past month on Sundays and now it is coming down to doing them nightly. Each night SOMEONE is missing so I have been a "under study" for those who are missing. I have NEVER done a play in my life and have no clue what I am doing. And believe it or not, I am actually very shy. At least when it comes to a situation like this! So it has been a trying few weeks. I just need to serve 100 people their food and drinks! I don't want to have lines to remember! I have this really low cut top I have to wear. And as many of you know, I am not lacking in the "girls" dept. So I can surely reveal a lot!! I will take pictures and post them later. We all have costumes that we are wearing and we have asked the guests to dress in period as well. All the food is done with the time period as well. We are having Germany Eggs, Turkey Legs served on a flat bread. No plates or utensils. The soup will be served in a bread bowl. Again, no spoons!! We are however, going to auction off a few spoons for those less adventurous soles. We have 100 people paid and most of the food was donated or sold at cost to us! So we will hopefully raise a good lump for the Library! I am really excited to see it happen! Again, I will take lots of pictures!


Wish me luck! Let's hope I don't spill anything on anyone or myself!

Runway Rub-ons Rule

WOW...I love our rub-ons. They go on so smooth and easy. I could easily go over board with them. I just want to keep adding and adding just because I like how they go on. I tried to take a very flowery layout and use for my sons. I hope I pulled it off? Used a little of the sample on the idea sheet by cutting out the flower from the print paper. But the rest is just me whipping something together.

Runway sample

I wanted to play a little with the new RunWay line. It seems a little girly so I tried to show you can use it for boys. These pictures are from the field trip this year to Sauders Village. I was going to use some of the ribbon too but just couldn't bring myself to open it! I have a terrible weakness for ribbon. I love it but I hate to use because it's not cheap. So I didn't open a pack of our TLC ribbon yet. Love it but figure if I can sell it, I will! I am terrible. It killed me to use this kit.

I covered the chip stars with paper. Not sure I did it right. I just used scissors, I think an exacto knife would be better but I don't own one?! Can you believe that?

I am hoping to get another layout done tomorrow. I just booked a weekend retreat for end of April (national scrapbook weekend crop- a week early) I have an expo the first weekend in May and the second weekend in May. Both are at the Novi Expo Center. One is a rubber stamp show...huge mistake, I am sure. And the other is the Mega Meet. Which is always a good show.

So I want to have some samples done up.

AGAIN...

GRRR....More filth on my ebay account. I am soooo tired of this. I am so tempted to just walk away from this mess and close our account. But we really do use it quite a bit so I don't want to have to do that.

Darn it...why is this happening?

Volunteer

I can remember when I was a kid that I always said when I was an adult I would give as much of my time as I could. Well, I am living up to that statement. I just added up my hours yesterday at the school and I had 90.25 hours of volunteer time for the year when I walked out the door yesterday.

It is such a great feeling to be able to give to the school in such a way. We just had our 100th day of school yesterday too. So I was thinking I almost average an hour a day. Thinking of it that way doesn't make that number seem as high to me but I do have a real job too! I usually get 16 hours a week at work plus my two side jobs. (TLC & ElisaLou) and there's the photography thrown in there at some point too.

My feathers are a little fuller today! I am very proud of myself! Off to take William shopping. The poor child had major high waters going on right now. Poor kid is so tiny that he still fits into a 3T at age 4 1/2 but he has grown taller over the last few months and they look ridiculous on him! Oh to have that problem! LOL

Will it ship in brown paper bag?

The nerve of some people. We get one person telling us they are going to turn us in for posting such an item in the "TOY SECTION" on ebay and then someone else asking if we will ship in a brown paper bag? What the heck?

Anyways, it's all solved as far as we can tell. Man, what a nerve racking event. I swear it was so upsetting to know that happened to us. I am scared to death to go on to Ebay right now. I think I will just keep stalking ElisaLou and TwoPeas. wow.

Some of my latest orders

These two bags are my sisters. I love this cosmetic bag! They are such a great size too. And for only $22! They sure make great gifts! You could fill them with items to make them even more special!
This is MINE!!! I told her to surprise me. I have a few suggestions on what fabrics I liked and this is what she did for me! LOVE IT! My razr will look adorable in this!
This one is for my dear friend and ex secret sister, Wendy! I think she will love it! Now I have to help her pick out fabric for a messenger bag!

Give me shout out if you are interested in owning one of your own!

Grr...

I can't believe what I just went thru. I sat down at our desk computer to blog (can't log in from my laptop??) and I thought, Oh heck, I will check emails first. Low and behold, I see all these listings on ebay come up? I was thinking, wow, how did he have time to do all those and what is he selling? I don't do the ebay so I have no clue how to list things. I just know how to buy things! LOL Well...I see porn! No joke. I was flipping out. I KNEW it wasn't Josh that did that! So I literally run (yes, I mean run) up the stairs screaming at him. "you need to come downstairs ALONE, NOW" He yells at the kids. Stay here. I whisper to him, "we have porn listed on our freaking ebay account" OH MY GOD...I am still in shock. We were able to get it deleted but still. We will be charged for those listing fees. And HOW? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN??? I am so angry right now and I feel sick to my stomach. It's all password protected. So what else did they get from our account? We have our CC # and stuff listed there. This is seriously freaking me out.

What are we going to do??? We have already contacted ebay directly thru the email system. I think I will have him call his CC Company tomorrow and report possible fraud, misuse. UGH...

I can't believe this. Why us? Grrr....

MIA

Wow...where did the time go? I was busy all weekend with my retreat and then I had to work monday. Time just got away.

The retreat went well. Sold near $600. But the very best part is that I sold all but 4 ITEMS from my SIAS stash!!! NO JOKE!!! I spread it all out on a table and told them it was 75% off the price marked and made a cheat sheet for them to see what it would cost them and I sold it all but One kit, one paper pack, one pack of frames and journaling boxes. YAHOO! I lost my shirt on it but I had already lost it. So I figure it was better to take a few bucks for something vs. threwing it out or worse yet, still having it taking up room in my house! Didn't sell much in the line of SBG clothing. Surprises me. I got two ladies who are going to do an Elisa Lou party in the spring and summer. So that was worth it too! I was able to move about a dozen QSA kits. So that's a relief. I think I have only 61 left! It will feel so good to get rid of those too! Lesson learned the hard way. Don't buy something just becuase it's on sale. Only buy it if you know you can use it or sell it. I bought at least 10 of each kit way back when and they just didn't sell well for me. Well certain ones did but now I am left with those kits that are so popular.

We had no school on Monday or Today. I got to work yesterday to find out we had a water main break. It did come back on about 45 min later but I had so many cancellations that I got out at 1pm. I was able to get my new glasses yesterday. So that worked out ok!

I have my little cousin today for awhile. I am working this afternoon for the other hygienist. So Josh is going to come home early and be with the kids while I go to work. My mom was going to watch them for me but Josh said he really needs to take some time off. So he's coming home. He is not going to happy with me, either. I let our outside cat in last night. It was just too cold. I didn't have the heart to leave him out. Josh built him a nice insulated house but still...-20 wind chill is too cold for anyone.

So he will just have to deal with it. Once the temps go back up a little I will put him back out. The cat has this problem with not using the litter box. He makes anything his toilet so we had to put him out. But I just couldn't leave him outside. I still love him and couldn't just see him be so cold. I just pray he uses the litter box today. Good ole' Charlie Bucket. He's just confused.

Brrr...

Wow...It's beginning to look a lot like winter here in Michigan. We are supposed to get actual temps of -2. bbrrr....I bet I sell a lot of long sleeve Tshirts this weekend at the retreat!

So for all you football fans out there, who's your pick?

I have family in Indy so you know who I am going with as my pick. I never ever thought I would say that for a superbowl game. Now...COME ON LIONS! Next year has to be the year. Colts were just as bad or worse than us...and look at them now. So I am still holding to hope. Yes, I am die hard fan. Even when we suck, I still have to go with Detroit. No fair weather fan here! You can thank my Grandpa Bill for that. When you believe in something or someone you have to believe with all of your heart or it's not worth believing. Hence my intense dislike of those buckeyes! LOL Sorry Uncle Bill! That is another thing my Grandpa taught me...Ohio stinks! LOL

Well, I need to run thru my check list one last time to make sure I have everything for this weekend. Then go to the bank to get change/cash. Plus cash my checks from last weekends crop! LOL Oh, and the ElisaLou show and my TLC commission check. That TLC check MIGHT fill my van for the trip...oh wait...maybe not. Gas is back up to $2.19 here. So I don't think it will, darn...Can't buy much with $30 dollars these days. Bummer. 5% of nothing is hard to take! LOL Maybe the new runway products will spark some interest for us?

Have a great weekend all. I don't think I will have internet at this place. I will post an update on Sunday.

This is where I would much rather be right now! Taking the drill on a cruise!

So long January!!

YEAH!!! It's over! I HATE THAT MONTH WITH A PASSION. So glad it's done and gone!

So...my Grand Opening Show was a huge hit! I had 9 orders come in. Got 3 bookings off of it too! Sold almost $600! SUCCESS! Have I mentioned how happy I am with this new business venture? I LOVE ELISA LOU BAGS!

I have a book party out right now. Not sure how well it will do but it's getting the product into the hands of those who might not have seen it otherwise! So all exposure is good!

I am supposed to be getting ready for my weekend retreat. I have most of my TLC Stuff packed up already. I just need to make some signs and sort my Scrapbook Girl stuff that came today. Plus get stuff ready for ElisaLou. I am going to take my bags and just have the fabrics there for those who might want to look! It's women and purses...how could they not want to LOOK?