I ordered my new iPhone yesterday.  Turns out you can have them unlocked to work on the t-mobile network, which is what Denny and I have.  If you know me well, you know I don’t get super excited about things.  Well, I gotta tell ya, I’m geeked!  It is shipping today and then I’ll have to go have it unlocked.  I can hardly stand waiting for it.

I had planned on ordered the iPod Touch and then once I found out I could unlock the iPhone I thought that would work out better for me.  One less device to hang out in my purse.  My purse isn’t even that big and I can’t find anything in there as it is.  No idea how I manage it, but I’m that lady in the store with the loud ringer who is digging around in a panic to find the phone.  It happens ALL THE TIME.  The liner is a really pretty purple, and you’d think stuff would stand out.  Not like its a black hole in there.

I’m making up this months card kits to go out end of next week.  If you want one, please get in touch with me so that I can get yours made up.  The cost is 22.50 and includes the card kit with color copies, select adhesvies and shipping within the US.  If you need international shipping, please ask for a quote.  I accept PayPal (non-credit card payments), check/money order, and that good old green stuff no one seems to use anymore called cash.  :p

I have some running around to do today.  Stuff I wanted to do yesterday, but I had service apointments that were smack in the middle and of course this time window they are supposed to come in really means they will be here right as the window ends.  I was having an issue with one of my new windows and the repair guy was coming to replace the sash between 12-2.  He got here at 2, of course.  Then the pooper scooper, sorry I mean Fecal Matter Removal Technician, was coming between 12-4.  After the thaw, there was no way I was cleaning that mess up myself.  And I do mean NO WAY.  Anyway, they showed up at 4. So today, I have to do it in the rain.  One stop is Partridge Creek, for those of you that don’t know, it’s an outside mall.  Yippee.  At least it’s warm outside.  43 degrees right now with a high of 49.  It’s a Michigan heat wave, lol.

Ethan is having a friend over today after school, so I’ll be hiding in my office this afternoon.  Hopefully while I’m stuck in here I can wrap up the layouts with the missing journaling.  Crossing my fingers…

Happy Wednesday!

~j

First, I’ve been promising to share these and hadn’t gotten around to it yet.  I took a pic of Shelby’s new skates the other day before I took her for the first time.  When I ordered them after having her fitted I knew they would be cute.  After all, they are the smallest size they come.   But after picking them up, seriously, I wasn’t prepared for this cute!  I took this pic of them next to one of mine just so you could get the idea of how seriously small we are talking!!

Friday I had an awful day.  I can’t even express how bad it was.  No one died, although by the end of the day I think I was near homicidal.  It was just one of those days where everything that can go wrong will go wrong.  I spent the first full half of my day on the phone in an altercation with BCBS who apparently had LOST the automatic payment they took out of our account for our health insurance premium.  How did I find this out?  Oh, well I went to get a script filled for Denny at 7pm Thursday only to be told we didn’t have any insurance, so I had to pay out of pocket for all of it.  Nice.  Of course BCBS only open M-F from 8:45am to 5pm.  Anyway, after jumping though ever hoop possible I think they have it all fixed.  And I got most of the money back we had to pay out for the script.  So there was that, and a false alarm about Dilly getting into a fight at school.  (Turns out that didn’t happen thankfully.)  Anyway, after all of it, I just wanted to hide under a rock and never come out.

I went to a crop on Saturday and I was in a pretty poopy mood after the events of Friday.  Michelle and Andrea were supposed to come along, and well both of them had something come up.  The crop ran from 8-6:30.  I left about 3.  I got some stuff done, most of what I took actually, but I wasn’t in the mood and I could feel a headache coming on.  I left, enjoyed the nice weather, went out to eat, came back just for the raffle, (no I didn’t win anything), then back home and sat around here.

Sunday… I said I wasn’t going to leave the house, and I didn’t!!  I did get dressed, but that was it.  I spent the day doing small stuff around the house and enjoying the fact that it was fairly warm out and the snow that had been around forever, was finally melting.  I don’t know that I’ve ever been so happy to see my grass.

That brings us to today… again, I’m not leaving.  If Shelby decides she is going to go to dance, Denny is taking her.  She hasn’t been all that happy about going lately, so we’ll see.  I won’t force her to go, cuz if she isn’t having fun, then whats the point.  I have already put the deposit on her recital costume, but oh well, it is what it is, and not worth freaking out about.  So my only plan for today is Chop Suey for dinner and cleaning up.  I need to fiddle with my scanner and get some layouts posted, so that’s on the list too.  We’ll see how far I get.

I think I’ve spent half my morning researching the iTouch because I think I want one.  Then I find out that some of the iPhones can be err “modified” to work on t-mobile, (my carrier).  After hearing that, maybe i want one of those instead.  I have some questions yet about it so I’m on the fence.  Anyone ever use the iPhone on t-mobile?  Basically I’m wondering if I can use WIFI like on the iTouch and not use my t-mobile service for internet stuff?  So if I’m in my house and have WIFI in the house… would I be using that connection to check my email, or t-mobile?  I’m not sure how it works and I’m not sure who I could call.  So if anyone knows, help a girl out, lol.

Happy Monday… if there is such a thing!

~j

Ethan is 9 years old today.  Frankly I think the Mom should be the one that gets to celebrate.  I did do all the work after all.  Anyway, what would a birthday be without a baby picture?  So here he is…  who knew 9 years later he would weigh about the same, just be a little taller.  LOL.  I’m taking a birthday snack up to school for him to share with him class and then after school we are taking him out to dinner.  After dinner, we make a stop at MiMi and PaPas for his gift.  Big night.

Shelby and I went skating yesterday.  She did great!  She was certainly a basket case at first, but after the, “Mommy won’t let anything happen to you speech,” she did just fine.  After we got off the ice she said, “That was cool.  I did a good job!”  LOL.  I need to share a picture of her skates.  They are just so stinkin’ cute.

Skating must have totally worn her out.  She was supposed to help with the cupcakes for today but she fell asleep in the car wash on the way home.  I was able to get her out of the car, get off all her winter gear and get her in bed and she didn’t wake up through the entire process.  Needless to say, I did the cupcakes by myself. :p

Today we need to go get some juice to take to school with the cupcakes. Unless I decide I’m not taking juice.  LOL.  Dpends what kind of mood I’m in later.  Right now… well, I’m on the fence.  Mostly because that’s a lot of cupcakes to transport, and adding two big jugs of juice, along with cups doesn’t appeal to me much.  We’ll see.

Happy Birthday Ethan!!

~j

I don’t know about all the other moms out there, but I tend to take care of all the kids and put aside myself.  I’ve been feeling poopy for awhile.  Dylan got a cold, gave it to Shelby, then gave it to Ethan and in turn passed it to me.  Last weekend turns out Dylan and Ethan had ear infections.  Thankfully Shelby still has tubes in her ears, so things have been smooth with her.  Now to me… Thursday I started to feel pretty bad, by Friday worse yet, Friday afternoon I was pretty sure my head was going to explode, lol, but opted to “wait it out.”  I spent my night on the couch watching QVC, coughing and holding my head begging for the throbbing to stop.   The begging didn’t work and daylight came, along with it the realization that I needed to see a doctor.  Crap.  In the end I left with an antibiotic, sterioid, and a nosespray… ear infection, sinus infection and bronchitis, oh my.

Now just to give those of you that don’t know Denny and I well or how we get along, (which generally is very well), here was his response….  “Does your face hurt?  Cuz it’s killing me!”  All I could do was stare at him.  And no, he didn’t come up with that clever bit himself.  He got it from me, and I got it from my Dad, lol.  So really, all I could do was take it and grin.  Denny seemed pretty pleased that he got one on me, and considering he was going to be picking up the slack around the house cuz I’m sick, I decided to let it go. 

The point of this story, and a lesson I need to take to heart, is that I need to take better care of myself and not just the kids and husband.  Now I’m so sick I can’t go see my Dad as he rests at home, and frankly, I miss my Dad. 

It’s now 6:27 PM and I still don’t have my use your stash challenge layout for January done.  Nice huh.  Such a small goal and I got nuttin’.  I still have time, but I just don’t see it.  Send me out some good vibes people….

~j

OH… and a Happy Birthday to Miss. Madison!  She turned the ripe old age of 7 on the 29th.  And I was at the hospital with my Dad that day, so I missed my chance to send her a shout out.  So again, Happy Happy Birthday to you Madison.

Thank you to everyone who called and emailed yesterday to check on my Dad.  Everything went great and he should be coming home today.

I’m so glad yesterday is over, but now I’m playing catch up for the day of work around here that I didn’t get to.  Today my day will be spent cleaning up after everyone, wrapping up the laundry, (which I am happy to report is just about done already), getting some stuff mailed and preparing dinner, and cleaning up the bathrooms.  Oddly enough the MAN BATHROOM is gross and my bathroom looks just fine.  Gee, I wonder why that is???  At any rate, I need to clean them…

Poor Ethan has a math test today and even up to this morning he was still having a bit of a hard time.  I worked with him on it last night and before school.  I hope it pays off.  Math is my Dad’s department and he wasn’t available yesterday, obviously.  I’m crossing my fingers that I was a good enough fill in for my Dad.  Another day or so and I think Ethan would have had it down no problem.  He he does poorly it’s both of our faults.  Ethan wasn’t good about getting the study guide done.  He pulled a “no I don’t have any homework” line so he could go over MiMi and PaPas and play Wii.  Apparently, in his opinion study guides aren’t homework because they don’t have to be turned back in.  On the other hand, I wasn’t all the available to him yesterday to help him with it like I would have been had I not had the other stuff going on.  So, cross your fingers…

I also have a goal to get a layout done today.  Tomorrow is the last day for the use your stash challenge I’m particpating in.  (Nothing like procrastinating.)  I’d really like to get something done and handed in.

I’m off to get crackin’ on my chores for the day and drop something in the crock pot for dinner.  No idea what, but I’ll come up with something.

Enjoy your Friday.  Personally, I’ve never been so happy to see one!

~j

I’ve been waiting all day for it to come and it has finally arrived… my Couponizer system that is.  (Funny how excited this makes me isn’t it.)  I had been looking at my mess of coupons on my desk that I left there from organizing for my last grocery trip yesterday.  I was going to pick them up and thought… oh no, wait for the couponizer, lol.  Ok, yes, it was an excuse not to pick up, but a good one if you ask me.

At any rate, there were a lot of them scattered all over the place and using the “system” I got them all put away in the right spots in record time.  There is a “mat” you can use to help in sorting accurately, and then folders for each category.  There is even a spot for receipts and rebate stuff.  Things like that I always seem to loose, so this is going to work out great for me.

Here is a more details review.

Now that my coupons are all put away, I suppose I have no excuse for picking up the rest of my messy desk!

Oh and for those of you that have asked… skating went well yesterday.  I made my Dad go with me, and made him go first, lol.  I didn’t land on my butt and I’m not sore today.  It will take some time to break in the new skates, but it was sooo nice to be back out on the ice.  I need the exercise regardless.

I’ll probably be late in posting tomorrow, if I post at all.  My Dad has surgery in the am so I’ll be keeping my Mom company at the hospital.  Send happy thoughts his way!

~j

Sundays is “post you stuff for sale” day on one of my scrapbooking yahoo groups.  I decided, spur of the moment really, to take advantage of it yesterday.  I spent part of my day cleaning out and got a small pile of tools that I don’t use anymore out of the drawer and listed for sale.  I’m not trying to make a fortune, really selling it all pretty cheap I think.  I just want to find it a new home.  Time for me to let go of things I’ve had for ages and either never used, or used once.

The other part of the day was spent at the Edsel Ford Estate taking a tour with the kids.  We checked out two free passes from the library so we didn’t have to pay very much and it was something different to do.  (We had planned to go Saturday, but Ethan woke up with an ear infection.)  As we were just about finished Dylan tugs at me as says, “I don’t feel good.  My tummy hurts.”  All I can think is historical home and vomit on the floor… basically oh crap!  Thankfully Denny was able to distract him until we left and once we got outside he said he was hungry.  We go out to eat and moments after he orders he falls asleep in my lap.  Slept the rest of the afternoon until about 5 when we woke up crying asking to go to the doctor.  When you’re six and want to go to the doctor, that’s never normal.  So I spent the last part of my day at Beaumont Urgent Care.  Now there are four large bottles of Amoxicillin in my fridge.    Poor Dilly stayed home today with me as he still has a fever.  It’s gonna be a long day.

Cheers to Monday getting over as quickly as possible!

~j

For those of you that know me well you know I’m a big coupon clipper and sale shopper.  I don’t think I pay full price for anything.  :p  It’s like a contest for me to see how much I can get off my grocery bill and such each time.  With that I got starting thinking about how much we spend on laundry soap.  There are five of us in the house and that equals a lot of laundry.  Not much I can do about the amount of laundry, but I can cut the cost of the soap we use!!  Yesterday night I started my own batch of laundry soap for which I found the recipe online.  I finished it up today, and I’m please to report that it went very well.  When you break down the cost of the recipe it comes out to around $2.00 for 10 gallons.

Here is the recipe:

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4  Cups hot tap water
1  Fels-Naptha soap bar
1  Cup Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill
a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing
soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to
top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir
and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and
then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional:
You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap
has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.  (I didn’t do this as I really liked the smell of the Fels-Naptha soap bar.)

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

You should be able to find all the ingredients at your grocery store, or probably even Target.  I had the washing soda and borax already on hand though.  I use the washing soda to polish my silver and I’ve always used the borax as a laundry booster anyway.  So at least these items will have other uses when you aren’t making soap.

I went to Lowes for two 5 gallon buckets.  You need one to make the recipe, and I’ll be using the other to split the recipe in half and store it in it’s diluted state being I don’t have a ton of empty detergent bottles on hand.  Plus its just easier to store in the big bucket till I need it to fill on of my empties.

Off to do some laundry!!

~j

I’ve been slowly adding photos and such to the photo spinner I started.  Here are some photos I took today of my work so far.  It still needs some more photos (mostly of myself and Denny).

Happy Saturday!

~j