This & That

11!

Until the first part of June, I have a birthday in my immediate family about every 3 weeks.   11 years ago today, after 5 boys, our family welcomed a baby girl and life has never been the same.  All of a sudden there were pink things around the house.  There were hair bows, frilly dresses and patent leather shoes.   She holds a special place for each one of us.  Her brothers alternately dote on and torment her and we've found that through this, she's learned to hold her own very well.   She is daddy's girl.  I enjoy having another female in the locker room we call home.   And she is my baby.  Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

The Definition of a Wife and Mom

It's a grumpy day today.  There are those days when everything  just kind of tweaks you the wrong way......people irritate you by driving stupidly or not doing things the way you would do them,  a thread on a website offends you, or your family is being squirrely.  Yesterday the three of my kidlets who still live at home tumbled in the door after school.  And no matter how many times we've been through the routine about where things go, there was the usual obstacle course of backpacks, jackets, papers and notes.....sigh.  You know how they say I'm going to miss things like this when all my kids are gone?  Really?  Am I?  Well, maybe.

I've come up with a list, which is going on a layout today.  Being a wife and mom means you're the only one who knows how to:

--Work the dishwasher and washing machine (no kidding, I got a phone call from DH about the dishwasher when I was in Portland.)

--Turn the light switches in the house to the "off" position.

--Can close a closet door.

--Can put a new roll of toilet paper on the spindle

--Can refill the liquid soap dispenser

--Knows what a hanger is for

--Can put a new garbage bag in the newly-emptied can

Anyone want to add to the list? 

The Birthday Merry-Go-Round

This is my hubby.   Today's his birthday.  He's 48 years young.  I've known him since I was 16, loved him since I was 17.....more than half my life.  Together we've gone through extensive schooling, a cancer diagnosis, a premature, critically ill baby, the mayhem of raising 6 kids and the amazing thing is that we love each other more every day.  Soulmates is such a trite word, but I'm not sure there's anything better. 

He's responsible (except when it comes to picking up his clothes....), caring, an awesome dad and a supportive, loving husband.  In my world there's nobody better.  I love him deeply.  Happy birthday, honey!

Back to the Grind....

We survived Spring Break relatively unscathed.  A few conflicts.....DS #1 and DIL came for the weekend which was great.  They are moving even further away this summer to start grad school, so weekends here will be few and far between.  It's back to the grind for the kids here at home.  They woke up this morning complaining mightily about having to go back to school. 

I've noticed that it's so light when I wake up in the mornings.  I'm a morning person and like not waking up in the dark.  Of course, it'll be back to the dark when we "spring forward" this weekend.  But there are other signs of spring popping up in the yard.  My bulbs are poking through and last week the crocuses bloomed.  Although I am admittedly a colder-weather person, there's something about the colors and smells of spring that so great.  The only disadvantage as far as I can see is that it means summer will be right around the corner....and I REALLY hate the heat.  But for now, I'll enjoy the new flowers, new leaves, and not having to bundle up quite so much when I walk.

Spring Break Winds Down

Fun weekend for us....DS #1 and DIL have arrived for the weekend.  We don't get to see them too often, so it's always great to have them home.  Both of them will be graduating from college next month.  DS told us that he was asked to speak at the humanities college commencement because he has the highest grades.   Mommy Moment for me.

A Transformation?

There's been a little challenge going on the Scrap Addict website.....something about posting photos of ourselves....a self portrait taking by us.  Some took it a step further and took photos sans make-up.  I decided to jump on board a little late.  The top photo DS #4 took this morning.  Hair's wet, no make-up.  I took the one on the bottom after I put my face on....in the bathroom under the skylight.  I already know there's going to be a layout about this, with journaling provided by said son.  His comment on the whole thing?  "Mom, will you be mad if I say you don't really look any different either way?"  I'm not quite sure how to feel about that.  On one hand I guess he loves me no matter how I look and that's wonderfully reassuring.  On the other, it would be nice if the time I took in front of the mirror paid a few more dividends.

Spring Break Day #2

Day One passes without too much incident.  As always, when we are in a confined space, like when we were all doing the cleaning project in the kitchen, the picking starts, but we kept it to a minimum and the kitchen is cleaner.  Today is more of the same.  I finally got my suitcase unpacked from Portland, only to find that I left two class kits and my cutting mat at the hotel.  One panicked phone call later and they will mail the stuff to me.  Can't beat that....

Spring Break....insert eyeroll here.

Spring Break starts for us this week.  The kids are so excited to be home and "not have to do anything".  Ha.  They have no clue what I have planned.   Lots of together time doing some spring cleaning.  They should start singing the Volga Boatman song right about now.  Now if I can just figure out how to keep the picking at each other to a minimum, I'll call it a success.

Portland Update

Here I sit, tapping on my laptop.  It's late....nearly midnight Portland time which means my internal clock thinks it's almost one in the morning so I'm running out of steam.  I've had a great day generally, though.  If you can get past the lines, of which there are lots and the headache-inducing carpet at the convention center ---literally.  That one on the right gives a wavy optical illusion when you look at it in just the right way.  I ended up having a couple of extra-strenghth Tylenol throughout the afternoon.  I scheduled myself heavily with classes almost all of which were really good and included a generous amount of product.  My favorite of the day were the Rusty Pickle wrap-around school album and the card classes I took.  Have another RP class tomorrow and I'm looking forward to that.  You have to be able to glue at hyper-speed, though.  Fun stuff.  The one big disappointment was the vendor fair.  Not a lot of new product around.  Felicia spoils us at Scrap Addict .

The highlight of the day was meeting up with my SA friend Annette.  She generously offered to wait until after my last class and then drove us to dinner where we had a huge gabfest. This is the second year we've been able to meet up and it's worth the trip here just for that reason.  She's a wonderful person who's so easy to talk to...we just feel like we've known each other much better than two meeting's worth.  Lots of fun and then she dropped me off at my hotel.  I didn't even have to trudge around the dark Portland streets carrying around my class stuff.

A couple of classes tomorrow and then it'll be heading back to home and hearth.  Heaven knows what the house will look like when I get there!

Brace Yourself, Portland!

I'm comin' over!  I've got the scrap supplies all packed (and I even remembered the adhesive and photos.....don't laugh, I forgot them once.....

I'm taking my laptop so I don't lose total contact with the outside world, but I totally expect to be overwhelmed and overloaded with great ideas.  I'm so excited to go!