It's starting, Secret, Reese Witherspoon...

That excited we are "Moving" feeling. I can't wait to go home to California. I can't wait for that first visit back to the beach, I can't wait for the smell of the ocean, the sounds. AWESOME!
Well we have started fixing things up in the apartment, small packing. It's very exciting but at the same time I will kinda miss this place. I love sitting here in my office/scraproom, working here at the computer or over at my scrap table, the bay windows wide open, letting the spring breeze come in.

I have a BIG secret, that I can not share yet but BOY am I so excited (it's scrapbook related lol) :) It's something wonderful and I just can't wait :)

Sooooo well my MIL was here we went to Hollywood and rented some movies (we are on this awesome 3 month plan for $30 you get unlimited free amount of movies (well 3 per visit, so if we watch all three we can take them back that same day and rent three more) well I finally rented "Walk the line" and oh my gosh I LOVE this movie! What a great love story! We watched it once with MIL and then I watched it (blush) Three times yesterday. I am so buying the movie and the soundtrack. If you are my normal blog readers you know that my three favorite actresses are Sarah Michelle Gellar, Reese Witherspoon and Angelina Jolie. I have seen everything these gals have ever made. Heck I was a Reese fan since I was 11 and I saw The Man on the Moon (This by far was a movie I watched a TON of times when I was 11, I own a copy of the VHS lol, that goes to tell you how old it is lol, and Darn it did I dislike Dani's (Reese) sister so much LOL). Another of my most favorite movies starring two of my Fave actresses is Cruel Intentions , when ever we have to fill out those posts or blog tags almost always when they ask what you favorite movie is I say Sweet Home Alabama I love this movie so much, so much so that I cry everytime I see it lol (I can been very senstive lol), another of my fave Reese movies is Just like Heaven, this is another one that I watched like 4 times in one day after renting it. Reese is super smart! She picks the best movies to star in :) (oh and here is a funny :) when the movie Fear came out, I was in highschool dating a guy named David, lol do you remember the name of the two lead characters in the movie fear? LOL David and Nicole, I thought that was so funny at the times, of course I would get teased about it by my friends lol, and the guy I dated was nothing like Mark's Character David). LOL Okay back to walking the line, I was so touched by this movie! What a great love story that came out of it, I was so sad to learn (I looked it up online) That June died from Heart Surgery :( and 4 months later Johnny died. How amazing that Johnny use to listen to June sing on the radio when they were younger, then he followed up on her from magazines, he was so inlove with her from such an early age. I am so glad they got together, not only did they make good (FUNNY) music together (oh I just wanted to add that Dustin has watched this movie with me a few times now too lol and he said when he watches Reese and Joaquin that he loves Duets :), we are both BIG music fans, we love everything lol) but they were so good for eachother. They clicked.
This movie touched me so much that after we watched it yesterday we took the boys to Mcdonalds for lunch (happy meals) and an hour in the playground, and while I sat there eating my happy meal lol all I could think about was getting back home to rewatch the movie. I swear I could not get my mind off of it lol. If you have not seen this movie, you NEED to go rent it now! :) And if you don't have the Soundtrack, go get that too! Reese and Joaquin sing so good and the tunes are so fun :)



Oh an speaking of Yummy Joaquin Phoenix, howmany of you guys remember the 1987 movie called " Russkies" Omgosh I remember this being another movie I played over and over again back then lol (along with goonies, lost boys, spacecamp etc) (lol oh and I should warn you all, I am a HUGE movie buff, I have been a movie addicted since I was 4 years old, I have seen everything LOL ;))

Okay I better get back to the two kits I am working on :) TTYL

Friday check in :)

I am sooooooooo tired so this is going to be a short post lol. I have a bad cold :( and on top of that I am soooo sore and tired from all the extra cleaning the last two days. I was on ebay a couple weeks ago checking out the Leslie Sansone DVD's (I am sure if you read my blog you know how much I LOVE her DVD's :) ) Well I came across one I just had to have, "Walk away the pounds "walk and kick" DVD. Well lol it was going for $20 and I missed the end of the auction. Well Tonight Dustin and I were at Walmart, I had to get some computer paper and a few odds and ends, I decided to go and see if they had the weighted balls (My WATP's DVD's all have work outs that use them and I would have to take the DVD's back down to the apartment gym to use the ones there and frankly I almost killed myself climbing up to the top of the tv to add the dvd in, so not worth it lol). Well they did not have the smaller balls, they have the one size bigger balls, to big for my hands. But guess what the had???? MY walk and kick DVD by Leslie :) I was soooooo happy and the best part is, it was only $9.99. WOW I made out! I will let you know how good it is tomorrow :)

okay if there are any typos I am so sorry lol I swear I am about to pass out right here lol, and I am way to tired and lazy to proof read tonight LOL. Good night all :)

Nikki

I need Air lol

Yep this is me at 11:49pm coming up for air. I have been cleaning the apartment since I got up this morning lol. My MIL will be here tomorrow at 1pm, so I had to get alot of stuff done today. Not that I let the house go, up until she visits lol but you know all those things you put off, like the shoe marks on the wall (in my case with two busy boys it's also soda and juice (eye roll lol), I had to clean out the fridge and freezer (seems someone spilt a jug of apple juice inside and did not clean it up lol "Dustin"). I had to scrub down both the couch and the love seat, carpet clean the dining room (aka my scrap office) the living room and hallway. Then I did about 6 loads of laundry (we had a HUGE mess in the boys room two days ago where Aidan snuck the syrup out of the fridge and made a work of art all over the walls, blankets, floor, pillows, TV, shelves....well everything. So I had to wash all the stuff that got caught in that war zone. I then cleaned out the front bathroom to get it ready for her, I had to wash all the rubber ducky (yep it's the boys bathroom and the quest bathroom lol all done up in light blue and white and yellow to match the rubber ducky theme lol, I will be changing it to a beachy theme once we move) towels and stuff. All I have left to do is fold the HUGE pile of clothes I washed yesterday and Carpet clean the boys room in the morning.

We did not get a chance to make it in to Boise today :( We all got up early, and were almost out the door when D came back in and said the explorer would not start. AHHH! not again, I swear this suv that I love so much just keeps breaking down on us. I think it is time to start looking for another suv. I think this one has seen her better days. So for now he is using his fathers truck. Waaaaa I wanted my new Basic Grey paper from in town too lol, oh well tomorrow lol.

Oh and I can share what my good email was yesterday. I am now back on the LRS DT :) I am so excited! This team is so amazing! And the girls are all just like family! I have missed them all!

Okay I think I am going to work a little on an ebay kit and maybe some of my 3 product challenge layout and then get to bed. Night :)

Nikki

OOOO LA LA day!

I got up early this morning, not by choice, I had a horrible nightmare about Aidan, I hate that when you have this horrible dream about one of your children and wake up feeling those emotions from your dream so fresh, so raw, almost real. It took me a few minutes of just sitting up in my bed to gather up my thoughts. Either I chould lay there dreading that dream or I could get up, go kiss my son and then get in a shower and start my day. I did the second thing.

After the shower I put on my clothes and got ready for the day. I picked up around the house some then logged online to check emails and make a TODO list for the day at LM. I had some wonderful emails today, one in which I am not sure I can talk about yet and the other was from a wonderful lady who purchases my ebay kits :) nothing like waking up to see you sold a kit. I work so hard on my page kits, hours and hours everyday. They all mean so much to me! I am currently working on a boy kit to match the girl one I sold this morning. I am really liking ebay lately, it's been nice and such a HUGE help for us.

Moving day is getting closer. We are very excited now! My MIL will be here in less than two days so we can talk about things more but we now have a date. Yeah the moving truck has been rented LOL. WOOT WOOT LOL okay just had to do that, I am super excited! I can not WAIT to go to the beach, funny thing is I have moved away to another state before, right out of HS and the one thing I always missed when I was there was the beach! The beach has always been a HUGE part of my life growing up and it has been for my boys since they were born. It is one of our family traditions we use to do to at least go once a week to the beach. (yep I have a TON of beach pictures to scrap lol). I always thought I would love it in the country, to have that small town (sweet alabama movie) type feeling, everyone knows everyone, the town is small, fun stuff, well honestly, I am just a city girl, and though I LOVE the look and feel of the country it is just not me. It Took doing this a second time in my life to realize that I love the city. I am going Home! I am so HAPPY! Even better our family I truly feel is finally going to be okay, this just feel so right!

Okay I better get back to this kit, as soon as I finish I am going to work on Amy and Robyns 3 product challenge for this week :) I even got Melissa to join me this week and I like I got her hooked on them LOL :) TTYS

WOWIE 2 posts in one night....amazing ;)

LOL. Okay yes I am posting again tonight lol, something funny happened and I just had to blog about it :)

So I am sitting here working (well I should be lol but I have not found my way back over to my table lol I am still stuck here at the computer, ahem I mean I am working LOL ;)) Anyways, so I am a girl, who has her specials needs of yummy chocolate confections from time to time. So last night I had D pick me up a box of Hostess Ding Dongs (yeah you know the ones, when we were kids that use to come wrapped in foil, yeah well they are not wrapped in foil anymore lol but still oh so yummy!) I have been craving those babies for days now! And thought I deserve them because I have lost another 5 pounds in two weeks. Well when D brought them home last night I hid them in my office/scraproom (*AKA The dining room that I took over*) I have huge bay windows in here and my paper and shelves are up against the big window, well I hid them behind those and the brick colored curtains when have in here (they match the stuff in the livingroom) so in other words, if you were a neighbor and just happened to pass through our back area of the apartments you would see my yummy treats in our window LOL. Well I was sitting here looking at Myspace.com (ahem *working* ;)) and hear comes Austin. He asked for some juice. So I got up and headed over to the fridge. He starts laughing at me. I say "what is it?" he says you have something Brown on your pants. So I look and of course there it is, apparently it seems I must have dropped a piece on my chair, then sat on it and it was stuck to the back of my pants, Well I did not want him to think (or say, he is a boy and they think this way) I well, you know, had an accident since it is chocolate and brown lol (omgosh sorry tmi lol) so I had to share one LOL. Ummkay we will not talk about how many I ate today!!!! That is only for me and my hips to know :) These suckers taste so good fresh from a 5 minute trip to the freezer :) I love the taste of the crunchy half frozen chocolate.

Okay I am REALLY going to get back to work this time :)

Oh and I changed the song again lol (sorry) I was flipping channels on the raido and heard Martina Mcbride (sorry non country fans, but I am the kinda girl who loves just about any kinda music :) you should see my CD collection lol) I Love this song! It is so sad, I love this song and "God's Will" by Martina, one thing I truly LOVE about both videos is they seem to be filmed sometimes in Fall (my favorite season) and where every them were filmed is where I wanna live lol, it's GORGEOUS!

Okay TTYL

Nikki

Busy Girl I am :)

So sorry again LOL (I am a bad blogger lately). I have been busy working on kits for ebay and getting ready for our move back to California. I can't wait! Lately I have been eating and sleeping kits, just trying to make the extra money for things. D called from work today and said just as soon as his two weeks are up from Costco he will be working with the man he worked for doing the windows thing until we move. I also spoke to my MIL and looks like I will have a job when we get back to CA too :), God I pray things go good for us!

So I am now really only on one DT now. Moments Defined. I love it, it is such a great group of gals with so much Talent and Angela is the sweetest! It's been nice working on stuff with the product. When things were not going to good with Dustin and I, I had no clue what was going to happen so I quit the Kit club I was on, I loved this club so much, but I was just not sure if I could do it not knowing what was going to happen with us. I wish now I would have just took a leave instead of quiting all together, I should have thought about it more, but at the time I was just so scared (worried about our marriage and divorce, I did not post much about this and am not going to now, but this had alot to do with why I was not around much in Jan, things are very good now) at what was happening here at home. I really do miss this team and the gals on it! Now with only one team, I feel, well kinda naked lol. I am going to be looking out for kit teams that might be looking for some girls and try out. I just miss it too much, it kept me really scrapping each month and havinf fun. I also want to email a couple Manuf companies I love and just send in an email saying "hey I would love it if you kept me on file, if you ever need someone", I mean how else am I ever going to get something I want more than anything if I don't try? right?

Okay I need to get back to my current kit :) I will post more I promise (Hi Jen ;))

Oh and if you have a MYSPACE account comment me back with your name I would love to add you :) I am so addicted LOL

Oh and I put some new music up * Rihanna * The CD is awesome! You should check it out :) Fun to work out too :)

The Man on my Phone...

Yep The man on my phone is Mr. John Mayer. LOL I had to have one of my favorite artists ever as my screen saver. I also have ahem "Your body is a wonderland" as a ring tone LOL, I had it on there for a while tonight but changed it to "If you leave me now" by Chicago (One of mine and D's favorites). I am keeping the John Mayer screen saver on there though. I can't wait to see him in concert! He also has an awesome blog on My Space if you wanna check it out, I love reading it! I also added one of his LIVE showings on on my blog so I can hear and see him sing, he makes these awesome faces LOL and he loves to eat his mic ;) (it's a joke between Mayer fans), but it's also one of my favorite songs by him (well I pretty much love all of them lol) "Daughters". Hope you like it.

I have been pretty busy the past few days with EBAY stuff. It's taken up alot of my time. I am hoping to scrap this weekend though, I want to try and get a few things done for the ST call due next week. Oh I forgot to post, I had a CARD picked up for CARDS magazine. I love this card, I used the new Chatterbox "Poolhouse" line. I was so excited to be picked up by this wonderful ideabook again. I can't wait to see it.

Okay I better get to bed, It is 2:30am and my eyes are burning they are so tired. Night all

Nikki

PS, If there is typos it is because it is late and I am soooooo tired lol.

...

Yawn, I am sooooo tired today and will probably have to sneek in a nap today. I was up late last night with Dustin, we watched a movie together, lol I am so tired I have no clue what it was LOL. BAD me ;) lol. I also got two page kits done for EBAY, and when I got up this morning they were both sold YAY. (I say my page kits for BIN $39.99) so this will help pay the car insurance bill due now. Speaking of driving, here is a little fact I bet many did not know about me. I don't have a drivers licence lol (SHOCK). I know, I know lol. I plan to finally get it in the next two months before we move back to CA. I may not drive however I do know HOW to drive. I have driven many times before (now before I am judged about driving with no license, understand that there was a time in my life out of HS that I was on my own in a new state and I needed to drive to get to and from work everyday, Why I never went down to get one then is beyond me lol.) I was taught to drive at 19, by a roommate I had named Bobby. I had so much fun my first time out, I was so nervous! After a week of learning my roommate thought I would do good going to pick up my friend on the other side of town. Of course he came with me. I did so good, well up until we pulled in to our street and Bobby told me he thought I was ready to park (I had this thing about parking next to cars, I thought I would hit them lol, I was so afraid). Well his work truck was parked in the driveway and on the otherside were palm trees. I remember feeling so scared, I pulled in slowly, I was doing really good actually and then I got a little to close to his truck, The car I was driving started rubbing up against it, I freaked out, I went to put my foot on the break and ended up hit the gas lol (yikes) We all slamed into the side of the house. I remember my other male room mates (We live in a HUGE 5 bedroom house, I had 3 male room mates and one female (we has Bobby's girlfriend) running out and the look on their faces. I Remember looking up at Bobby his hair thrown in his face, I thought he was gonna kill me, not only did I run his car into the house but I ran it through HIS room. I Thought he was gonna kill me, instead he removed the hair from his face and their was this HUGE smile on his face and his cheeks were red LOL, he was laughing. My friend Melissa who was in the back seat (with his son YIKES) were okay, a little shocked and scared but okay). The first thing out of my mouth? "See I told you I can't park yet". The first thing out of Bobby's mouth? "Um yeah well I always wanted a Fireplace in my room, now there is a huge hole to start it" LOL. A week later both Bobby and I patched the hole up. I became a wonderful driver if I do say so myself, I do everything right, lol I am told I drive snobby (which means I follow all the rules, I am a turn signal freak LOL). Anyways why I told you all this story is beyond me lol, I it just popped into my mind and I wrote it. I am planning on getting my licence here within the next few weeks. It is fun and easy to drive here but I am scared of (HE double hockey sticks) to drive in CA. It's crazy there I tell ya, soooooo many drivers, so many accidents, this is one of the main reasons I never wanted my license lol.

Okay well I better get things going here, I have chores and another page kit to make. I am waiting on the UPS lady, I missed a package yesterday. I am thinking this package might be from Acrtic Frog, with my goodies from being published in their Winter CHA/online catalog :) I am so excited. that or it might be some of Austin's Birthday Presents, our parents send the, early and I know my mom said she was planning on buying them and shipping them soon. We shall see :) I hope you all have a great day! TTYS

Nikki

A little blue today...

I am feeling Depressed today. I have no clue why, just can't seem to get in the mood for anything today. We got up early, went to Costco to get D's check (it's gone already darn that rent lol), I went to the gym and hated it (I normally love going to the gym), I have work to do for ebay but am slugging through it, It must be PMS lol. I think I need a Pepsi :( lol (I gave up normal soda for diet soda "diet coke" but am thinking about cheating). I need Chocolate, waaaa.
I have John Mayer's Room for squares on repeat in my CD player at my scrap desk, for the last hour I have the song "Great Indoors" playing over and over (I tend to do this to John lol, I will find a song each day that I play out lol, depending on my mood, and John is normally who is stuck in my CD player, (I have all his CD's) Anyways I can relate to this song seeing is I am a hermit and live my life indoors...

Check your pulse it's proof that you're not listening to
The call your life's been issuing you
The rhythm of a line of idle days

Scared of a world outside you should go explore
Pull all the shades and wander the great indoors
The great indoors

Lamplight makes the shadows play
And posters take the walls away
The T.V. is your window pane
The view won't let you down
So put your faith in a late night show
I bet you didn't even know
Depends on how far out you go
The channel numbers change

Scared of a world outside you should go explore
Pull all the shades and wander the great indoors
Though lately I can't blame you I have seen the world
And sometimes wish your room had room for two

So go unlock the door
And find what you are here for
Leave the great indoors
Please leave the great indoors

Check your pulse it's proof that you're not listening to
The call your life's been issuing you
The rhythm of a line of idle days

Okay I better go back to my scrap table click on the "un" pause button, turn this song back on and get my hiney to work. I would rather just curl up in bed, but EBAY needs me lol ;) Hope you are all having a good night.

Nikki

Yawn lol

LOL notice how the last three days my post talk alot about me being tired? LOL here is another one LOL, I have been so busy with household things and family stuff since Dustin got sick, I have not really had time to work on ebay which is bad, or do some regular personal scrapbooking until tonight. The cards magazine call was dues at 12am tonight so I worked on some fun cards today, I sent in 8 cards, 5 new ones and a couple I did before. I worked up until the deadline lol. I enjoy making cards. I am so super nervous about this though. I made it into the first book and tried for the last few but did not make it, lately I have not been picked up at all and that scares me. The style that is in right now is nothing like My style. I have done layouts that I am so very proud of and thought might get picked up, but did not. I find myself getting super nervous about contest or magazines I submit to now. I just hope at least one of my 8 cards gets picked up tomorrow (crossing fingers) I read a post at two peas from Alisha G saying the calls would go out early morning (today) so i am really nervous now. I should just do like others have told me and just submit and forget, that way I don't get super excited and then upset when it does not happen. Yawn, I am so tired, I am going to go hop in bed now, it is 2am lol, need me some sleep, I have to get up in a couple hours to get to the gym and then all day tomorrow it is EBAY day lol (working all day to get stuff up).

Oh and I have a post I want to make about the MIM contest and what happened to me (why I did not enter), I will try and post that story tomorrow. Night all :)

Nikki

so very tired and my poor dh day 2

I was up most of the night with Dustin, the poor guy is still very sick and has not passed his stone yet. He spent most of the night in the front bathroom and I camped out, outside the door of the bathroom in the hallway. I brought the top blanket to our bed and two pillows and a book and just layed there for hours spending time with him because I knew he would not be able to sleep through the pain. I hope he can get through this fast, the last ones never took this long to pass :( He has been sleeping most of the day which is good since he was up most of the night. I think with everything that has happened the past two days with him, I probably have only had 8 hours asleep in two days so I am so very tired today. I am thinking about taking a nap now while Aidan is down so I can finish my kits for ebay later tonight. With Dustin missing work this week we will need the extra money.

I also have been working on a couple cards for the cards magazine call due tomorrow. I would love to be published with them again! They truly are an amazing magazine/book. There are so many awesome idea for cards in their books.

I am having some issues with my email and peamail, for some reason I am receiving my peamail a couple days after they are sent out to me and they end up everytime in my junk mail folder even though I have gone in to change them to be sent to my inbox. So strange.

Okay well I better get to my nap lol so I can work later. I am so in a scrapbooking mood right now but sadly I have to "work" first before I can play lol (ebay=work) I am so happy I got a layout done two days ago though :)

Sorry for the boring post today lol, I am blaming it on my half asleep brain ;)

Nikki

My poor DH, I finally scrapbooked

I finally scrapbooked a layout for the first time in like two months. I was reading Amy Howes blog and saw this challenge there that her and Robyn made at two peas and thought it would be perfect for me to do. You were suppose to create a layout using only three items, Cardstock, buttons and HS letters. The layout above was my finished project for this challenge, it was so much fun to do. I think I will have to try more of these challenges.

Dustin has been sick again for a couple days now. Last night when he went to bed he kept saying his cyst (in an area I will not be posting about, very personal but common in men to get them in this spot) he went to bed so upset, I felt so bad for him and asked if we could just got to the ER. He did not want to. At around 1:30 am he woke up and said he had to go to the ER. I said I would drive him. So we got in the car and drove two buildings over to the local hospital, when I dropped him off at the ER I looked over at him and he was dry heaving, he looked so sick and so wet with sweat all over his face and neck, I started to freak out right there, I just wanted to be with him and not leave his side, I did not want to leave him but with it being so late and the boys sleeping it would not be right to wake them to wait at the hospital, I sat here and waited for him to call for about 30 minutes then tried his cell phone to see what was going on, I could not get to sleep at all until I knew things were okay or that he sounds better. no answer, I waited a few more minutes, it felt like forever! Then I tried two more times, nothing So I called the ER. I spoke to a man who put me on hold for like a minute and then I heard Dustin's voice It was so heartbreaking, he is in so much pain right now because of this lump, we were both so scared that now this cyst has turned into something worse. He said they had him on an IV with pain meds but he was so hurt, said they were not working at all he said they were going to do another ultrasound and see how much more of the lump has grown. We were both so scared they were going to say "cancer". I found out later that the IV they gave him did not make it into his vein and that is why the meds did not work for him until they started over in the other arm (this always happens everytime to the both of us, we have such bad luck with IV's and hospitals)

I spoke to Dustin two more times after that call, I could hardly understand him, he was in and out of the coversation with me so groggy. He said they took some more test and were coming in and he does not remember much because of him passing out off and on. I asked him to call me back if he heard anything else. I layed down and finally got a little sleep, he called me around 7:40am to come get him. When I got there I waited a few minutes and then they took me back to see him, he was curled up in a chair in his room he slept in all night, he looked so hurt. He told me that it was not the cyst causing all this trouble but that his third kidney stone had dropped (he has had two in the last two years and we knew there were 4 all together, they seem to drop once every year so after this one passes there will only be one left). Although I know kidney stones are horrible (i have never had one but I have watched him go through it now three times)but I was happy it was not the cyst, They said that the kidney stone dropped fast and that is why he felt it in his, well um area were the cyst is (the cyst is in an area that if it was cancerous they might have to remove something to get it out and that can less our chances for fertility if we wanted more kids) This whole thing was just so scary for the both of us! I was so very sad that I could not be by his side through it all! He is still in alot of pain and says the cyst area hurts him. The dr's said that it is nothing to worry about, but once we get back to CA in a couple months we will be making an appointment to have it checked out again and maybe removed to ease our minds.

Okay well it has been a long couple days so I am going to go try and sneak in a nap here. TTYAS

Nikki

Had to stop blogging for a bit

I am sorry I have not posted again in awhile, I have had to take a break to get this in order in my homelife. I had something happen here that changed things, at first it was pretty bad but the last two weeks things have gotten better. For those of you who are close to me you know what I am talking about, for those of you who know me just by my blog, it is a bit to personal to share on here but I will tell you we are doing alot better.

The boys are doing good, I have been working on ABC's and writing with Austin, he is getting really good at writing. Aidan knows his ABC's really well and can say the sounds that go with them Thanks to our Leap pad fridge phonics.

D to me is slowly being laid off of work :( they just keep cutting his hours, he is now down to only 4 hours a night 5 days a week and 8 hours on sat. It is kinda scary but at the same time it is okay, when we get to CA he will have his new job, his mom said to not worry about this job to much.

I have been working super hard on EBAY stuff the last week, it is after all my job and ectra income coming into the house. I had three kits sell today and two are still up at ebay one with a bid :) Kristie and I were super happy :) I am working on more kits now. I spent last weekend cleaning my scraproom and now it looks great I added an extra shelf at my table so now I have more room and I enjoy being in there working. I also need to take sometime for me to scrapbook and get my Chatterbox MIM contest entry done. LOL I wonder if I can just drop it off at the CBX offices ;) lol. This is thee biggest goal I want to finish right now! Chatterbox means so much to me.

Hmmmm more scrapbooking news is I will be getting my new Arctic Frog stuff any day now, the stuff that I ordered from LM and my goodies for having a layout Published in their 2006 catalog, I can't wait to play :) I also placed a small order at Linnecards for some CBX goodies (like if I don't have enough ;)) this stuff will be great for more kits I am working on.

It has been nice spending so much time with my family the last two weeks, I think we all needed this! To get things good again and sort out our life more, communicate, which I think is our biggest problem.

Okay I am rambling now so I better get back to finishing up my laundry folding and my ebay kits. TTYAS I promise not to stay away as long again and update more. ooooooo I just remembered I better get my "summer" layouts turned into ST right now too..... TTYS

whoa!

Sorry again that it has been a while since I last updated, it's been a very busy couple of weeks. Not only have I been working harder getting Ebay kits up for the extra money, but I have been heavy duty cleaning and starting to pack. We are getting excited now!

I have also been doing so good at working out, it is making me feel so much better everyday and I am now at the point where it is getting addicting, damn did I miss this feeling and I have not felt it since before I was PG with Austin. I have always been active, I am a two time gold medalist in Kickboxing, I love to walk/jug/run, and LOVE Karate. And I am a gym addict :) I have also been drinking more water then soda YAY :)

I should be getting my LRS DT kit anyday now and can't wait, I have some good ideas for this kit that I can't wait to get started on. I am also working on more Moments Defined goodies :) There are a couple new goodies that we got to see that were shown at CHA and they look awesome! I can not wait to play :) I want to get a few more cards done for Cards magazine also.

Okay well I need to go finish my latest kit for EBAY and then get things moved around in out room and a few more boxes packed :) TTYAS

Nikki

Current Calls Ticker

Awesome new feature from Scrapsubmit, this ticker lists all the new current calls (it updates it's self when there is a new call) all you do is click on the call and it will take you to the submitting page! AWESOME!

I did not make it

We got up early today, which means I have only had about 4 hours of sleep since I went to bed this early morning. I was just to nervous. After I finish this blog entry I am going to bed. Right now I am eating a yummy sonic oreo blast. I think I deserve it :) and I will just go to the gym (oooo yeah the best thing for me there huh? eat some yummy icecream treat and then go to sleep, oprah would be proud of me ;) and my diet (NOT).

Well I did not make the scrapworks team. I honestly think that maybe I am not making these teams because my style is just to much, it's got to much going on, but you know what it is just that, MY STYLE and the way I scrapbook, I am not going to change it, I am proud of it, my friends and family love it, it's me. Now that another of these contests, is under my belt I am getting use to the way they are run and work, it's a good experience, I am learning from all this. It's teaching me for what is to come in my future right? (Chatterbox maybe? :0) I would just die if that ever happened! I am going to try to get my "something" done for that major contest (not a DT contest) I was speaking of in my last post, because it is using something I truly love and work with most often I think I can do good with it (lord knows I have enough of it to last a lifetime lol), at least I will try my best to. I really want to win this or at least place in it.

Okay I need to go lay down, when I get back up I will come and post more. TTYAL

Nikki

I can't sleep :(

So here I sit 1:40 in the morning and I can't sleep, why you might ask? My nerves, I am so nervous about the Scrapworks DT call and that they will be announcing the 2006 Design team tomorrow. Since I share the same Timezone it will be no later than 6pm MST. After seeing all the Scrapworks entries in the Peas Gallery I feel so nervous. Do I even have a chance? Think about all the talented people who tried out who are not from Peas? And all the Talented gals at LM who tried out. I have to admit, this is also one of my favorite times, the not knowing, the feeling of will I be? I know the feeling all to well of what the next day will bring, good or bad, the day you find out if you made it or not, I know what it feels like to make it and I know what it feels like not to. Although I want tomorrow (well actually it is tomorrow now huh lol) to come and to know if my name is on the site (I wonder if they will have finalists?), I also am scared to know, scared of that rejected feeling...

I have started my HOF stuff now and have a great buddy, I am still doubting myself about entering, one thing is for sure I want to get the 10 layouts done in the next two weeks, maybe not to send them in but to have at least tried. There is one HUGE (in my eyes) contest I want to try this year (no it is not for a DT) It is something that would mean so much to me, and I have an idea of what I want it to be (themewise), I think it is going to be great, I have no doubt in my mind about it, it is something I truly love! I am not going to talk to much about the contest because I do not want to jinx myself ;)

Okay I just finished my jug of water so I think I should probably go try and lay down again and get some sleep, what if by some gift from God, I get this DT spot at Scrapworks, I have to be awake to get the call right? lol Good night all and to those who read my blog and have tried out for this also, Good Luck! :0)

Nikki

Yuck, cleaning today

Well I have spent the week working on assignments and EBAY stuff so today will be spent cleaning, ewwwwwwwww, and boy do the boys have a nasty mess in their room for me ~Sigh~
I want to also move the furniture around in my room, I am thinking about taking one of my Scrap shelves down from the wall and folding up the 8ft scrap table and just moving my dresser back in it's place, I have enough room on my 4ft table to work and I can add one of the shelves and 3 drawer tubs to it for the extra storage. The room is just to small for both a bedroom and a scraproom and lol my scraproom has taken it over. So it's time to get some of my room back lol plus I want the light in there again, One of my huge dressers is sitting in front of the window now so not much light comes in. I like the light in the room, makes me feel more creative.

I am on pins and needle about My scrapworks entry, TOMORROW is the day the new DT is posted on the scrapworks website. I really want this, as well as many others, I want to work for a company who's products I love to use and the creative part comes easy for me. I have been sitting here wondering who will make it, what styles, etc. The whole choosing a DT must be so hard for companies, so many people try out and you have to narrow it down, you want to pick the best for your team but you also feel bad about those you can't take on.

Okay I better get to work on the cleaning and Lunch for everyone. TTYS

Nikki

WooHoo I did it :0)

Okay before I get to bed I just wanted to say wooohooo I changed my blog template :) and GEEZZZ did it take forever lol. Thanks so much Jen for your help on finding the template for me, I changed a few things from the Original, and I still have a couple questions that I will ask you in the morning ;0) Thanks girlie for helping me!

Nikki

YAY I finished

I am so happy! I was able to finish my Scrapworks Design team entry and get it off to them. I really like the way my layouts and card turned out, but not so much with the project, I mean I like it I just think it may be a bit to simple and after seeing all the uploaded projects others did, My project was stomped on in comparison. But again even if I do not make the team I am SUPER happy with my about me page I got done. It was fun to make! I stayed up late (3am lol) to work on it last week. I really liked the business line colors and thought the one sheet of Chatterbox I used with it worked so well. Cool thing about Scrapwork paper is when you flip the patterned side over you get a solid cardstock with a color that matches the pattern on the other side, in this layout it is the dark blue you see throughout it. Amways here are my layouts (the two page layout is an older one I did but I did use some Scrapworks stuff on both pages) the one page about me is a new one and so is the card.

and here is the card



I am trying to finish up a baby layout for the Scrapbook Trends Baby Ideabook, and I am working on two ebay kits. I also plan to start my HOF entries tonight. I will be a scrapping fool this week :0)

On a Side note I was reading Ambers blog (remember Amber, Jen? I was telling you about her digital designs and Citrus Blossoms and wishing the designs were made into paper to? (lol although I like digital scrapping I stink at it lol, I have only ever done one maybe I will post it here to show you lol, it stinks I tell yea lol), well guess what girl? LOOOOOOOOOOOK...

Heather P (this is the link to Heathers blog and Ambers Sneak Peak) and A2Z have Amber as their new designer. YAY :) now no more trying to figure out how to print out Ambers designs to use on a layout LOL. I can't wait! This is exciting stuff! Amber also has a couple sneak peaks on her blog as while. Go check them out ladies, they are awesome!

Okay I better get back to work. Talk to you all soon.

Oh before I go I have to tell you what my two year old "Aidan" Said to me, I was sitting here working a couple nights ago, it was about 10pm and he was still up but tired. He kept talking about taking a bath and I said no that it was bed time. So I see him get up off the couch and start heading down the hallway. I say no no no, the monster is guarding the hallway and says he wants you in bed, (before you say I am a bad parent for telling my son there are monsters let me explain, lol his favorite movie is Monsters Inc by Dinsey, so he has this thing for monsters.) A couple minutes go by and he is still sitting here with me, I get up to go get some paper for my printer and my son reminds me that the monster is guarding the hallway...

Aidan- "Mommy there is a monster in hallway"

me- "oh yeah I forgot"

Aidan- "mommy there is a monster in hallway and he is going to eat your brains"

me- (thought in my head- hmmmm D must have told him something about monsters eating brains, figures lol) "ooooo really, now that is not nice of him is it?"

Aidan- " mommy monster's in hallway and I will punch his eye"

Me- "okay Aidan, how about mommy just tells the monster he can leave on break for 5 minutes so mommy can get her paper for her work"

I yell down the hall that it is break time to the monster and turn on the hall light, Aidan is right behind me

Aidan- "Mommy Monsters not on break he is in the potty"

(My older son most have left the light on in the bathroom and closed the door lol, anywho it worked though, he did not want to take a bath after that because the monster was on guard of the hallway, he went to bed shortly after. We also have a monster who guards the kitchen at night (lol some nights Aidan like to go in there and if the fridge is not locked (my older son lol eye roll) then he will get in there a few times.

Okay I am off now, Hope you all have a good day!

Nikki

I was tagged

I was tagged by Jlyne :0)

Four jobs you have had in your life:
1. I work at a dental office, doing x-rays, clean up and office filing/cleaning I was 16 my first job :)

2. Fresh Choice- I loved this place, it was fun and time flew by, I got to work with my best friend Myra (we have had a few jobs together lol hmmm that reminds me of our job at TCBY too if it was not busy we would bring videos to watch in the back room while doing homework lol, awww good times, me, Myra, yogurt toppings (mmmmmm candy lol) and Scarface on the boob tube), We had fun at Fresh choice to, lots of yummy foods to eat ;) lol, dancing while closing to awesome music (lol I will never forget the time Myra almost broke her back while we were leaving one night after closing (this was one of our jobs we had back in HS) that song by I think the cardagians "Love me Love say that you love me" was on and we were walking out of the restaurant and goofing around dancing funny, next thing you know Myra was on her back and I swear I was going to pee my pants it was so funny! This is also where I met one of my serious BF's, lol went to the Sadies dance with him (lol I have pictures YIKES lol) I also have pictures of us working at Fresh choice lol

3. Little Nellies restaurant (NM), I LOVED this job as a waitress, it was fun, fast money lol, I remember spending so much of my tip money on Clothes and Music CD's (reason I have so MANY cd's today). Closing time was fun as well, we would all turn on the Juke box and sing dance (some drank lol).

4. Sonic Restaurant: Yes, I was a carhop also and did do the skates too LOL, This job was a LOVE HATE job, some days it was fun (summer) some not so much (winter and snow) another job I had while in (NM), okay I hope this does not make me sound bad but the worst thing about this job was me always being hit on, I got so annoyed of it, male co-workers and eww one female LOL and the annoying guys in the cars. In NM Sonic was the "HOT SPOT" Froday and Saturday nights, so they were always busy and it was "cruising night" so all the cars would do this circle thing up and down the street for hours on those nights lol.

Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. Scarface :0) love this movie
2. Pulp Fiction
3. How to lose a guy in 10 days
4. Sweet home alabama (Oh an Jlyne I also love Seven and own the special edition :)

Four places you have lived:
1. San Jose, Ca
2. Las Crusas, NM
3. Nampa, ID
4.

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Gilmore Girls
2. Project Runway
3. LOST
4. Anything on MTV lol, Laguna beach, meet the barkers, Next, RW, RR'S, all the shows

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Reno
2. AZ
3. DisneyLand
4. San Fran (HoneyMoon with D) (lol and I have been a ton on just daily visits lol)

Four websites I visit daily:
1. Lifetime Moments
2. Two Peas PUB
3. Many Blogs I love
4. Email

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Avacado Turkey Sandwich
2. My homemade Chicken Tacos
3. Pepsi
4. Milk Shakes lol (I know bad but I LOVE them!)

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. California
2. Beach
3. Hawaii
4. A Nice hot bubble bath

Four bloggers I am tagging:
1. Jen
2. Kristie
3. Kara
4. Vern

Okay I need to head back to my scrap area and start working on my EBAY kits again, TTYAS :)

Nikki

Yawn...

I am up late finishing up a layout. I had Dustin take another picture of me yesterday so I could make this new layout for a Call. Nothing much happened today, I pretty much just had a lazy day, which I was needed after this long weekend lol. I did work on some EBAY stuff. I have to start selling a few things weekly on EBAY again for the extra cash for the family. It was kinda fun pulling everything out again and working. I plan to have some stuff up tomorrow. Okay sorry to cut this one a little short but I am super sleepy. Night all

Nikki

BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD!!!

I am soooooooooooooo BAD! Why? well I just ate a whole box of these...



Yep a whole box of Milano MINT cookies and it was soooooooooo good! In fact I am sure if there was another bag I would eat that too lol ;) I got a lot done this weekend I finished a lot of projects for Design teams I am on. I finished my layouts and projects for LRS, and like my end results. I was challenged by a thread at two peas, it was about people who only use one enlarged picture per layout and who always get published using them and how they are always in the magazines now. Well I fall into to that subject. I LOVE to scrap single 5x7 pictures. The most important thing to me about my scrapbooking is my journaling. Heck last night I was laying in front of the TV in our living room and my husband left his VANS shoe box on the entertainment center, I was looking at the pattern of the many "vans" word across the box and I then really badly wanted to take a picture of my husbands shoes and the box and scrap it. Why? Because that is him and there is a story behind it. My husband is a VANS shoe nut lol, this guy has TONS of them and has been "collecting" them LOL since he was 14. I want my boys to know this about their dad! I want them to see the style of vans their dad loves, maybe one day they will love them as much as D and enjoy seeing their dads style. I also realized that I want to make a "book of me" about my husband for them, for us! I have one I started for me and love it. I have my love of Yankee candles layout in it, lol heck I should probably do one on my love for thin mints and mint milanos lol, after all it is a part of me right!

Any way we all have stories to tell, that we want others to know, irregardless (lol I used a Trent Mean girls word ;) "love for all my fellow PITNB readers) of weather we use one picture of 10 we are scrapping things that are meaningful to us! Well I decided to make a few layouts with more then one picture, no I am not quitting my single photo layouts, I just decided to take the challenge and use more of my pictures on a layout, and I JOURNALed on everyone. Out of 4 layouts only 1 had one photo layout. Here they are if want to see :0)

and here is one of my projects I made with the kit...



I also made this beautiful (lol well I think so hee hee) mini matchbook album of the boys for Moments Defined CHA winter booth. And a Fathers Day card all with the Awakenings line. I will post those on my blog tomorrow, I am to tired and lazy to open photoshop and resize for the blog lol (blush) Okay I better get to bed, Night all I am going to go dream about Milano :0)

Nikki

I am still here, kinda...

Well it's been a busy couple of weeks, the holidays, the finishing up of the charity auction, we went to California for Christmas (and found out a couple of good things for our families future while we were there), plans for our move, etc. The boys were REALLY sick all through Christmas, I posted about what "fun" I had with that at LM, it lasted past Christmas, I got a couple days of a break and now they are both sick with colds. I have been super busy with Scrapbooking this past week. I had my CHA Winter items to work on and finish for MD and then my LRS DT kit came a few days ago so I have been busy with that, sick kids, cleaning the house all day (eyeroll) and demanding husband, I have not had much time for the computer or anything else. I usually have a not so busy month, (one dt I get to work with every other month) and the other is really easy, just scrapbooking with their awesome supplies. But this month it all came at me all at once, it's so funny how that happens. I have been super good spirited about it all, getting my work done and things done here at home, not letting anything get me down. But then something always seems to happen to me when things are going good that takes that confidence away, and now I feel like shit, I am beginning to think that I should never feel happy about anything because then I don't have to feel this crappy feeling either. Wishing I could crawl back into bed now, but I can't, While I was in my 5 minutes shower that I got to sneek in while I thought the boys were good watching their cartoons, all heck broke loose, so now I have a couple big chores ahead of me. Just wanted to get on and update those of you who were sweet to email me and see how I was doing. I'm okay, I'm alive just super busy this month. Things will be normal again next month.

Warning, lots of pics, and blogage lol

Okay it is late and I have a horrible headache/ear infection so I may have typos lol, hard to type with one eye half shut lol ;) Lots going on the past two days. Lets see two days ago we took the boys to the mall in town to see santa but he would not be there until 4pm, well it was only noon so we thought we would drive into town to see santa at the other mall 25 miles away. Well we get there walk all the way across the mall and OOPS would'nt you know, santa was sick and not there so we got a coupon lol. So we looked around, stopped in a couple stores to do some "window shopping" (great now that song by 50 cent is in my head lol) any ways so I stopped in Bath and Body work to spray myself with some yummy scent, well I mixed a couple things and moved on, later that night I kept smelling this awesome smell. Well the next day we went back to the in town mall to see santa at 4PM, The boys were so cute! When santa asked Austin what he wanted for Christmas he said "a new big boy bed" it was so cute! We are going to see if we can get him a twin bed (with the help from the Christmas money D's grandparents sent us yesterday, they sent us money to take care of all our gifts, so we thought we could do this for austin) Then we had pictures taken for MIL and the inlaws (it was only $12 for a 5x7 and 4 wallets) and they let me take one with my camera...



After we went window shopping again, well I stopped back in Bath and Body works to of course do the spray thing again LOL ;) well I went straight to the two bottles I sprayed myself with the day before, together the smell of both of them together was AMAZING! I loved it! Here they are :) ...



Cherry Blosom and Warm vanilla Sugar, and this shimmer mist is awesome! This is so going on my Christmas list :D or something I will treat myself to when and if I start doing EBAY again.

They also have one of my all time favorite scents there (I am a huge bath and body freak lol and have a nice little collection I started a few years back of all the lotions and sprays and this is one of my favorites)



Coconut lime (it has a hint of vanilla), if you have not smelt or tried this then you HAVE too! You will love it! and the lotions are so good! They keep your skin so soft and they smell so good! Oh and right now ladies they are having a sale on all the antibacterial soap buy 3 for $10 (I did not get anything but this was a sale they were running until the last days of Dec)

Anyways we had a great time yesterday. I also did a small little photo shoot with the boys yesterday that went a little wacky, I did manage to get a couple good pictures after about 150 LOL, if one boy was not moving then the other was. It was so hard! Here are some of those pictures...











I had to bribe the boys with candy LOL and at one point I had to place the candy tin on my head and on the camera just to get them both to look at me LOL. Okay I need to get to bed, Jay Leno and Johnny Knoxville are over (love johnny) so nightie night :)

Nikki

What to do, What to do?

I woke up early today, I did my one mile walk away the pounds DVD and then had D watch the boys while I went outside for a walk. It was nice.
I have spent most of the day being lazy. I did take the boys to walmart to get milk and a $.97 tape measurer. Well I was in the craft section I saw this Making Memories embellishment kits, they are a $30 value for only $9.99, they had all kinds of things in them, including one of my most favorite things by MM, simply stated rubon alphas YAY. LOL Sadly we have no extra money so hopefully there will be at least one left there after Christmas. I also looked to see if they had those lunch boxes I saw a thread about in the PUB, but did not see any at walmart.

Speaking of scrapbooking, I finished my 4 layouts using the LRS Dec kit. I was so happy with them and LOVE the one I did of D "The one that I love", I posted them in two different galleries but they did not get much love at all, maybe they are not as good as I thought? I am thinking I need to work on my scrap style, I need to make my layouts more eye catching. Maybe I need a mentor or muse? someone who can help me find a better style, help me improve by telling me what I am missing, tell me all the new trends and latest styles etc.

Here are those 4 layouts...

So I was reading one of my most favorite blogs " Pink is the new blog " evah :) and LOOK What Trent has...



You can get them at www.randyandmoss.com and they are only $20 BUT they are only on sale until 12/16/05 then they go away forever. I soooooooooooooo WISH we had the money to get me that black one, I want it so bad! Maybe I can tell D I want it for Christmas ;) lol

Speaking of Christmas I need to get my hiney in gear and get something made for MIL, my folks, FIL and his wife and D's grandparents. I make them all something handmade each year. I just have no clue what to do this year. Anyone have any ideas? I need to get whatever it is done by Friday lol so I can get it to them on time.

Okay well I need to get the boys down for bed and maybe watch a little tv before bed. Night all

Nikki

Horrible day

Everything is just so crappy right now! Things going on here at home, I feel so worthless, like I don't matter, my feelings, I feel taken advantage of!

Things going on with a friend I thought was a friend, she got to know me, I thought I got to know her, turns out I was being used and she quickly moved on to the next "best thing" as she likes to call it! And now I am being ignored!

I can't seem to get anything done today, I have tried but I get no help from D who has been home all day.

My work stinks, I stink at it today, could be because I am not in the mood for anything now that my whole day has just fallen apart, funny how one bad thing happens and everything starts to fall apart.

If you make it a point to make friends and get to know people PLEASE watch yourself, there are people out there that are just using you! They do not care about you as the person you are, just what you CAN do for them at that moment in time, then they throw your friendship away like it does not matter! I met someone a few months back, she came to me telling me I inspired her and she loved my work, we started talking alot, about work,scrapping,our families, She would ask me for advice on scrapbooking and of course I would give it to her,, I thought we were friends, but then she just stopped talking to me, out of the blue, I have seen her move on to others, pretty much doing the same thing she did to me! WATCH out on who you trust and let into your life! I know from personal experience! Hurts like HELL when this happens!
Nuff said!

:(

Under the Christmas Tree

This was my two year old today. I saw him playing under the tree, I thought nothing of it and continued to read. About 20 minutes later I heard my 4 year old yelling in his room, so I got up to go tell him to play a little lower with his voice. When I can back into the living room I found my son sleeping under the tree like the picture above. Boy does it bring back childhood memories!

as long back as I can remember my sister and I LOVED to camp out under the tree, the lights, the smell. I am glad to see my boys picked up on it too :)

Well I pulled my stuff out to scrapbook today, had it all set up out here in the living room on the coffee table (instead of back in my room where I have all my scrap stuff set up) so I could be close to the boys and D. D was home this afternoon (working late) so he watched the boys while I started a layout. After he left to work the boys were impossible! Fighting, throwing toys, hitting, jumping, bouncing you name it, they did it! I got my work out in today for sure! the minute my butt hit the floor to work, that same minute I was up to get them away from eachother. right now it is 20 minutes until their bedtime and they are wired more then ever. I even had to put my scrap stuff away for now (dt stuff) and turn out all the lights (not the christmas tree) and put on boomerang (flintstones on right now) to try and calm them, where are they? One is screaming and yelling because he can't pass a game on his PS2 and the others is in and out of his room with his HUGE fire engine. Not to much longer before D is back home YYYYYAYYYYY :) Then maybe I can take a nice hot bubble bath with a book and then come back out and work on this layout more. (crossing fingers) It's a layout of my youngest in his Peter Pan jammies :) goes very well with the papers from the kit this month from LRS.

Oooooo GOSH I am wanting a soda sooooo bad, I had to share yhe very last one with Aidan tonight lol, and now I want another one, I am thinking about putting on all my warm clothes just to go get one from the apartment vending machine lol. I just may need a Pepsi to stay up and work tonight lol.

Okay well I better get back to the boys. TTYAS

Nikki

PS, yesterdays Anniversary was nice, I cooked an awesome meal and we all spent time together. and D and I cuddled, I always LOVED cuddling with him, we did it more so the first couple years we were married lol, so it was so nice to do it last night, we even both fell asleep cuddling on the couch LOL, we both woke up with stiff necks at 4am.

ahhhh okay really going, just had austin out here screaming about aidan spitting is milk in his eye, and they are fighting again :( Calgon take me awwwaaaayyyyyyyy........

Scrappin, well trying to anyways...

I just received my DT kit for Little Red Scrapbook. It's awesome, It is a kit that works around the new Chloe's Closet paper called "The back Nine". Soooo that means boyish colors :) YAY, which is perfect for all the pictures I just got back from www.winkflash.com of the boys. I get to play with some Black and White pictures as well as colored and what is cool is the background colors match the kit colors AWESOME! I have to admit I was a bit nervous of the Dice paper but, it looks so awesome in person, and Thanks to my friend Kristie I have an awesome theme, that will go perfect with the Dice paper, RIGHT ON! Here is what the kit looks like...



and then of course the awesome ADD ONS are amazing too and work so well with this kit!





I can't wait to get started, it is all sitting right in front of me and I have about two hours to work on it now (before D gets home and we celebrate our five year anniversary :D) I just picked out the pictures I will be using and now all that is left is to sketch out all my layouts and projects I will be making and then let the scrappin begin. I have been feeling IN the MOOD to scrap the past couple days, just have been so busy here at home. The plan is to get a bunch of scrappin done this week when I can :) Okay I better go get started on those sketches :)

Nikki

Five years ago today...

For The one I love on our Anniversary

I hope there is never
a need for you to wonder
how strong and deep
my feelings are for you.
We may have changed a little,
grown a lot,
but what's been constant
is how much I need you
in my life...

If my words
sometimes fail me,
always remember
what's in my heart,
You touch my soul...
and always will!

I love you!

Happy Annniversary Dustin!

Nikki

He never gives you more then you can handle

I need to be reminded of that often. I have had a pretty rotten week, It got so bad I started to doubt myself, my worth, everything. Not only has my marriage been a bit rocky latey but things in our life and household started to fall apart. It all started last saturday. My DH went to a concert and that went great, I was happy he was going, a bit jealous lol (the place looked awesome!) I wanted to go, but very happy fpr him none the less. To make a long story short, the car broken down, he lost his cell phone (we just ordered this new on last month because the old one broke, it was $75 added in payments on our current bill) and he could not get home until 4am. He also had to much to drink that night. You better believe I was a bit angry with him. First off remember 6 months ago me blogging about the transmission on our car needing to be rebuilt, well $2084.00 later it was fixed. My parents of course payed for it because there was no way we had that kinda money. My parents Christmas gift to us this year was buying all new tires on the car also. so that was another $400 on this car. well Monday D took the car back to the shop that did the trany work. (we had to use some of our rent money to pay to have the Explorer towed, so of course we needed to get help with some of our rent this month :(, it's just a huge mess and when things like this happen to people who just live and get by with each pay check it makes it hard). A couple days went by and then we got the phone call from the shop saying what was wrong with the trany was not part of our warrenty and it would cost $900 to fix (SHOCK!) I was so mad! Not only do we not have $900 but how was my husband going to get to work everyday which is about 25-30 miles away. They wanted him to come down to the shop (which is near D's work), but he had no way of getting there. We asked FIL if he could help, he said yes that he would take Dustin the next day, well that next day it snowed heavy all day and night long, so FIL could not take D and he had to call in sick to work with not having a car and all. By this point I was losing it, thinking GEEZZ will we ever get a break or see the light? I then get a phone call from the owner of the shop, he was very upset, angry, mad! he Said it looked like D had abused the car, with what was wrong with the trany, something with switching the gears the wrong way and shavings in something (I do not know car talk lol), I explain to the man that this is our only car/truck/suv (whatever you call it) that we have had alot of money go into it, it is the only way DH can get to work, I can not see him abusing it. The man did not want to hear it. He said it was $900 in parts and they were not going to do anything with it until D went down to see it himself. I was so paniced about D losing his job because surly he would have to call in sick again. Well I spent most ofr that day on the net and phone calling all the car rental places to see if we couple just rent a car, all of them wanted Major CC except one place called enterprise, they would rent the car for cash, but for 8 days they wanted $450.00 plus a $150 deposit, again we did not even have that amount of money until D gets paid. So D asked FIL if he could rent the car, at first he said yes, but then he said he just could not do it, if something happened it would be on him.

We went to bed that night not knowing what the next day would bring, the whole week had just been this huge mess, lots of emotions, very trying on us, you know through it we really bonded though, things have been not so good for us lately but we stood by eachother during this horrible week! the next day (Friday) FIL came to get D to take him to the shop, I sat here on pins and needles until D called. He said the owner of the shop was out of town but he spoke with one of the guys working on the car and he said that it would now only be $500 to fix. Still alot and sad it's not under the warrenty but $400 cheap is ALOT and we were grateful! D also said FIL let him use his truck the rest of the time we would not have the car! I was so glad! That meant no more worry about him maybe losing his job over this. That same night my MIL called from CA and she said she would help us pay for the car to be fixed. I was in tears! We are always in a funk this time of year, money is the tightest and it's just the hardest time of year for our family. I was at my lowest this week thinking everything was over and then all in one day I saw the light! It was amazing! We are so Grateful, and if that was not enough, Yesterday (Saturday) Smil and FIL came over, they brought us a Christmas Tree. I took one wiff of that tree and the amazing smell and it felt like Christmas! I thank the good lord above for our families! They have always been there for us when we needed them no matter what, yes it makes me feel so bad that at our age (26/27) that we need help from our folks still, but what an amazing family we have that they are "there" for us.

We are going to put up all the Christmas Decor today. The boys are very excited! Since the tree is in the living room this year (instead of in the dining room with the bay windows) we decided the tree colors will be red and gold and white, since the living room colors are burnt red and mocha. I am also handmaking a Christmas Card holder today, I will post pictures when I finish :)

Okay well I better get a shower in while I still can this morning lol. I am also waiting on a phone call from my Folks, right now they should be resting in my Aunt Rubi's house in Ireland :) My mom has been waiting all year for this, she did not do her normal 2-3 visits this year, her and my dad both wanted to go this time and for a whole month (my dad is only going half the month since he has work to do at home). They were so excited about this trip. Hope you all have a great Sunday! I will post pictures later of the tree and Christmas decor stuff :)

Nikki

Slowly but Surely

For those of you who have been following my blog for sometime, you know I have been working out and losing weight since March. Well I popped on the scale today and have lost another 10 pounds since last week. I have actually only worked out once this past week though, I did a power walk last week in the morning on the trail next door. I think this weight is actually off because of the added stress in my life lately. Anyways, last week I also moved the treadmill in to the dining room from our bedroom (neighbors down stairs pound on my floor if I do it at 10am back there, since you know they are up all night and sleep all day "eye roll". So now I can walk on MY treadmill and also switch off at the gym. I have now lost 53 pounds since March. I have about 30 more pounds to go to reach my pre pregancy weight of 117/120. I am hoping to be down to that size by next summer, that would be so awesome! :)

Time Machine

My Husband asked me today if I could go back to when we first met and started our lives together, knowing what is happening now and how our life has been, would I do it again. I thought about it, and here is my answer....

If I could go back to Jan, 2000, YES I would still go out with him, yes I would still have my beautiful kids. BUT YES I would do things differently. First I would make sure that I did not blow off nursing school, Even though I was Pregnant with Austin, had a full time job I would still try my hardest to get through nursing school. Second I would have never chose to stay home, DO NOT get me wrong, I LOVE being able to be home with my precious boys, but because of me staying home, not working, not bringing in money, it has a big part in what our lives are like now. So yes I do blame myself for some of why things are not going good in our marriage and family now. I have also become so dependent on my husband. I hardly have any contact with the outside world, no friends etc. This is my fault. So yes if I could go back into time knowing what I know now, I would have done things different. I think this would have made me stay the strong girl I was back then. Now I feel like I do not matter, I am weak and far from strong.

I am not going to go into detail here about our problems, but it is not looking good. He wants to have "His" life to do what he wants and I want what's best for my kids. I have put 150% in to this but it's not working.

Anyways I don't even know why I posted this :( I just really have no one to talk to and it feels good to let it out.

Nikki