POTD #31

We went to the beach today and I spent some

time walking around taking pictures. When I looked

down and saw this skull I knew it would be my

picture of the day. Of course, I had to stage

the photo to get the best picture I could.

POTD #30

The ultimate bday gift for Tim, the gadget

geek...on his new ipad he gets a retweet from

MMA hottie ArriannyCeleste, whom he

follows on Twitter. He was smiling from

ear to ear, and in turn, it made me smile.

Such a simple gesture from someone else has

made his day a bit brighter. :)

POTD #28 and #29

#28 was yesterday at work. I don't complain much about the things we have to do at work, but this is one thing I truly dislike. All the outside corners in the houses we do for Irongate homes are rounded, and the plug ins are in the baseboard. So instead of being able to just cut base and nail it, we have to cut out each individual plug and add an extra piece to the corners to make up for the roundedness. Thank goodness we don't do more then a few of these houses because I couldn't handle it if all the houses were like this. ARGH!!!!!

Today's photo is from Dairy Queen. Jordyn and I went to get a ice cream cake for Tim's birthday tomorrow, and I took a picture of all the cakes in the freezer. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Tim's birthday celebration

Friends, family, food and fun....hell of a good night. Haven't had this much fun in a long time.... :D

More layouts done with all my new goodies.

I love these picture of Jordyn and

wanted to do a LO of just them,

and I didn't do any journalling on

this one, which is really unusual for me.

I really love this picture of Amy at

Knottsberry farm, love the building,

the ladder in the second photo, so

I just played off of the photos.

Even though I have these photos on

a LO in my Vegas album, I love the rich

colors and the natural textures that

I wanted to use them again.

Just a silly tale of one of my quirks.

My new love of 8x8 pages

my love of 8 x 8 started after I saw Ali Edwards

mixing and matching her sizes in her albums.

Since then I have incorporated them into some

of my albums, but now after purchasing

four 8x8 albums from SU I will be doing a lot

more of these mini layouts.

This was just a fun LO of Tim. I captured this

picture of him when we were in California, and

have been wanting to use it. Then I just played

with stickers and other elements.

This photo of Jordyn was also taken at Knotts,

and being typical Jordyn, she tried to scare me

with a snake, and I even took a picture of her

with it, yay me!!! LOL.

These two LO's I did to help with my sadness of

missing both big birthdays of my parents. I had

them take photos of each other and email them to

me so I could do these LO's about missing their

birthdays. I sure with I were in the photos with them.

POTD #27

I am a pretty neat scrapper. I can't be creative

if all my stuff is falling off the table or piled on top

of each other. So when I feel the mojo starting to flow,

this is where I get down to business, my kitchen table.

POTD #26

Celebrating not only Tim's 45th birthday at the Keg, but also the growing friendship with Sarb and Sukhi. We have been lucky enough to have gained a great couple as friends through them being clients first...can't wait to enjoy many more celebrations with them. What a fun night we had.

POTD #24 and #25

This was one of the reason's I was happy to rent this new place, I have never had a dishwasher before and totally love that after a big dinner, I just rinse and this wonderful machine does all the work...the only downfall is it's not a built in unit so I have to attach it to the sink faucet, so it only gets turned on when we go to bed.....











Last night was my SU monthly club get together, and I had a nice time getting caught up with the ladies and the usual gab session. We made some nice cards as well. Here is what my club order was this month...I can't wait to use these 8 x 8 albums.

POTD #23

Another awesome deal found..... :D

The Walmart out in Langley is currently being renovated

to become a Super Walmart....so they have some amazing

deals right now...I got these for a buck each...a buck!!!

POTD #21 and #22

Yesterday's potd was my yummy hersey's icecream pie...it was sooooooo good. I had a headache yesterday so didn't get around to posting the picture, but I did take it yesterday so that's what counts.....lol

And today's picture is also another food that makes me happy...fudge!!! I love fudge and I always by a bag or two when I go to Walmart. And why not have a jar of it on the counter. :)

POTD #20

This is the cutie that lives upstairs...and she totally tries to get through the railing to get as close as possible when we say hi to her...our lanlord got her about a month ago, and she is just too darn cute. Makes you smile, even if you are having a bad day. :)

Thoughts on being a mom of a teenage girl

somedays it just SUCKS!!!!! let's be honest, you remember what you were like as a teenager right? You look fat, your hair didn't work out, nor your makeup, and well the boy you like doesn't like you back...Geez, life is SO hard....or so we thought. How my mother ever put up with me is a constant wonder, and the fact that she still likes me now is even a bigger mystery??? Because right now, I know exactly how she feels....listening to the complaining, the drama and yet feeling helpless and left out....because that's what's happening around here....sure I get told when she doesn't like what I sent her for lunch, or what I make for dinner, or that her hair sucks today, but when something really big happens, she shuts down, closes all doors and won't let me in....and you know what, it hurts.....my heart is actually hurting right now, sad that I don't have a clue what's bothering her, that I can't make it better, because first off I don't know WHAT it IS, and maybe if I did, I still probably couldn't make it better...but I just want to be able to try. This mom thing really should come with some kind of buffer, the ones where the heart and mind can stay focused on the important things, like making sure they are safe, feed etc...but my heart just can't do that...because when she hurts, I hurt more....because I'm hurting for both of us.

POTD #19

I'm not sure about you, but I have a few sounds that I actually love to here...one is the skytrain, don't ask me why, I just do....the other is Tim's tool belt. I love hearing the hammer moving back and forth, rubbing against the metal holder, the clinking and clanging of all the other stuff he carries in there....and since he has a bad back, he doesn't wear it very often, but today, he did, and I got to hear the sound I like...so it's my picture of the day.

50% off at Precioius Memories

and I had money to spend, and spend it I did!!!!! I had sold a recliner the other night on craigslist and was going to use the money to get a new patio set...that was, until I got the email saying that most of the store would be 50% off this weekend. Needless to say, after work today, I went and had a shopping spree, all the while, Tim sat in the truck patiently waiting. What a great husband.

all my goodies literally took over 3/4 of my kitchen table. Oh where will I find room to put it all. Do you think anyone would notice if I just left it on the table??? We usually eat in the living room anyways....lol!

The reciept was as long as my grocery shopping one, geez, it actually spread from one side of my table to the other... :) But look at the picture below...that was one heck of a savings...I think only about 5 or 6 of the items weren't on sale, so not bad for 38 items.... can't wait to play.

POTD #18

today we saw the fish tank get demolished at the house we did...you remember me saying that the 300 gallon tank leaked and caused almost $200 thousand dollars in damage to the house, and we have a lot of work to redo...well today, they came in to take the tank out and they couldn't get it out without breaking it...as we watched, and I video taped it, it seemed so sad and such a waste of $20 thousand dollars to watch it all shatter to the ground...needless to say, I kept a souvenir of it.....

POTD #17

Today was a hard day to get a photo...since I have started the POTD I have found it fun and look forward to getting my daily picture...but today, nothing seemed to be worthy to take a picture of..that may sound bad, ie, I could always take a picture of my family or individual in my life, but I have tried to make it about objects, instead of people. Then it came to me, what is the most important object I own??? what helps me capture family moments, life moments and everything in between...and makes it so I can create my wonderful scrapbook pages.....is this.....

POTD #16

A tisket, a tasket, a whole bunch of apples in a basket....lol...

Unseen monsters

for those of you who know me well, know that Jordyn suffers from OCD. And somedays are a lot harder then others. Not just for her, but for me....sometimes I feel like I'm the only one on her side, the only one that sees the torment in her eyes, the pain and suffering in every movement she makes. I feel like through all this, I have always tried to see the real Jordyn, the one that lies just below the surface, the one that is sweet, caring and loves me. Other days I only see the monster, as I like to call OCD, the monster that makes her angry, cranky and lash out at me and others around her. Yes I know that she needs help, but we tried that route before and she just sat and stared at the doctor each and every visit, not caring about what he was telling her, not wanting to take control of her own life...maybe it was because she was too young to understand the meaning that OCD's grasp on her would have for her entire life, or maybe she just didn't feel she had the strength to fight...but today is years after those appointments and we can not find help. The mental health offices here in Surrey are overflowing with wait lists and I feel we will be fighting this invisible monster forever. And on days like today, I'm drained, sad, tired, frustrated and wish I could take on this monster on my own, drag it out of her, kick it til it can't get up anymore and just to make sure, light it on fire till it floats away is a small puff of smoke. If only it were that easy to free her of this life of uncertainty. My heart literally aches, not knowing what kind of future she will have, how much she will controlled by these thoughts, the rituals, the handwashing, the fear, that's the one that scares me the most, the fear, watching her sometimes so scared of imagined germs that she will sit in a corner, too scared to move, fearful she will contaminate the whole house if she sits on a piece of furniture or moves or walks along the floor with her shoes on. Days like today, I wish I had a magic wand, one I could wave above her head and make it all go away. let her be a normal teenager, worrying about boys and school instead of germs and crazy thoughts. Maybe one day, she won't be scared, worried or so angry and we can once again enjoy our baby girl, for who she really is instead of the carrier of a monster who makes up things, makes her fear herself, makes her fear touching things and just simple makes her life and mine a living hell. OCD can jump off a cliff and die a long slow death.

POTD #15

I was bored today, started to organize my closet and my scrap stuff and didn't want to finish the job. Instead, I went a got a canvas, painted it, then got creative. I love my starbucks gift cards and love the way each one is it's own piece of mini art. So I created this canvas to display my cards...and it's got room to keep adding as well. I am very happy with the outcome. I also am posting a picture of the hallway I use to store a lot of my creative supplies.

POTD #14

Just a view of my SU collection of stamps, embellishment, tools, inks etc...this is how much you accumulate after years of being in clubs.... :D

Newest Layouts

Had to do this LO, too funny a story not to!



I actually changed the saturation on these photos to
give them a more aged looked to match the paper I
used. Simply put, Jordyn loves babies and can't wait
till we go see friends with them. :)



Just a fun LO to scrap about the women
whom I have grown to be friends with
from my scrap board.



I am so lucky that Tim has started letting
me take pictures of him over the last few years.
I enjoy scrapping them as much as possible.



This is my favorite LO of the bunch.
I love Erika and look forward to her
yearly letters since we live away from
each other. This LO was done with her
actual letter from this past Christmas,
and a photo from the year before. I
simple added to her wonderful artwork
and created a LO in which I made a pocket
behind it to include all the other letters I have.

My photo gallery of the girls grad photos

Without the help of Tim, since I had been asking for a few weeks to help me get the pictures up, I managed to do a pretty good job on making them all level and equally spaced...yay me!!!!

I was so happy with both girls grad photos, and since they cost so much to get done, I wanted to display them proudly. These photos are a mixture of professional and personal photos taken. I have one more little one to put up on the left hand side once Jordyn has her grad dinner/commencement.

POTD #13

To get to this point of enjoying my daily mocha, there is a lot of decision making I must do. Work days are pretty easy as I only use my Starbucks travel mug and there is never any whipped cream then....but bring on the weekend or a random day off in the week, and well, there are some decision's to be made. Which of my many mugs do I use? for those of you who don't know me well enough, there are lots to choose from, of my personal starbucks collection I have at least 10 then I also have my Vegas mug and my Disneyland mug...and then after the mug has been decided on, then it's which International Delight coffee milk, hazelnut, french vanilla, southern pecan or butter toffee, or as of right now, a special edition Dolce de leche.....yummy. So after I've made all my choices, I boil the water, add 4 scoops of hot chocolate (and only the milk chocolate) a little spoon of instant coffee to make it a mocha then my flavoring and then whipped creme. And yes, it is definetely worth all the effort. Starts my day off on a yummy note!!!

This is just a sampling of all the things I must decide before enjoying my daily beverage. Crazy, well maybe just a little. It's one of my many quirks that makes me special. :)

POTD #12

Today's picture is about Jordyn being happy!!! She has been wanting this OPI nail polish called Shattered...and she found it yesterday, yay!!! tonight, she tried it for the first time, and she is very happy with the results!!!!

Scrapbook shopping score!!!!

okay, so I intended on going to the scrapbooking store and using my 40% off coupon on on item. Well I walked into Precious Memories, and they had so much on clearence today it was crazy. By the time I even got to the regular items I had a hand basket full of paper and embellishments. I got about 35 sheets of paper, stickers, 2 acrylic stamp set (and they gave me two sets free after I had made my purchase) a couple of wood stamps and flowers and buttons. I then used my coupon for a cool template for stitching cirlces on my layouts....I only spent $45 and my savings was over $30...now that's some good shopping.... :)