The 2nd day of school

I dont have much time before I have to gently waken (drag their hinnies out of bed) 3 teenagers for school.  Day 2 has got to be better than day one!

Yesterday..  The first day of school!  I got three kids up and ready for that all anticipated first day of school.  Them? no I meant me!  Actually not really because it means a whole school year of 6 am mornings and trying to get the hustled out the door.  Instead of the posed photo of 3 beaming kids, I only got a few candid shots of the kids and they got ready.

Anthony....

He is just brimming with excitement! Cant ya tell :)

Andrew...

He did at least sit down for this shot.

Most of the time he looked like this....

A mini panic attack about not having enough pencils

And then there was Libby...

She managed to look away from the computer long enough to get her pic taken - she was trying to facebook before school!

It went somewhat well - Andrew wants to be there and hour early, Libby would like to be there fashionably late, but finally the two of them headed out the door with Otis driving them to school.

Then all I had to do was wait for the special needs bus to pull up and send Anthony out, get ready for work and I was on my way!  I then had a conversation that was kinda like this.

"mom, I dont feel good"  - Anthony

"I know, hun.  Your tired but you will get used to it" - me

That was about it because by the time I turned around from the window to look at him he was throwing up- ALL over himself.  Oh fun.  I ran for the bowl and we did damage control.  After we got him changed, he still wasnt up to speed to we ended up having him lay down for a while and Otis took him to school about an hour later.

At least they all made it.

So,  as the alarm is just now sounding,  please PLEASE wish me luck!  Today needs to go smoother than yesterday!

Oh and did I mention that through all of this the bus never showed up?

Feathers!

Today we went to the fair.  We had a great time but we also did one thing I had a hunch was coming. 

My daughter got feathers!

No, She isnt turning into a bird.  Feathers are a very popular trend with teen girls right now.  When she first saw these, she didnt like them at all!  But!  It is amazing how a teen girls mind can change when her friends start getting them!

Here she is while the salesgirl is trying on different colored feathers in her hair.  You dont want to clash your feathers!

 As you can tell she had a hard time deciding! But finally settled on pink and white.  We spurged on 2 feathers.  They are supposed to last for 4 months in your hair with no ill effects.  Im a bit skeptical.

Once she decided they attach the feathers with a crimp bead and she was set to go.

And there she is!  All set for the first day of HIGH SCHOOL next week!  I cant believe my baby is going to be a freshman!

Anthony and his trophy!

I got a call this morning from my special needs son.  It was cute- he has just learned to use the phone..  He decided that he wanted to go see my new job and that he needed to meet my new boss.  I said ok.

Later in the day we all got ready and drove over.  Anthony was alittle nervous at first to go in.  We showed him around and my boss John came over and introduced himself to Anthony and my husband.  He then told Anthony he could have his own trophy and he could watch me make it for him.  We went into the back room and I made up the name plate.  When we asked him what he wanted it to say under his name, he wasn't sure then finally whispered "the emperor" so we typed it in and he watched at it engrave in the machine.  Then my co-worker Misty mounted it to a base and screwed on the figurine. 

All the way home he was over the moon excited about his trophy!

He ran right over when we got home to show Nana and Grandpa!

He has shown just about everyone his trophy and says it is the best one he has ever gotten!  Im so impressed with how nice my new boss is!  I also really like my one and only co-worker Misty.  It really looks like its going to be a fun place to work!

The best part was when he told me the trophy made him feel like a winner!

Headaches vs web/blog design

You know how they say there is nothing worse than trying to get sympathy for a headache?  Cause it is a major pain, hard to describe and pretty much invisible to everyone else!  I have found something much worse!  I'm not kiddin ya!  What is it?

Learning web building and blog design!

I know, your totally blown away. 

Why?  because I spent HOURS last weekend working on different aspects of the website I work on and my blog design.  HOURS!  Reading and re-reading instruction on how to do things that when I first go over them in truth it sounds like I'm reading the Chinese instructions.  To an entertainment center laying in 5 million pieces in my living room.  It is just that hard!

Then after the hours of goofing up, starting over, redoing, etc I finally have a breakthrough!  As I do my small football happy dance in front of the computer I always call in my husband to see the new and improved changes.  Can you feel the excitement?

My husband comes in and peers down at my screen....  5 minutes go by and he says nothing.... 

"Arent you going to say anything?" I ask him.

"umm, I cant really see what you have done" is his reply.

"  UGH!  do you SEE that button?  I made it a tiny bit larger.  And instead of popping up on the left, it is now centered!  CENTERED!  Oh and when you mouse over the word it is highlighted in red!  Can you believe it!  Frickin RED!  This is amazing!  My head is pounding from doing all this and you dont even notice the awesomeness of it all?" Im practically falling on the floor at this point.

"oh wow hun, it looks really good.  Love the work.  I'll leave you alone to finish it up." as he makes a backwards crawl out of the room.

He just doesnt see it.

Oh well, I love him anyway! :)  And in reality he does see it , he just doesnt see what a pain it all was to do.

Just like a headache.

Gnome Whisperer

After a long day I settled in for the evening to relax.


I heard a light knocking on my door and went to answer.


It seems I have new visitors to my home....

Three small gentle gnomes stood at my door.  They were very shy and quiet but seemed to want something very much.  They had the most pleading look in their eyes.....

It seems word has gotten around in all the popular gnome "hangouts" that I'm the one to see if your a gnome in the need of some umm, how shall we say it.... gnome lifting?  I guess Im the go to person if your a tired weather beaten and worn out gnome looking for alittle "work" done.


Hmmm I said, come inside and I'll see what I can do....

The relief on their faces was quick and truly genuine.  I was touched and quickly ushered them into my laboratory.....oops,  did I say that? ..... I meant craft area. 


Let the work begin...

"Insert evil gnome laugh here"

Bath and Body Halloween items

I was doing pretty well today at the mall with my mom.  Remembering my budget and reminding myself that I really didnt need anything right now.  Still need to get the kids a few clothes for school so that comes first.  Until that is, I walked past Bath and Body Works and saw their....

Halloween Items!

There Is something about Halloween Decor I just cant walk away from.  Not that I buy everything I see, more that I have to check it out!

I did end up splurging and getting a few things for the house.

Frankenstein plug in - so adorable!



Witches Kiss Lip gloss!  For my daughter :)

Skull Scent for my hubby's car.

Yeah I know, it isnt even close to Halloween yet.  Close enough that stores are setting out all their fun items.  This is going to be a long holiday for me.    Im never going to last!

First day of High school

Yesterday I registered 3 teenagers for high school.  I realized how much the whole thing has changed since registering for elementary school. 

The week before watching the kids get so excited to go check the school doors for a class list.  Seeing who is in their class and who their teacher is going to be. 

Then tackling the job of finding the perfect backpack and supplies.  Having everything all ready, labeled and sitting by the front door till the big morning.

Its so not the same now.

Trust me.

Google first day of school crafts and see what comes up....

first day of school cookies!  So Cute!

an adorable ruler wreath!

even the back to school get together for moms once the kids get on the bus!

Now google first day of high school crafts.....

"crickets chipping"

Did you get anything?

Nope?  I didnt think so.

So see!  Back to school for me has changed.  Not one of my kids wants a cute note telling them how much I love them stuffed inside their backpack.  (not without an Oh good grief you are such a DORK MOM! )

Nor do they want a cutsy first day of school breakfast.  (at 6:30 Im lucky if they will be awake enough to eat some cereal and drink an instant breakfast).  And, after all the kids are off for their first day, the only get together I will be invited to is one with the clutter the 3 kids have accumulated over the summer!

Fun!

Just not the same....  I did however get to write a large check.  Does that count for anything?

scentsy wax and the carpet

Im sure many crafty women bloggers spent the day coming up with something fabulous.  I on the other hand worked on this....

"scene of the accident"

My son's night light went out during the night.  Always resourceul he went in and grabbed the scentsy plugin that was in the bathroom.  Did I mention the light was behind the door?  Oh yeah, took probably 5 min for that thing to melt and then spill.

A closer look of the horror!

By the time he went to get me it was hard and actually pretty thick.  I wasnt sure if it would even come out considering the color.  I facebooked my friends for help- they recommended paper towels and the iron, so I set to work only to realize I was all out of papertowels.  OH, and I had to for some reason go get my iron - FROM THE GARAGE?  I have no idea why.

Then I went to work...

And more work....


I did get up at some point because I realized my dear teenage daughter was listening to something on the radio that recommended we "all go out and cheat on our man" and something about sexing you up. 

I also began to wonder if this was how Lady Gaga spent her day.... hmmmm

Finally I got the carpet to this point....



Which, is probably as good as its going to get.  I will however have to paint the trim because it stained.   You can kind of see the pink but Im hoping once it dries (I rubbed it with a wet rage once I got almost all of it out to get rid of some of the pink.) it will be less noticable.

Oh, and I grabbed a new lightbulb from storage and fixed the night light.

So, we are hopefully all back to normal.  I hope this isnt the highlight of my day!





Painting gnomes -cause they told me to!

I dont know how many of you out there have seen Gnomeo & Juliet, but it came into our house a while ago and we have seen it a couple times over the summer.  I will tell you now if you dont already know this.  It will change your life FOREVER.  You didnt know that?  Oh yes, you will never be able to look at gnomes the same way!

So, about a week ago my 91 year old Grandma asked me if I could spruce up her gnomes in the backyard.  Of course I said yes.  I then went out and collected them.  (she only gave me 3 at first - Im thinking its some sort of test :p  ) 

I didnt get to them right away because it has been busy around here but after a stressfull week I decided to hide out in my craft area and get to work.  And that is when I realized I was forever changes by an animated movie!  I no longer have the ability to just paint a gnome without imagining that it is coming to life when I am out of the room - yeah - Im crazy.  I even found myself excusing myself politely and promising to hurry back at one point when I left to go to the bathroom --- see!  Goin crazy!  At its worst I stayed up till after 1 am painting the two gnomes because I really felt they would be unhappy in their unfinished state.

I am somewhat done with 2 of them so I thought I would post a before and after.  That and I was starting to feel like I hadnt posted anything crafty in ages!

So here is the before....

they really were very sunbleached.  poor things.

And here is the after....

Much brighter!  My mother says they even look happier! 

Im still working on the third one - he is turning out much trickier than the first two.  Even still he is calling me from my craft area as I type!  Oh the Gnome guilt!  I just cant resist. 

Oh and did I mention that at my sisters I noticed some small gnomes in her garden.  All bleached out and worn looking.   They are calling to me too!  Will probably snag them tomorrow to give them a facelift.

Maybe Im the gnome whisperer?