Today is my first born's birthday. She turned 10 today. She's with her dad today. I miss her.

I called and sang 'Happy Birthday' to her, but it just didn't feel the same. She was out and about, doing fun birthday stuff, and I wish more than anything I was with her. Things are what they are, that's how divorce is I guess.

I would have put up pictures of her BIRTHday like I did with my other two daughter's birthday posts here and here, but my scanner/printer is AWOL at the moment :-/ So I shall proceed without.

Her BIRTHday started out with her a week late and stubborn as all get out {takes after Mama :-D} My {1st} husband and I were living in Arizona at the time while he was in college. We were pretty much alone so my mom drove out the day before to help. I woke up at 5:00 in the morning, showered, shaved, put on a little make up {can you tell I was only 19 and this was my 1st?} and tried to mentally prepare for what we were about to go through. We left for the hospital around 6, my mom dropped us off cause did I mention that we didn't have a car at the time? :-) She went home and took a nap and came back when the action started.

It's funny to think back on it now with all my veteran experience. I packed movies, a deck of cards, magazines, other useless crap - all the stuff they TELL you to pack but you NEVER use cause really, who wants to look at Cosmo or play Hearts in between contractions? They checked me and I was at a 0 and 0% effaced - so basically, even a week late, we were starting from scratch here. They hooked me up to stuff and things really didn't get going for a couple hours, though I remember it feeling like minutes. Then once they started the IV fluids, even before the Pitocin, I started feeling VERY VERY weird.

All of a sudden I was very very sleepy. I sorta laid down and felt my heart fluttering. Then I started hearing what I can only describe as water in my head. I swear it felt like water sloshing around from one ear to the other. Then my chest started hurting . . . really really badly. I tried to move, but I couldn't. I tried to call my mom and my husband, but I couldn't. Then the pain got so bad I started to cry, but I still couldn't move or speak. So I laid there, tears streaming down my face feeling like my chest was going to explode and I couldn't move. My mom was the one who noticed it, she asked me if I was ok, what the hell was going on? I can remember trying to SCREAM at her but all I could get out was a whisper 'chest . . . hurts'. She and my husband ran outside and called for the nurse . . . then next hour was a blur of machines, people, and tests. Slowly I started to come out of whatever the HELL it was that had happened to me. I told them everything that happened and after all of it, they couldn't find a thing. They had NO IDEA what had happened. The only thing I noticed and wondered about was how fast my IV fluid had gone in - the first bag took only 10 minutes to drain into my body whereas the next one took 2 hours. I have heard {don't ask where, I really don't remember, and this could be TOTALLY false info - fyi - just sayin} that flooding the body with too much can give you a heart attack, and that there really is no way to pin point the cause. Now, like I said, that's just what I HEARD, I don't claim to propose it as fact, I just remember it that way.

After that, things went pretty well. When being induced, the Pitocin sends your body into labor at a highly accelerated rate. BOY HOWDY. I went from 0 and 0 to 10 and pushing in 4 hours. In fact the last 6 cm happened in 30 minutes. I got to hear those fun words from the nurse as she reluctantly checked me, thinking I wasn't CLOSE to ready "DON'T PUSH I HAVE TO FIND THE DOCTOR DON'T PUSH!" - HA! Why do they even bother saying it, really? Anyone who has been at that stage and heard those words KNOWS there really is NOTHING you can do about it! Your body itself is doing the pushing for you! Somebody better just be there to catch!

I pushed for maybe 20 minutes and she was out, 7lbs 6oz, 20 1/2". My doctor had at first said he wouldn't need to cut, but then her tiny little blue head appeared and without a word he cut me, pulled her out, held her up, and they took her away. I of course had NO idea what was going on, but my mom's worried face lead me to believe this was perhaps not the norm. She was as blue as a blueberry. I didn't actually get to hold her for quite a little bit. I wanted the whole babys delivered to your chest thing, but she needed some help first I guess.

They worked whatever magic they do and she was just fine. Better than fine. She was the most beautiful baby girl ever. I remember just staring at her, into her beautiful blue eyes for seemed like forever. I wanted to hold her every second I could. In Phoenix they had the baby stay in the room with you at all times and so I would nurse her and she would fall asleep on me, then I would fall asleep too. Until, that is, the know-it-all nurse came in and TOOK HER OFF OF ME saying "Mom should get some sleep" I said "Mom WAS sleeping, thank you" and took my baby right back!

Her dad and I held her just about every moment of the first 24 hours of her life. We were so amazed by this tiny little baby that was now here after months of talking to her and dreaming about her. She was the best baby too, hardly ever cried, just looked pretty all the time ;-)

Now her age has two digits. She's a 'tween - between a little kid and a teenager, and every bit the part. She's the smartest kid I know. She thinks deeply about things and it's so much fun to talk to her about things because she listens, I mean REALLY listens. So mature in ways, so innocent in others. She's so creative and interested in things. When something sparks her interest she wants to know EVERYTHING there is to know about it. She's compassionate and a great friend. She cares so much about other people and making them happy. She has a GREAT sense of humor {from me of course :-D} she makes me laugh all the time. She's a leader and I love that about her, she's not one to follow the crowd.

I am so excited about the stage she, and I, are about to enter into. I don't want to be afraid of talking to her about the important things like the birds and bees, I want to embrace it. I'm so excited to see what choices she makes for herself. To see what things she becomes interested in. I can't wait to have more talks with her, to tell her important things about life. I'm excited to watch her become the woman she's going to be. And I feel blessed every day to be her mother, to know her and be in her life.

Well we're celebrating her birthday tomorrow with the family so I need to get things ready around here!

TNT!

I know, I know, it's been awhile my faithful bloggy peeps - all 3 of ya ;-)

I could say it was because I lacked my internet connection as previously stated, but that would be total crap :-D I just didn't know where, or when, to start. Ever notice that the longer you go without blogging - the more you WANT to but don't?

OH and ya ever notice how reading other people's entries who are always funny/entertaining/interesting/funny will make you feel like you really had nothing to say in the first place?

So yeah, that's me. THAT, and the fact that MOVING SUCKS. We will never move again. EVER. Or at least not until I can hire people to do EVERYTHING for me including stressing out over whether or not the silverware should go in THIS drawer and be closer to the plates, or THIS drawer because it's closer to the food.

I know, I know, my problems make you all weep for me.

I just haven't been inspired. I actually felt hella lame because after a MONTH of having keys to my beautiful new house, I have pictures to share :-( It's mostly because right now they just won't do the place justice. Everything is HALF done. I have painted walls but no baseboards so it looks messy. I have furniture but it needs to be cleaned. I have a mostly done living room but $5 disposable curtains that are held up by blue pad tape - quality ya'll.

However, I think I am getting more in the mood. I know, I know - w00t!

Right now I'm enjoying a cool, crisp autumn morning on my porch. Cup of coffee and computer at my disposal. I would LOVE to say I was enjoying QUIET time, and about 3 minutes ago I was, but now Terrible Two has decided to stake her claim to my sanctuary. And I am letting her. I know I know, it only makes it worse in the long run, but if it keeps her from screaming and let's me be able to sit out here and mostly enjoy it, I'll let her.

Where was I? Ah yes . . . I was bored. So I made coffee {extremely bad because usually DH takes care of that and he is long gone this morning} grabbed the computer and stealthily snuck outside. I just felt that pull to share my feelings this morning, which I have missed.

I think things are starting to settle down around here into some sort of routine, or what I can make of one anyway. I need to stop fighting my OCD need for it and embrace the FUNness that is SCHEDULE. Rebecca was kind enough to send me her daily schedule and it has given me a place to start. She, like me, embraces her OCD as well. So I would like to have a set time or at least time of DAY where I get to write. Hopefully in the morning to I don't have time to go read all you damn funny, entertaining, interesting people and find that it takes A LOT of work to be one of you!

I actually do have posts in mind and will be posting as I find the time. I REALLY want to more often, I need the outlet BELIEVE ME. And I know I know, I am your ONLY source of humor and you NEED ME! ;-) Don't worry - I WILL NOT FAIL YOU! Not after today at least :-D

So that being said - TNT!

So, we are officially "moved in" which means I will not have internet capabilities until I contact Comcast and ya know, get all that done. SO, for the next few days (I HOPE it's only that long) here's a list of my up coming talking points ;-)

• Masterpiece Monday will return HOPEFULLY next Monday in full effect baby! Sorry I couldn't muster up the energy or time for it this week :-(
• I will have MANY pictures of my close to FINISHED house! Most of the furniture is in so I guess we LIVE there now!
• I have entered the odd world "Playdates" and "Mommy Groups"
• My feelings on child bearing years vs. child rearing years
• Baby FEEEEEVER! Don't worry, I don't THINK it's affected me . . . yet ;-)
• Pictures - YAY!
• And much much more!

Ok, so not much of a list but I figure by the time I get my internet back (pray for me ya'll) I should have even MORE to talk about!

OK, so TNT! Wish me luck! And SANITY!!!!

Yes, Yes I do :-D Things have been so crazy the last few weeks and I won't bore you {too much} with every little detail, but I am hoping things will be calming down, in a way. I do not function well amidst chaos. I wish I were one of those people who can get a rush from it and get inspired to get things done and feel like things will be ok - I however - AM NOT ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE. I don't like my tiny little world in upheaval. I like to have a schedule, I like having a routine, I like being at HOME when things go haywire so that I can handle it without everyone staring at me. So my last REAL post {minus Masterpiece Mondays} pretty much summed up how the following weeks went. Absolute chaos.

The heat, my God, the HEAT. And I don't know if you have ever tried to cool down a BLACK civic, with four people in it, in 105 degree temps, but it basically DOESNT happen. And having no where to go, and a VERY cranky tired baby and a very hot car, makes for a very long very stressful week. But there were good things! In fact I wrote about some of them on the last post like the girls LOVING their new school and the first day and all, so now you can see the pictures!

This was our FIRST attempt at breakfast, the MOMENT before chaso broke out. The moment where I was congratulating myself on being the master of my universe...then Mad pushed my purse, which pushed my HOT coffee, which SOAKED my poor Lil B :-( and much screaming did ensue, I stopped eventually though :-D

This was breakfast #2 - ICED coffee, Lil B's request "Mommy, you're not going to have HOOOT coffee again, are you :-(" complete with quivering lip.


So from the smiling faces you can see they had a GREAT first day! They made friends, liked their teachers, liked their new school and had a great day, dispite receiving coffee burns :-(


THIS is a week later, Tuesday the 21st, the day of our final walk and day we received the keys to paradise, or our new air conditioned house! We were early and hungry {and thirsty ;-)} so we stopped at Red Robin first. I had a LOVELY Mai Tai :-D


That was gone FAR too quickly :-(


This is during our walk through, that's our friend Dave who is also our 'customer care representative extrodinaire' - lucky guy ;-) - doing his 'this is how you use a dishwasher/microwave/oven' shpiel...


This is what Mad did during the walk through, sprinkling her dried cranberries all over the house like bread crumbs in case she got lost I guess...thing is though, I LOVE this pic, check out her shoes! She had a bit of an accident just before we were to meet dh at lunch so we went to Target next door and I SWEAR I was just gonna get her a cheap little dress or something {she had to look cute at the walk through right?!} then I found THIS and THOSE SHOES! TOO.FREAKING.CUTE right? :-D



These are my attempts at some fancy picture takin ya'll. Which one do you like better, for scrapping purposes, I kinda like the first with the the home depot card stuff and my keys and the nice card from the builder.

And that is me with the keys to the city, or our little part of it anyway :-D

And THIS is the cleanest my garage will EVER be and boy my car looks pretty in there doesn't she :-D

And THIS is my heeeeeeaven, or my jet tub and a glass of wine :-D After the walk we took the baby home and had his mama come over, grabbed a few things, ran to Target & Home Depot, ate at Wing Stop mmmmmm :-D, and went HOME to enjoy our tub and a glass of wine before going back to the old crappy house.

So I guess that's plenty for this post. I will try and post again this week, I hope. I am gonna try and get some posts started so all I gotta do is hit 'publish' and there you go {the 3 of you that still read :-D} I reward loyalty ;-) So...

TNT!

Welcome back to Masterpiece Monday, the only post I have been able to muster up energy and time for over the last several weeks! ;-) I will be back to regular blogging this week I think though, so stay tuned!

My masterpieces this week are not of the scrappy kind. At the new house I have been hard at work getting stuff put away and put together and for me, if it comes out looking 80% like the picture, it's a masterpiece!

So this is a little kitchen I got my youngest daughters who will be sharing a room together for the first time. I wanted to try and find toys they could both have fun using. My 5 year old tends to play with my 9 year old so I think she is getting a little too old for her britches if ya know what I mean. That was part of the reason for putting her with the 2 year old. So far they are LOVING this thing! And it only took like 4 hours to put together! ;-) It was a pain and a half though, mostly cause Mad would come in and take off with a tool or sprocket I needed and I wouldn't know until I had spent 20 minutes looking for it, only to find it hidden in a shoe or a cabinet. But it is done, and it is beautiful, and I did it all by myself!!! w00t! And yes that is a little barbie cake in the microwave and no I didn't put it there ;-) Although, their baking skills do rival my own ;-)

This is a masterpiece in the making. My DH is installing our countertops tonight. It's a royal mess right now, but will be beautiful . . . someday anyway :-D

So, were any of YOU crafty/handy/creative this week? Share with me/us {my 3 readers, who probably only stick around cause they actually KNOW me and feel guilty if they don't} I'd love to see what wonderful creativeness is going on without me! Post about it! Mention MM! Comment! Leave a Mr. Linky! You'll feel GREAT! Well, maybe maybe not, sounded inspiring though didn't it! ;-)

TNT!

Welcome back to Masterpiece Monday! And if this is your first or 3rd time joining us, NO this is NOT just a blog devoted to scrapping or other wonderful examples of creativity, I'm just very very busy :-D And very very far away from my computer most hours of the day. Once we are settled into Rockwell Manor I will update you all (if there are any of you left!) about all the trials and tribulations of the past few weeks - LOOK FORWARD TO THAT! ;-) Be sure and sign up for your update updates now! ;-P

So this week for my masterpiece I put together a child size kitchen. Why is THAT so wonderous and worth of a masterpiece monday spot? Well 1) It took 4 hours to put together and THAT is a long time; 2) cause I got nothin else; 3) cause it's just cute as hell; and 4) cause I wanna :-D

Where IS the picture you say? Well, it's not ACTUALLY taken yet but I will do that later and try to post it tomorrow night, I just wanted you all to know that I am NOT slacking or being lame, just not very scrappy lately. I was also going to take a picture of the room I painted this weekend buuuuut we'll see just how much of a masterpiece THAT turns out to be!

SO I guess this week it will just be you guys! I hope you all got to be creative in whatever it is you like to do, scrapping, cooking, organizing, baking, photography, building child size furniture - WHATEVER! I would LOVE to see it! So go ahead and post your own Masterpiece Monday! Feel free to use this lovely graphic courtesy of Rebecca, mention MM, and submit your Mr. Linky!

TNT!

So, I actually was able to do something this week other than stress out, pack 4 boxes, and haul kids all over O-Town and back. I took all my scrappy stuff to Rockwell Manor, oh by the way we got our keys Tuesday, and instead of wasting time unpacking or hooking up utilities or something - I scrapped! Where are your pictures you say? Well, they would be back at Rockwell Manor, where I wish I were. Hubby just got home from installing the floor tile and was going to bring them with him, however he forgot - don't get too mad now - I forgot them yesterday. So we give him an out and maybe later I will update as soon as I get my hands on them.

Just to let you know though, even in the midst of utter chaos and stress, I scrapped. I got 5 pages done yo! And the rest I will leave to the imagination until I am able to upload them. I hope you will come back and see them, I'm kinda fond of them :-D

**UPDATED***

I just got home and remembered my pages - YAY ME! - so here ya go, if there are any of ya ;-)



These two are just a simple spread using the last (I THINK) of last years Christmas photos. They were actually a set of premade page layouts I got from Target, on clearance, 4 pages - $2.96 - SERIOUSLY. They are pretty simple, I may still add a title for the first page, but we'll see.





These were also a set of premade pages. You guessed it, 4 coordinating pages - $2.96. I really liked the patterns they used, they had a romatical feel to them, so I used them for our "non official date" anniversary pictures. I really just LOVED these pictures :-D

For being a bunch of pre-made pages they came out pretty well! Especially for being done in the midst of moving and absolute chaos. SO YAY ME! :-D

And YAY to all you guys who have joined in with your craftiness-es! And for the rest of you, what were YOU up to this week?? Post about it! Leave me a comment and Mr. Linky your crafty post!

TNT!

HEY THERE! Welcome back to the weekly installment of Masterpiece Monday! It has been a crazy week around here but I still managed to get a little scrappin in, think it helps me feel normal in the midst of the craziness of late. I'm hoping that keeping up with my lil hobby here keeps me in tune with myself, that part of me that can be so easy to loose in the hustle and bustle of taking care of a household and a large family. I am SURE so many of you out there can relate to THAT. So if you have been crafty this week, post about it! Link here and tell us all about it! It's helping me on many levels, it you'd like to join in, just link below!

So on to MY craftiness this week . . .

This is a VERY old pic I found while looking for a quick subject. It was taken of Mad back in April of 2006! I love the black and white though. What I love about this page are the letters, mostly the pink with rhinestones SUPER CUTE!

This is the other half of the spread, my lil B can, and will, fall asleep ANYWHERE. I love the letters on this page too! and the big flowers - oh and of course the subject ;-)

This is a spread for My Album. This is my friend's baby shower earlier this month. The page is simple but I like the layout.

The facing page is simple too but I like it, I really like that pink pattern paper. I just noticed my hand writing is a little um askew? Ahhhhh, it gives it character!

This is another spread for My Album. My friend came down from Texas for a visit and we hung out a bunch. I think this is such a cute pic of us, we were at a scrap class for an All Boys Album by Hiedi Swapp - LOVE HER!

This is the facing page - I think the title says it all :-D If you can't read it, it says "All Hail the Mangotini!" :-D We even got to sneak out after the class for a lil drinky drinky and it was GREAT! I love the cocktail sticker! And the little drinky girl stickers! SO CUTE!


So that was my handy work this week, what were YOU up too?? Post about it! Leave me a comment and Mr. Linky your crafty post!

TNT!

I just BET no one can tell me what movie THAT is from! ;-)

Well Happy Satruday to you all. I have had the worst week EVER and can't wrap my head around all that I would have to talk about. Sigh, let's only say that I am glad it's MOSTLY over and let us never speak of it again ;-)

SO BACK TO BEING SMART! Well until about 23 minutes ago, according to Joe I was flatlining! Things are looking better for me now though - WHEW! It's funny cause all the stuff I was working on for around the house went to POT! The other stuff I almost NEVER really do, not so bad. Course, that may be due to the fact that I have spent about 4 waking moments in my home since Tuesday morning - ish. Let's look at the facts...

Making the bed - 4/7 days - yeah, up through Tuesday morning I was doing GREAT!

Quick clean the kitchen at night - 2/7 days - HA! was I home 2 nights this week?!

Read to kids at bedtime - 2/4 days - um yeah - doin GREAT! ;-) well half ain't SO bad, right?

Limit TV during the day - 7/7 days - GOAL BABY! w00t! I am the BEST! GO ME! I am taking ALL the credit even though we were basically gone for most of the childrens waking hours :-D

Do something exercise like - 4/7 days - OH YEAH OH YEAH - I am TOTALLY counting the 23,875 I lifted that baby and her stroller in and out of that car, and walked the kids EVERYWHERE I could think of all over O-Town and the surrounding areas as exercise THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Brush teeth before bed - 1/7 days - yeah well . . . I WAS IN THE CAR 12 HOURS A DAY PEOPLE! GIMME A BREAK! Besides, I brushed em in the morning so as not to offend the teachers/students/kids/other moms/neighbors/people in traffic next to me - SO THERE YA GO! ;-)

Get UP by 6:30am - 5/7 days - yeah I do REAL well with THAT one seein's how I am usually on the ROAD by that time! My goal is 5/7 cause I deserve that weekend break of 7:00 DANG IT!

Sweep - 1/7 days - Do I have floors? It's weird cause I haven't seen them in so long...

Wash my face - 3/7 days - I really enjoyed this new habit when I did it cause it felt good, however that required being HOME, and since did not have that luxury this week I did not do so well.

Therefore, since this week I will getting my keys - PRAISE GOD - and attempting to move in and and paint entire house/rip out most downstairs carpet/install tile and dots/rip out counters/install granite/install a door/drywall said door/build cabinet/install said cabinet oh and fix and pack the entire house we live in NOW - so therefore and back to my point - no new habit this week. I could say I am going to work on my other habits, but um . . . yeeeeeahhhhh.

So good luck to the rest of YOU though - you go girls! And just wish me luck - and sanity - for the next week. If you haven't joined in on the SMARTies Club - go check out The Lazy Organizer - WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! :-D

TNT!

So...tired...drove many...many miles...good day...but very tired...no time for...details...only time for list...and talking like...William Shatner...

The first day of school in O-town:

• Got up at 5:55, looked at the clock and thought "WHY THE @#$% IS THE ALARM SET SO EARLY?" then remembered it was for me...
• Lil B and Mad didn't eat cause they weren't hungry ona counta it was before DAWN
• Got out of the house pretty close to on time, an HOUR before school started, took the backroads cause the freeway was CRAP, got to the school in the midst of the worst traffic EVER
• Didn't get to walk her up to the class cause she would've been late by the time I unloaded the crew, first time I haven't done that since she was a kindygardener
• Headed to my second home for the breakfast of champions - Starbucks coffee and bagel for me, muffins for the kids
• While congratulating myself on being the master of my universe, my baby pushed my purse which knocked my coffee, which drenched my 5 year old in scalding hot coffee
• After the shock and awe of the situation had thoroughly set in I picked up my SCREAMING child and raced to the bathroom, remembered to grab the baby who was also now screaming because I wrenched her away from her muffin
• Did I mention the place was PACKED? Well it was...
• Found that child A was now screaming not because she was hurt, but because she was so upset that her brand new, first day of school, perfectly accessorized "outfit" was RUINED!


• Had to make an emergency run to teh nearest Target to get a new "perfect" outfit and made the mistake of trying stuff on for myself :-(


• Went to park to sit and fill out paperwork the teacher wanted back TODAY, which was hard with Mad making mad dashes for the street everytime I start spelling out lil B's name for the 4538th time


• Found papers in her backpack STILL when I got home after school


• The pre-walk on my house made my damn week. It could not be more perfect! And all the imperfect stuff will be fixed by the final walk next Tuesday :-D


• Sprinted out the door of my new house to take lil B to school, remembering on the way that I had forgotten to feed her


• Made her WOLF down a warm PB&J I had prepacked this morning


• SAW THAT HOE from yesterday and she never made the attempt to appologize and since I was a little afraid she might shank me, I didn't say anything either {YOU NEVER KNOW HOW THOSE CHOLA'S ROLL}


• Ate lunch with DH at Taco Bell - those 23,975 calories never tasted so ok-ish


• Drove to a nearby city with a park on the river thinking it would be a little cooler - HA!


• Hung out about 20 minutes and it was time to go get R from school


• SHE HAD THE BEST DAY EVER! Made friends, likes her teacher, loves her school, life is GREAT!


• Took her to the park JUST as Mad fell asleep, I stay in the car with sleeping child and let other child run and run


• Until it was time to go get the OTHER child from school!


• Lil B HAD THE BEST DAY EVER! Made friends, likes her teacher and loves her school - best part - NO BULLYing ATTEMPTS MADE! w00t!


• Take Mad from the stroller and back into the carseat for the 34,586 time today, and that was one time too many


• SHE DONE LOST HER MIND - started screaming and hollering and BEGGING for juice


• I only gave in because she hadn't had much in the way of fluids today so we went to Rite-Aid and all got NICE ICE COLD BEVERAGES AND WERE IN HEAVEN


• Until I had to take it away from her to get it rung up - WHOLY @#$% was she PISSED


• Drove 10 hours to take children to their dad's house, run an errand, and return home - THANK GOD


• Made 2 trips to unload the car from today's adventure


• Made a list of all the CRAP I need for tomorrow when I LEAVE the house at 6:30 for another 10 hour adventure in faux homelessness


• Ate apple pie and ice cream for dinner as poor DH falls asleep on the couch from pure exhaustion after another 16 hour day at work and then working at his mama's house


• REALLY enjoyed eating pie for dinner - CAUSE I CAN! w00t!


• Blogged and tried to keep my eyes open and fingers typing - for your enjoyment folks, I do this for YOU! ;-) No not really, I needed to vent and you all can just LIKE IT! ;-)

Okay...enough...for me...must sleep...and get stuttering problem..........LOOKED at ;-)

TNT!

One word that would sum up today = DRAMA.

It started out with me getting the kids up and getting myself presentable at the butt crack of noon. Today we had Lil B's kindergarden orientation, in our new town. I knew I would have to take all FOUR kids with me to this thing. So I called my mom yesterday and basically promised her my first born if she would go with me. She got here right on time and flew out the door. I was pretty well put together actually! I remembered the stroller, the snacks, the hella waters, the baby, and my purse! Then about 13 miles away I remember that I, wearing a navy top, black layered shirt and jeans, forgot to grab my CUTE shoes, and was instead sporting pink flip flops - yeah. But whatever.

So 10 hours later we finally get there. HELLA FOLKS man. So we shoved past them all only to be told to shove back the other way into the cafeteria. I sent my mom and the other 3 kids off to play and explore. Lil B and I listened to some guy say some stuff and then it was OFF TO THE CLASS ROOMS! Her teacher is very patient, very nice, and very understanding - so she and I will get along very well! B was a little skittish at times but there were HELLA kids in there so that was understandable. We looked around, played with some toys,

took some pics and left to meet my mom and the kids outside the door. I went back in for a minute to ask the teacher something and then all DRAMA broke loose.

My oldest comes barrelling through the door to tell me M (my 8 year old stepson) got punched in the eye!!!!! I got out there and get the story. Appearently, some KID was bullying my lil B! He was pushing her and hitting her and then tried to push her off the playground equip!!!! He was lifting up her foot to push her off when my hero M comes up and yells "HEY! Don't you do that to her! LEAVE HER ALONE!" to which the little bastard says "If I push her and she falls it'll be funny!" to which my hero says "YOU BETTER NOT!" and starts climbing up to help her. So the little shit leaves her to go to M. He says to M, "Hey let's go play over there." M says "No way."

SO THE @#$%ing little BASTARD SAYS "Then you're gonna get what you deserve"

AND PUNCHES HIM IN THE EYE!!!!!!

He's a kindergardener . . . in lil B's class. FUN. I was so FREAKIN PISSED. I come running out and see that the little SHIT and his GHETTO-CHOLA-WANNA-BE-WHITE-GIRL-CAN'T-BE-MORE-THAN-20-WITH-A-5-YEAR-OLD MAMMA and her GHETTO-ASS-CHOLO-THINKS-HE'S-HARD-CORE-CAUSE-HIS-SON-PICKS-ON-LITTLE-GIRLS-LIKE-HE-DOES Boyfriend leaving to get in their car. In their haste to get away before the have to face me like a real woman would, THEY LEFT THEIR 2 YEAR OLD BEHIND. Her man ran on and met her with the car and the whole damn time she was walking away, she was staring me down. She walked all the way throught the parking lot lookin at me behind her. Now, there are two reasons for a staredown like that...

Welcome back to another Masterpiece Monday! I am hoping that this will grow in popularity {so more than just me and a BFF are doing it ;-)} so I am going to outline what I'm thinking are the guidelines.

On Mondays I will be posting whatever craftsy/artsy/creative things I have done over the past week. For me, this is helping me to carve out time for myself to do something I enjoy - SCRAPBOOKING! Since I have four kids and LOVE to take pics of EVERYTHING I do, I have A LOT to scrap! So doing this helps me make "ME TIME" during the week. I think I may have gotten more scrapping done in the last few weeks than I have in MONTHS! GO ME!

So I invite you all, and anyone you can think of to tell, to join me! You can post a picture of anything you did that was creative in anyway. Photos you took, something you baked, something you made, something you organized ;-), or something you scrapped! In the post, link back to Masterpiece Mondays. I will have a Mr. Linky at the bottom of my post and you can link to your Masterpiece Monday post! You don't need to ask ahead of time, just link up! I am REALLY excited to see if anyone else participates! You can also use the cute little picture I got in the corner here if you'd like! Put it on your post, on your side bar so other people see it, whatever makes ya happy :-D I know it'd make ME happy, and Rebecca too since she created it :-) {thanks girl, much props ;-)} So now that that is settled, let's look at how crafty I was this week!



This is a layout for my family album. Mad was a busy girl round the holidays and was getting into all kinds of mischief! But she was just so darn cute!



I love this picture. It took FOREVER to get, but I GOT IT! Mostly cause my mom has a picture of me at this same age doing the same thing - super cute.




This layout is for My Album. My girlfriends and all our hella kids got together before we all scattered to the winds. It was funny cause THIS was the GOOD shot! It was so funny trying to get all these kids corralled and looking at the camera, let alone US! And we still are missing two kids!




These were the outtakes! They were just so funny I HAD to put them in! Especially the one where my friend is doing the "Chriss wave" as she called it ;-) I really like the way the title came out on this one, and the inking on both pages, makes it pop somehow I think :-D



This is another layout for My Album. This is of the time Rachelle and I took Rebecca out for some relaxation before her baby was born. I have a single pic of me that I lost somehow, so I left a spot for when I print pics next. I love the letters on this page and the pattern paper!

Ya know, when I started this page I was kinda like BLAH, but now that I look at it, I REALLY REALLY LIKE IT! I like the flowers, oh and the picture of course :-D

Well I hope you enjoyed my latest Masterpieces and I would LOVE to enjoy yours! So just put your info into Mr. Linky, leave a comment, and post your pieces! w00t!

TNT!