my favorite part

I love this part of my day. When the dishes have all been washed and put away, the kitchen is clean, the kids are tucked into bed and I get to sit down, with a warm cup of Chai tea, and spend some me-time. The house would be perfectly quiet if not for the Sun's game playing in the background.
Still, it's relatively quiet.
Perfection.

and it's Friday. There's something about Fridays that's kind of exciting for me. Maybe because it's one more day until our weekend! The salon's busiest day of the week is always Saturday (isn't that true for every salon!), so our weekend-family day is always just Sunday. I'm thinking maybe a trip to the park may be in order! I also have my fingers crossed that I get to have a salon day some day soon, my hair desperately needs it!



This morning I spent a little time working on just one more Valentine. I think I have mine ready to be mailed!! Hopefully on Monday, a few little packages will be on their way. I've been checking out the Valentines that everyone left me a link for and they are lovely!! It will be a very happy mail day soon!



Guess what I found yesterday while snooping through Peter's wine cabinet!! :) I must have put these in there at least 4 or 5 years ago, tucked away in the very back of the cabinet and I forgot all about them. Thank goodness for snooping! Aren't they beautiful and I adore the color combo red - pink and gold! Such a fantastic surprise! I'd like to note that my curiousity usually, if not always, gets the best of me, but in instances such as this one, I will happily admit to it!



I'm now trying to think of something special for a Valentines Day dinner, just so I can use all of my new found dishes! I need a cute idea for dessert too.... let the planning begin! Do you make a special dinner at home or do you go out?
~ I've finished my Chai tea, so I'm off to read a little and then for some beauty sleep. Sweet dreams!

today I:

- organized a box of Chases old toys
- called my mom
- called my Grandma
- emailed another one of my Grandmas
- painted little buttons



- mailed out a cute little package to a flickr friend
- cuddled with the dogs today (it was record breaking freezing here today, we're not use to it!)



- had 2 cups of Chai tea
- spent Chases naptime writing out a couple of new tutorials
- had Oreo's & milk for dessert with the kiddos



I meant to add this to last nights post. My menu for the week! I'll start with yesterday's dinner since I can't remember all the way back to Monday. :)

Tuesday:
Sauteed Chicken & Onions
Brown rice
Roasted yellow squash & zucchini

Wednesday:
Grilled Eggplant sandwiches
Cantaloupe

Thursday:
Maple-mustard-soy sauce marinated Pork Tenderloin
Garden Salad
Corn Casserole
Sauteed Peas & almonds

Friday:
Fish Taco's
Cantaloupe

Saturday:
Clam Chowder
Sourdough Bread
Garden Salad

Sunday:
Chinese Chicken Salad
roasted Green Beans

that should do it until Monday when the week and a new menu will start all over again! Oh, also if you have any photos of the Valentine that you made for the swap, I would love to see them!! Or if you already have them posted to your blog leave me the link!! I'm calling it an early night tonight. I suppose with the cold weather here, it made me a wee bit sluggish today. It would have been a great day to stay in bed and snuggle with the kids.... maybe tomorrow!

an ode to food

well, maybe not an ode but how about a post dedicated to food. Lately I've been caught complaining a bit about being bored with cooking. I feel like I need new ideas, something fresh and inspiring. Of course, I get into a.... cooking slump right around this time every year. Winter blues? Maybe.(You can laugh at me or roll your eyes, it's 70 degrees here and I call it winter because I'm freezing!) It could also be the lack of really good fresh fruit and vegetables at our stores right now too?



A couple of weeks ago I sat, by myself, in a crowded hospital waiting room and because it was Monday I was working on my menu plan for the week. (I love waiting rooms! I'm always alone and people don't tend to bother you or ask questions, it's rather perfect for getting tedious tasks accomplished!) Remember this post? - Yep, I make a weekly menu plan with 3-6 meals per day. (Why 3-6 meals, the kids don't always eat the same thing Peter and I do, so sometimes I make them their own breakfast-lunch and dinner. I know, it's like the first mommy-101 no-no, but I do it anyway.)

It probably does sound crazy, but I plan ahead for 2 good reasons.

1. I hate the grocery store, and will only go once a week. So I don't want to forget anything because no matter what it is, I'm not going back until the following Monday.

2. I drive a massive gas-guzzling SUV, so any time I can conserve on fuel I will do so! Which is why I make one big trip to the grocery store a week.

I was doing the math in my head as I sat there, 4.5 meals on average a day x 7 days a week x 52 weeks............ oh my word! Can that be right? That doesn't include dessert either! That is a crazy amount of meals to be making... and to think of ahead of time. No wonder I'm bored and feel like I need something new, it's because I do!!

So, to remedy the slight boredom I've come face to face with, I was thinking that maybe I would do a little challenge. A personal challenge, but something that I could post to my blog. I haven't thought of anything spectacular quite yet. Maybe I'll start with posting my dinner menu for the week and adding recipes here and there. My mom is always asking for recipes and maybe this way it will force me to try some new dishes?

I was talking with a friend today about my little cooking dilemma and her answer was to eat out more. I love my friends. I just need to find a great way to challenge myself & my love of cooking again!

a little painty...

I wanted to share this before I forgot today!! Over the weekend, the future little artist and I, got out the paints and paper and created some Valentine Heart Trees for Jessica at scrumdilly-do. After a few practice trees and a minor freak-out over having an excess of paint all over, (Alaina does not like getting her hands messy!) we finally made one worthy enough to share with everyone! :))



Jessica has an incredible talent for creating fun kid-friendly projects!! I love art-projects like these for the weekends, simple enough for kids and yet it will keep them entertained for at least an hour or two. :)

a perfectly random winner

Min:1
Max:85
Result:
72

Powered by RANDOM.ORG

beida-fish said...
I'm game for anything crafty. I'd love to see more crafting classes. Thanks for giving us the chance to win such an adorable kit you put together!


If this comment looks familiar send me your address!! rosas07@msn.com and a tiny Valentines package will be on it's way to you!



Ironically, I'm spending the start of my week doing the exact same thing that I ended last week doing, mailing packages at the post office. :) Funny how that works! I have an idea for another food inspired post later on today. It's a bit rainy and cloudy here this morning which always makes me want to stay inside and cook or bake! see you soon!:)

a lovely Saturday giveaway

*if you're looking for our swap list, I added a shortcut! -------------> click on the heart and it will take you to the post..*



I made a little embellishment kit to giveaway on my blog today. Just a few things to add to a scrapbook layout or if your making your own valentine! My favorite is the handmade stickers, I use them on everything; envelopes, notes, cards, tags... and anything else that I can stick them too. :)





If you're taking a break today leave your name in the comment section... and if you have a little extra time I have a question! More like a poll I suppose. Craft class or Scrapbook class?

(If you had the chance (and spare time) what would you rather take, a class on scrapbooking or a class on crafting? Personally, even though I love working with paper, I think I'd be more incline to choose a crafting class. I like the idea of being more open to different projects and maybe not just focusing on only paper crafting. Does that make sense?)

I'll choose a name on Monday morning!!

layers of pink & red

Since I posted our Valentine list this afternoon, I thought I would pop back in with a couple of Valentines that I made.

I'm not sure if any one else has had this problem but I had a hard time deciding on the size. I had originally thought I would just make a really girly tag, but then it didn't look right... or finished. So, what started off as just an idea for a little Valentine card, turned into a little book, or stack, of Valentine tags. **I really did intend to make something simple and small!!**

I took photos of each layer, it makes it easier to see how they're made. :)
the first one: Love Struck







love & hearts (I think I'll add a little more to this one and give it to Peter.)








*love*love* I love this color combo pink-red-blue-white!!






I have one more card to make tonight and then my completely disorganized craft room is calling my name. I've definitely earned the world's messiest scrapper award this week, but it was kind of worth it! :)) Hope you have a great weekend!

Valentines Day Swap- the List!!

it's officially here!

** I think I've included everyone that has signed up, so I'm closing the swap at the 36 of us already signed up. If you missed out on this swap, don't worry I have another idea for a swap in April!! **

I haven't been able to track down some of you that signed up, if you see your name and I don't have a way of contacting you, please leave your email in the comments. *I'll delete all of our email's once everyone has contacted their swap partners.* Since I'm really new at organizing a swap, I probably should have mentioned to leave an email address. doh! Next time, I will remember!

Jennifer C. chapinjennife@yahoo.com <------> Juliet littlemisscraftyis@googlemail.com

April artistaprilcole@gmail.com <-----> Christina cmokeson@gmail.com

Andrea andreabilich@bigpond.com <-----> Jody nitty.grittyjody@yahoo.com

Alicia gollyg8@yahoo.com <-----> Britta www.brittaschatz.blogspot.com

Vintage Love creatingartat2am@yahoo.com <------> Stacy www.hellother-jdrf.blogspot.com

One thousand Paper Cranes <-----> www.curlymosaics.blogspot.com

Tanya craftynumnums@yahoo.com <-----> Angie B. starionleo@cox.net

Brenda dewsgirl0@gmail.com <-----> Emily emilythitphaneth@gmail.com

Nerissa kate_vee_me@hotmail.com <-----> Robin http://capturejoy.blogspot.com/

Danielle shimmeredlife@gmail.com
<-----> Anastasia C aa.christou@optusnet.com.au

Jul <-----> Me!! rosas07@msn.com

Merisaa revestirm001@hawaii.rr.com <------> Amy G. abci3@charter.net

Heather metrochic@gmail.com <-----> Fauve www.fauvevanmaanen.blogspot.com

Patricia Z. coloredsprinklegirl@hotmail.com <----> Renee http://reneesendelbach.blogspot.com/

Nora nlatiff@yahoo.com <-----> TxScrap www.texasscrapaddict.blogspot.com

Tanya M <-----> Jessica jekinthebox@gmail.com

Karey mkm9278@yahoo.com <-----> Heather P. http://myartsycraftybrain.blogspot.com/

Kristina modernfrills@yahoo.com
<-----> Elisa elisa@mbtaz.com

Here's the tricky part, everyone will have to work together to contact their own swap partner. I know you can do it!! Please let me know if you need help or have questions, I'm here to help!



I have some errands to run and some Etsy shipping to take care of, but tonight I'll post 3 of the Valentines that I made! I can also do a tutorial if anyone is interested tomorrow... maybe a how-to make a simple layered Valentine?

Happy Friday!

I think her voice is incredible.

Have you heard this song? The music video was a little difficult to watch, I was always a music kid & not so much a theatre kid. But I love her voice and the piano!



my plan for this Wednesday: all things Valentines!

Dream- a little book

warning: photo overload post!

Crate decided to post my project today rather than waiting until next month. :) You probably won't believe this but I made this entire mini on Sunday morning. I did take a break to go fly a parrot kite (it was insanely windy this weekend!) and a lunch break, but the whole little book came together so fast!!!..... well fast for me anyway, as I tend to take my own sweet time making everything. ;) There are more details and a little write up on the crate paper blog.

Now onto the photo part of this post! Enjoy!
















photo credit: Marcel van Driel(you have to check out his work, he's amazing!)

**all of the butterflies are hand cut and the brown flower was handmade from a worn-out t-shirt. Everything in this book is all part of the newest Crate Paper - Portrait collection. If you have any questions, I'll add the answers to the end of this post! Thanks ~ t

tgi sunday night!

holy super busy-creative weekend. I stayed in my pj's today, because it seemed like a good idea and it was! I scrapbooked all weekend.... actually since Thursday, I've been a scrappin' fool. I finished a couple of new scrapbook pages, in time for CHA and put together a little mini-album layered to perfection! All for the Crate Paper blog. I have to wait patiently until it's reveal time!!




here's the LO I did with their newest collection Portrait. I love-love this photo. My grandparents on June 21, 1956, their wedding day. They look so young here and my grandfather looks so serious. I don't ever remember him being serious, he was always getting on someones last nerve.... usually my grandma's. :) He was always joking or laughing about something. He had a great laugh, even now remembering how his laugh sounded makes me smile. I miss him. I've been thinking about him alot this week. Probably more so since finishing this layout.

I have a Dr. apt tomorrow. Another scan. Keep your fingers crossed for me that they aren't terribly surprised with what they find this time around. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. At the last scan I did in Nov. I ended up in the emergency room. It makes me so anxious to go back, and even more nervous to find out how they plan on 'fixing' me. Oh how I hope it's an easy 6 hour apt. tomorrow.
Good night everyone. Sweet dreams. - t.

ps. I have some Valentines to show everyone and thankyou to everyone who signed up for the swap!! I'll be assigning swap partners this week! Oh and yes, international girls are more than welcome to play along!

a Valentines Day Card swap...

just for us grown-up girls! :))

So, I've decided... Why wait until next year? Let's do a Valentines Day swap now! If you're interested in making and swapping 1 little handmade Valentine card, leave a comment below!! I'll match up swap partners next week, and that should give us lot's of time to make and send a Valentine before the 14th. {Since this is my very first time organizing a swap, any helpful advice is very much appreciated! and who knows, maybe this will turn into a regular event around here!}

and incase you need some Valentine color inspiration, I took a few photos yesterday. Enjoy!











I'll be back tomorrow with some new scrapbook-ish stuff. :)) Oh and don't miss the giveaway on the Crate Paper blog today!! I can tell you that the Emma collection is already one of my forever favorites!!