Pay it Forward

Oops, I forgot... I was going to post this today. My friend Wendy posted this on her site and I agreed to pay it forward with her.

For the first 5 people to comment on this post, I will make something for you. It will be something specifically for you... I don't promise that it will be in your hands soon, just sometime before the end of 2009. The only catch is that you make the same post on your blog, or facebook, or where ever... I love to pay it forward... Now you can pay it forward too...

P.S. To Bekah G.... I haven't forgotten... I'm still working on an idea :-)

I'm on the way back...

Wow! It's been a while... I think that doing the Christmas Picture Challenge in December (I posted every single day), wiped me out! I'd burned out a little. But, I'm feeling a little surge to get back to blogging, even though I have no idea why anyone would be interested. Isn't it funny that I love reading blogs of my friends, even the daily routine stuff, but I think it's silly that anyone would be interested in my daily routine stuff. Oh well, I'm sure that there are times you may read my blog and think, "Oops, I just wasted 2 minutes!" But, that's the risk you take :-) I have several bloggy ideas bouncing around in my head and I'm waiting until the right time to write... I'll be back. Consider yourself warned...

Can't Sleep...

Not too long ago, I posted a blog about how much I love to sleep and that I can sleep almost anywhere. Guess what? I can't sleep sitting up...as in, sitting in an airplane. Even if I'm exhausted and on a 9 hour flight!!

Toilet Paper Epiphany!

If you've spent any time with me in the last year, you know that I've become a "good deal" seeker. I try to fine our necessities as cheaply as possible, and then buy as many as possible. One of those necessities is toilet paper. I'm just guessing here, but I bet it's a necessity at your house too! Anyway, my target price for toilet paper is $.25 a roll. I will not pay more than $.25 for a regular roll of toilet paper. If it's a double roll, then I just divide the price in 1/2 to see if it comes out to $.25 or less per regular roll. So, for the last year, I've been buying TP at my target price and feeling pretty proud of myself when I'd stumble on a good deal. I have quite a stash of TP and the main brands that I have are Angel Soft, Charmin, and Cottenelle. This weekend, I was moving my stash and took a look at the fine print. WHOA!! Not all TP is created equal!! Here's what I discovered: I'm an idiot!

OK, I'm not really an idiot, but it sure took the wind out of my sails when I realized my error.

The size of the squares of TP are all the same for all the brands. They're each roughly 4" x 4 1/2". So far, so good. BUT! The NUMBER of squares is different.

Charmin - 1 regular roll is approx. 100 ft.
Cottenelle - 1 regular roll is approx. 150 ft.
Angel Soft - 1 regular roll is approx. 172 ft. Yes! 172 ft.!!!!! And! It's even a 2-ply!

So, consider yourself informed!! Spread the word!!

Just Like Heaven

Roger's dad tells the story of when Roger was about 5 or 6 years old, he asked his dad what heaven was like. His dad told him to imagine the best place in the world. That's what heaven would be like. Roger thought this over and said, "You mean, heaven is a big dirt pile?"


What is it about piles of earth? I remember one summer when I was about the same age and a house was being built next to ours in our suburban neighborhood. The house belonged to the construction workers from 8-5, but after dinner, it belonged to about 30 neighborhood kids who would climb, tunnel, build, and create with the excavated piles of dirt. I'm sure the workers would curse us under their breath each morning when they saw all of our shoeless footprints all over the place.


We had a pile of gravel delivered last week, since the grass in front of the shop was becoming a mud pit. The kids had a ball... Actually, I'd say Roger had as much fun on the tractor as the kids on the gravel.





Notice that the kids have exhausted the dog...

Hey Trish! What's for Dinner?

Did you ever watch Hee-Haw? I used to love that show! Roy Clark lived in Tulsa and I would pass his rather large house when I drove anywhere near Utica Square. Anyway, on the show, Grandpa would give the menu for dinner by listing a heart-stopping, grease soaked, butter drenched meal. Now that we know all that stuff is bad for you, our meals are much less entertaining... Nevertheless...here goes.

Breakfasts
Sun -F - We have your choice!! Cereal, oatmeal, whole wheat toast with honey/jam/peanut butter, eggs, fruit smoothies
Saturday - Whole wheat waffles w/syrup or jam, bacon, fruit smoothies

Lunches (Our lunch menu is almost always the same every week. I can barely keep up with dinners, so I don't want to expend brain cells thinking about what to fix for lunch!)

M - sandwiches (PBJ), chips, veggies/dip
T - chicken nuggets, applesauce
W - pizza, orange slices
Th - sandwiches (ham/cheese), sliced apples
F - mac/cheese, crackers,
Sat - leftovers
Sun - potluck at church

Dinners -

M - CP Chicken Fettuccine, green beans, applesauce
T - Honey Dijon pork chops, bow tie pasta with veggies, whole wheat bread
W - Manicotti, salad, bread sticks
Th - Hamburgers, whole wheat buns, corn, whole wheat chocolate chip cookies (these really are the best cookies I've had...they're fabulous!)
F - CP Taco Soup, Frito's, cheese...
Sat - leftovers
Sun - breakfast (make a big batch of waffles to freeze leftovers for following week)

Whew... I'm trying to sneak more fruit and veggies into the plan. I need to do a little research on it because I tend to do mainly apples and oranges, which can get old. I have blueberries and strawberries in the freezer for fruit smoothies, but I need to be more intentional in getting those into the plan. Any ideas?

Back in the stamp room...

During Christmas vacation, I had a list a mile long of things I had wanted to accomplish...one of those things being an opportunity to clean and organize my stamp room. I got it done, about a month late! But, better late than never, right? What a difference! Clutter truly does inhibit the creative juices. Before, I dreaded trying to find what I wanted. Now, it's so nice that everything has a place, and I have space to play. I've stamped more in the last couple weeks than in the last many months. And, today I did Kristina Werner's color challenge. I haven't done one of those since the fall! Her challenge was to use these colors.

This design is totally copied from the Stampin' Up catalog. I used a similar patter for a recent swap and thought it would work for these colors too. What do you think? I really like it. You can't really see the words, but it says, "You're a wonderful reason to celebrate." The teal is a little more vibrant in real life, but I think you get the picture.