I got my Mother's Day gift yesterday!

here are some pictures of the die cuts I made from my 2 new Cricut Cartridges and my New Jukebox!! The Expression was last years gift for Mother's Day... As you can see I'm going to have some fun with these new toys!

It takes me forever....

to go to the Grocery store nowadays... I went to three stores this afternoon and took me til 7 pm to get home! Yikes... I'm pretty sure I left at about 3:30-4:00 or so . I did go into Peoria which takes about 20 mins give or take depending on traffic . then stopped in East Peoria , then on to Washington with another stop.... I only took Rory

Excuse me? Your think your poor & you make how much?

As I surf the Internet this morning I came across this article about the perception of wealth and the tax changes to those who make over 250,000 a yr . Now I can understand that if you live in a certain area ( like most areas in California ) 250,000 may not be a lot of money but with that small exception those who make over 250,000 a year need to prioritize. Read the excerpt below taken directly from the article and you will most likely agree with me on that .
Excerpt -
Van Moore, an optometrist in Sevierville, makes just enough in his practice that he worries he might qualify for the tax increase. Mr. Moore said he was contemplating adding two staff workers and another doctor to his practice, but then the economy went soft. In the years after he finished optometry school, his first job brought in less than $20,000 a year. Then he made $50,000 for several years, all the while dealing with his $150,000 student-loan debt, which he still has. Now he is making just above $250,000.
"I'm not in a mobile home with no utilities or running water and holes in the floor," he said. "I'm not poor, but I'm not rich."
For the Parnells, their perception of themselves is based on the math. The value of their house is down $60,000. Ms. Parnell says the couple's gross income last year was about $260,000. Taxes, premiums for medical care and deductions for Social Security and their 401(k) contributions cut the gross to about $12,000 per month. The family tithes $1,300 a month at their church. Their mortgage, second mortgage and payment on land they bought is nearly $4,000 a month. Other expenses, including their family car payment, insurance and college funds, as well as basics like food, utilities and donations to charities, leave them with about $1,200 left over each month.
"I'm not after sympathy. We are blessed. What I want is a reality check on what rich means," Ms. Parnell says. "I can pay my mortgage and I can buy some clothes. I'm not going without, but I'm not living a life of luxury."
Please .... Mr. & Mrs. Parnell get a grip you have more money left over to spend how you please on extras than most people make in a month! I mean I feel like we are blessed to be able to let me stay home with the kids for now and if we have enough to buy some extras each month after things are paid we are doing great.
Then I read this and think ya know these people need a reality check! Quit your bitchin' and do your part. Maybe you shouldn't have bought such a expensive house , I'm sorry you can't take 2 vacations a year, or that you may have to buy off the rack from a High End Dept store once in a while. What! You can't buy only designer clothes & handbags (Gasp!) what will the neighbors think! ... maybe you should not give the church so much money since it obviously means so much to you...
Seriously we are a family of 4 and Brad makes way less and we are fine... we have food , a home, a car , and clothes on our backs. We don't want for anything... if we do want something and we don't have enough to go out and buy it then we just save up for it . AND yes we shop at Walmart , K-mart, Garage sales & Second hand stores... there is nothing wrong with that. I would rather take something that is used and in perfectly good condition and save my money on more important things like gas , food and (LOL) Scrapbook supplies....
I just hate people who think expensive material things are a necessity they are extras and you can survive without them .

Smilebox digital scrapbook

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Easter Digital Scrapbook with Smilebox

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Filipino Prisoners can DANCE!

I had to share I stumbled upon some funny videos of Filipino prisoners doing some choreographed dances .. check them out!

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/1260596/4422029 this one is the Rico Mambo not as good as the Thriller one but still cool to watch.

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/857193/3498139 this one is Thriller and really good ! I used to love Michael Jackson! LOL

Rory's Photo Shoot

Last week I decided I should get some new cute pictures of Rory and share them with everyone. I wanted them to look semi professional so I took them with him Naked on a plain background

.... Note to all this is so much easier to do when they are newborns but I still wanted to do it even though he was not as cooperative as I would have liked. Here's a few of my Favorites.

I tried to get Griffin in on the action but he wasn't going to cooperate either so I gave up on him early... 2 year olds what are you to do with them.

Deals Deals and more Deals

OK so First off I have to say I have had a great weekend so far! I had so much freakin' fun at the Scrap Friday night, I managed to make about 4 pages and since they were having the annual garage sale the next day if you went to the scrap you got a sneak preview and got first dibs to buy anything you wanted ... you see where this is going I'm sure.

Well I went to the right while just about everyone else went the left.I was by myself at the first table I went to & one lady had stuff marked down to ridiculously low prices... needless to say in just a few minutes I had an armload of Stampin' up wood stamp sets , a ton of baggies with multiple punches, papers , magazine & Idea books , templates and numerous other things... I had a huge pile by the time I made my way to the other end of the store. I didn't bring enough cash so they held what I wanted and I went Sat morning to buy what I had left along with a bunch more ... LOL ...In total I spent $68.00 - $48.00 this morning and $20.00 last night - the scrap fee was 7.00 and I bought 2 stickles and some extra papers for the pages I was working on while there plus the 10.00 in garage sale stuff.

I probably bought well over 1000.00 worth of items and I would venture to think that it was even more than that if I had bought them new at full price!!!!

But What happened to be in my e-mail this morning when I checked it ? a great exclusive offer from Provo Craft! Yay! so the deal is you buy a bundle set of 2 Carts that they will be releasing in May for 99.00 and if you paid in 1 payment then you also got a Cricut Jukebox and Cricut markers! So I had mentioned it to Brad and he was like Wow that's a good deal you should buy it and kept asking me if I had bought it yet well I finally broke down and bought it It is just a little more than the jukebox at most stores anyway unless it is a really special sale like Black Friday and the Home Decor Cart looks cool I know I could do alot with that . As for the Jubilee Cart I could do without but I don't have any extra fonts just the one that came with my Expression when I bought it so it may be nice to be able to have another to use until I have the SCAL program and Design Studio ... those are on my wish list and I may be able to buy them here fairly soon but I figured I would wait till they came out with the DS pro since that is supposed to come out soon.

Anyway those were some fantastic deals & I can't believe that I am so lucky to have such a supportive guy who lets me spend money on my hobby without every complaining and even encouraging me to get a certain item or whatever it is that he knows I want .

Now I just need to put in those "new " counter tops ( from Brad's Parent's kitchen re-do) and finish my scrapbook room again, it is almost re-organized and the room lost a few things again that I didn't really use & the space seems much less crowded.

Stay tuned for more installments , I will be posting some new pictures next time!

Free digi kits at twopeasinabucket!

I know I know I'm behind the times it seems... Everyone but me knew it was there...BUT...

I just found the FREE digital Scrapbook kits at my favorite Scrapbook website two peas in a bucket! I'm on there all the time ( well at least when I get on the computer) I go there to check out others Layouts and take part in the challenges they have to take a class or whatever and I haven't been that interested in digi scraping cause that's all I need to do is start obsessively collecting digi kits like the real Scrapbook stuff.

I just guess that was too much to ask for, Now I want to start Digi scrappin' so I can send them to people and not worry about my pages getting damaged. I would also love to do some Hybrid Scrapbooking with both Digital elements and Traditional Scrapbook supplies and see what I could come up with. I started downloading kits that were free and now I can't stop ... it's terrible really the excitement I get from a new scrapbook element but at least it's not Drugs! Safe and Legal is the way to go!

Anyway I need to find some fonts so I can print out some Journaling and some titles for my Pages for this Fridays crop and I still need to print out some pictures.

Back to work while I have a free hour from Rorys hungry belly. It's so quite right now... ahhhh Feel the Peace.

Scrapbook Crop

Ok well I'm so excited ! I get to go to a scrapbook swap next friday! It's a 6 hour event at my Local scrapbook store ( LSS). I can't wait it will be my first time away from Rory for more than an hour, Yikes! I have to pump this week so I will have enough for Brad to feed him while I'm gone. I'm sure he will handle it fine but I still a bit aprehensive...

Anyway, I have been taking a ton of pictures so I can choose some for my LOs I am hopeing to get at least 6 done 1 an hour ... I may be able to get more done if I plan ahead and print out the pictures , cut out anything with my Cricut machine that I may want, and Print out some titles off the computer & dig thru all the embellishments and stickers so I can have as much choosen and ready to go.

I know already some of the photos I will be using already , check them out below . Cute huh?

Welcome Roarke Maxwell

Welcome my newest addition , Roarke Maxwell . He was born on Jan 30th and I have been so busy I haven't come back to update everyone but most of you know already anyway...LOL

I swear the past 2 months have just flown by I still feel like it was just last week that I felt like I was recovered from the C-Section. I suppose it was only 3 weeks ago really but man it went quick.( note to all that may have a c-section in the future - brace your belly with a pillow and bend over when sneezing otherwise you may rip a stitch! like I did and boy was that painful )

I have lost just over 30 lbs so far and I have sooooo much more to lose. It really sucks I could eat wonderfully the whole pregnancy and still gain 50 lbs I swear but I have started eating super wholesome again and now that it is supposed to get warmer I will be able to start going out more with the boys.. we live a block away from the park and last year griffin and I went almost daily. so this yr we 3 will go for walks around town and the neighborhood and play at the park and if I can bring myself to get into a bathing suit then we will go swimming !

Lose that baby weight Tazza Lose it quick!