House of Cards

Challenge 4
Build a House of Cards

I think I am pretty creative so I thought this challenge would be easy. Heck, I used to build card houses all the time as a kid!

I went out and bought a few more decks of cards, upping my total number of decks to 6. Then GG wanted to help out and gave me yet another deck of cards. I had visions of a card mansion with me standing next to said masterpiece.

Yeah right!!!

I got level number one down. I came pretty close to completing level number 2. If I got to level 3, it would crash. Every single time!!! Finally after hours of squinting, maneuvering, and a few choice words, I finished 3 levels and called it a night.







I was so proud of myself, but then realized I still had 24 hours until I had to submit my post with pictures. The competitive side of me is starting to come out to play.

Don't believe I made that all by myself?
Well, here I am
with my house o' cards!

And by the way, it did not take 7 decks of cards to build this sucker. It only took 3. The real reason I need so many cards is because I am making something out of them. If you stop back on Friday, I'll show you a preview of some of the things that will be going in my Etsy shop.

It is open
and I'm getting ready
to put some stuff in my shop.
Keep an eye out
for the grand opening soon!

Until next time....

You Almost Did What?!?

Post-Its brought to you by...


Until next time....

And My Oscars Go To...

I received a few awards last week. I am truly honored to receive these and let me tell you, they really make up for the crappy mood I was in last week! These 3 are from Jane over at Adoption of Jane. I love reading her blog and she has awesome stories of her life that she shares. You really should go and check her blog out!


The first award is the Stiletto Award. I absolutely love the description that goes along with it. It's kind of long and I apologize for that, but I am copying it straight from Jane's blog...

What is a Stiletto Award???

There are thousands of blogs, and there are hundreds of awards.

The Stiletto Award is a little different than most!

First, to understand, let us understand the Stiletto…
some words that describe it…
Classy – Strong -Exotic – Demure – Extreme – Ultra – Sexy - Bold – Funky

“Walking in extremely high heels is not something that the average woman (or man) will need to do in their everyday life.
However, there are times when this skill may be required.”

AND… what is a “blogger”? According to Dictionary.com the official definition is:
Blogger: One who writes entries in, adds material to, or maintains a weblog

However, I think there is a LOT more to it than that. My definition of a blogger…
Blogger: A strong, confident woman who has a full life. Because of the nature of her existence, she seeks connection and companionship with others who understand and wish to support her. She gains strength and courage from the experiences of these woman and shares her story in return. Through the “blog world” she develops relationships with women she would otherwise never meet and builds a community of cherished friends with whom she shares her life, experiences, challenges, failures, triumphs, goals, family and so much more! She IS Classy, Strong, Exotic, Demure, Extreme, Ultra, Sexy, Bold and Funky!

“To walk gracefully in high heels, take short steps, as opposed to long strides, and come down in a heel-toe, heel-toe motion.”

Hence, the Stiletto Award…For Excellence in Blogging!

I want to salute the women who balance life, family & relationships with style & class! Those women who share their experiences with us…who encourage us, inspire us, teach us, make us laugh and basically keep us going! You know who they are! While you read this blog, your family is looking at you wondering what the heck you are laughing about so hard…or why the tissue is necessary for internet browsing. It’s the one that the kids are excited about cuz a new post means a new craft project or family outing. The one that inspires you to be a better mom, friend, person in general. The one that reminds you that we are all “in this life together” and you’re not the only one going through the hard stuff. The one that you secretly wish your blog was like…

“It is good to get into the habit of doing the warm-up and cool-down exercises every time you wear them.”

If you’ve received this award, someone out there thinks you deserve it! Be proud! Display the badge with honor! You earned it…after all it means that you brought something special to at least one other person, and really, isn’t that what life’s all about????

“Under no circumstances drive a car with your heels on. Not only do you have less control over the car, but it will damage your shoes – and they aren’t cheap at this height. Keep spare shoes in the car for driving, or have someone drive you.”

THE RULES!

This blog is meant to be shared, to be given out, to be bestowed upon any and ALL women who exemplify what the stiletto represents. If you’ve received this award, here’s what you do:

1. Display your Stiletto Badge of Honor on your sidebar! Wear it with pride…

“Heels this high are not meant for clubbing or walking long distances in. They are mainly used for getting from the living room to the bedroom, from the car to the restaurant, or for a short stroll along the catwalk.”

2. BRAG ABOUT IT! -write a post about your award.
3. SAY THANKS! - include a link to the friend who nominated you for the award.
4. SHARE THE LOVE! -nominate 5-10 blogs that you feel deserve the award. Include links to them in your post -and- leave them a comment to let them know they are nominated.
5. DO WHAT YOU DO! -keep at it. Keep inspiring and encouraging and sharing your life! We love it and we thank you!!!

Holy F-ing Monkey balls, I have another award!

This is also from Jane as well as Kmama from The Daily Dribbles. Kmama shares stories about her life raising 2 boys. Her blog is always fun to read and she has a lovely sense of sarcasm that I can really relate to!

The rules.... here they go!
1... post & love your award.
2.... Thank the giver of the award & link to him or her
3... Give Self Pat on The Back
4... use the phrase holy fu**ing monkey balls once...
5... pass this awesomeness on to 9 other bloggers

This last one is Jane's very own award. I think she was so excited to have her very own award to pass along that she didn't bother with rules. That is fine by me because I am horrible with the rules for these awards. I'm lucky that I remembered to brag post about them at this point. My brain is so fried from the craziness that was last week that I'm surprised I know my own name!

But anyways, here's a few bloggers I'd like to pass these awards on to...

The Monkey Balls award goes to anyone who wants it. I think it's just hysterical and everyone should have a laugh and snag it!

The Stiletto award and You Rock awards go to...
Steven Anthony
Princess of Sarcasm
Amber's Life
kssnnikkel
Amy

You should check out their blogs as well. They are some awesome people!

And Steven, I know you love shoes, but if you don't want a "girl" shoe award, I understand. LOL!!

Until next time....

Is it really true?

Most times if it sounds too good to be true it usually is. That's why I'm finding it hard to believe that I finally have a minute to myself right now! Luckily I knew on Monday that it would be a busy week so I could prepare myself somewhat. But it was still crazy!

Wednesday night was my Girl Scout leader meeting. I knew we would be planning the luncheon scheduled for next month, and I was afraid. Planning the father/daughter dance last month was so stressful! Thankfully it wasn't so bad this time. But I was exhausted! All I did was sit for 2 hours and listen. I guess it's like driving a long distance - it doesn't seem like work, but it really is! Then Thursday night was our Brownie meeting. That's always a busy and stressful night! Thankfully it's every other week and if you want to read about it, please go back to Friday's post. Sorry, but I'm too tired to try and link anything at the moment!

Friday night was family Bingo night for GG's school. I volunteered to help set up. I was told we would start around 1:30. I figured I could help until GG got out of school, pick Chris up from work, eat dinner, and then head on up to play. Turns out we couldn't get in the high school to set up until 3. The permit said 3 but some higher-up was talked to and said we could get in early. That's how it's always been but this year they finally stuck to the permit and then the higher-up denied saying anything otherwise. So I rearranged my schedule so I could help set up. It's a lot of work but somehow you always feel you don't do enough to help. And then there's those who get their boat rocked. For example, you have that one person who is no where to be found during planning, but at the last minute she shows up with donations and wants to help like shes being the hero who saved the day or something. Ya, I'd be mad at that too if I was the one on charge. But anyway, Bingo was fun. GG played with a bunch of friends and Little Dude won a door prize. That was the only thing we won, but it was still fun. At the end of the night I snuck out of cleaning up duty. Shh.. don't' rat me out. I was just so exhausted and had tons to do the next day.

Saturday was Snugglebugs drop-off. That's a kids resale event I do twice a year. So on top of all the things I had to do outside of the house this past week, I also had to come home and do all the prep work for that. Washing, hanging, and tagging clothes. Cleaning and counting pieces for toys that also needed priced and tagged. Even though I didn't have a lot of stuff this time, it was still a lot of work. Dropping it off is such a good feeling because it's out of my house. But it is a little sad getting rid of things. Especially when my daughter was with me asking why she couldn't keep this shirt or that dress.

Saturday was also our booth sale for GS Cookies. At first I thought we were given a crappy location to set up shop, but we did sell a lot more than I expected. GG and I got there around 11am and stayed until 2:30 when other parents and girls came. Hopefully our relief sold a good bit, or all, of what was left. It really wasn't as miserable as I thought it would be. And I never thought that I would get a sunburn on a 30 degree day. Of course, sometimes I can just think about the sun and burn!

So now I just have to wait for GG to return from her friend's house so we can go shopping. She has a birthday party to go to tomorrow and we still need to buy a present. For once I can't wait for Monday so I can get back to doing the things I want to do and get back into somewhat of a routine.

Until next time....

I Want My Daughter Back Please!

For a while now I've said that Little Dude is the one with the attitude. I hear other moms complain that their daughters who are around GG's age (8) have the mouth of a teenager. I'm sure you know what I mean when I say that - the "I don't care", smart mouth type. I have felt so lucky that my daughter rarely talks back to me. GG has been more a drama queen type. Every injury or broken toy, no matter how minor, seems like the end of the world according to her. Recently, I have changed my thinking about my daughter. More specifically, I am referring to our battle last night.

Every other Thursday night we have Brownies. Since I am one of her leaders, I am able to be sent to the 7th ring of hell a witness to how she is with other girls. Let me back up to where last night's mess actually started.

Our big project last night at the meeting was to plant flowers for an eventual Mother's Day gift. The girls were told at the last meeting, and their parents were reminded, to dress in old clothes because the girls WILL get dirty. Starting around 4pm, I told GG that she would have to change into play clothes after dinner. This meant an old pair of pants and shirt. She was complaining of being hot so I told her that a t-shirt would be ok. She said she would change her shirt, but keep her jeans on. No, the pants she currently had on were one of her good pairs - ones that actually fit properly and didn't have stains or holes in the knees. I said she needed sweatpants. We get home and she starts with an attitude because she can't find a t-shirt to wear. Um, the whole left side of her middle drawer is full of t-shirts! She finally picked a shirt and chose blue velour pants to wear. She has worn those blue pants maybe twice so no, they are not old play clothes. She freaked out.

"I want to wear these pants", she proclaimed, with a hint of "don't you talk to your mother like that' tone of voice. Her proclamation was followed by the sigh. If you have a daughter, I'm sure you know exactly what kind of sigh I am referring to.

I told her to go change into the bright pink sweatpants in her drawer. Those just barely fit her and I didn't care if they got dirty. She changed her clothes and once again we had to go through the argument over how those pants weren't play clothes either. I apparently need to re-teacher her her colors. Peach is NOT the same as bright pink. Again I had to listen to the argument and sighs. It took everything I had to keep my cool while I pulled out the pants I was talking about for her to change in to. I ended with an explanation about how she is not going to this meeting to impress someone. Everyone would have on old clothes and no one would care what she looked like.

And then we got to the meeting. Oh, good gravy! Listening to these girls, I find it hard to believe that they are only 7 and 8 years old. I'm sure, ok I at least hope, their parents have tried to teach their daughters good manners, but apparently they leave those at home. I was cutting string for kite tails and one girl said, "I need my string." Um, how about "Can I have a piece of string please". WTH?!? And then the girls starting talking about who was dating who. What?!? This is 2nd grade people!

We finally asked what dating means in second grade. Most of the girls said that when you date a boy, it's kind of like saying he's your best friend. Well, then one girl chimes in with "He's a best friend and then some". And what exactly does "then some" mean? I was afraid to ask, but I have a feeling if a girl hasn't had the birds and bees talk with her parents yet, they will hear it from this girl. The things that come out of her mouth could be whole post!

Attitudes, sighs, not caring, and now dating? Where is my daughter and when can I have her back?


Until next time....