Ignorance

This is one of my favorite BLOGS to read : http://froggymonkey.blogspot.com/ The gal, Aimee, is a fellow scrapbooker who I met chatting online a couple years ago. Neat lady! Sadly, she and her family were caught in the nasty storms last year and thier homes and lives were torn apart and total devastation has ensued. Aimee IS one of the lucky few...with A LOT OF HARD WORK and DETERMINATION they have started to rebuild and get some sort of 'normalcy' back into thier lives. Her BLOG is very enlightening and sure brings out some much needed awareness... that is why I am inviting you to read it and take it in. So many of us are 'blinded' to the fact that there was much much more devastation to the coast than just to the New Orleans area. Aimee's area being one of them. So, take a few minutes, go to her BLOG, read what she has shared..... it is VERY interesting and very much information we need to know. Blessings to Aimee XOXOXO

Darla

Let It Go...

Feeling a bit insightful this morning... got up and did the morning drive to take my son to work. It is a long drive, but gives me time to think, to talk to myself, listen to my head. LOL We need to do that don't we? Well, all the while I was listening to one of my fave fave favorite musicians on CD, Michael McLean. http://www.michaelmcleanmusic.com/ His music touches my heart in so many ways. Most of his songs have great meaning to me. Love his music and lyrics!! (He is SO in touch with his feminine side, he has to be!) Anyway, listening to songs, driving along, talking to my head, listening to the words of a song "Let It Go"..... I think this is something we all can learn from.... a bit of lyrics here:

"....all that is wrong in your life, let it go, all that is worth saving...........is love --
love will hold you tight. Love lifts the burden, and love shines the light,
Only love, nourshes us so; if it's not love, simply let it go......"

You know, we go through life, thinking everything has to be FAIR. We are taught by our parents to be FAIR to our siblings and we are taught in school to be FAIR to our classmates and friends. We go into the workforce and things must be FAIR amongst co-workers. FAIR is not always RIGHT and honestly, sometimes, we just need to let things go. Choose our battles? Whatever you want to call it, just pick something today, something that has been nagging at you, maybe you are mad at a neighbor or you got screwed on your taxes or your car broke down. Yea, sometimes things stink, they aren't FAIR but... is it worth holding on to the anger and frustration?? Is it filling your heart with love, and good feelings? If it is not, let it go. I have a lot to let go of right now.... I think we all do. So, today, and all this weekend I am going to pick one thing each day and say goodbye to it, get the burden off my shoulders, take the heavy weight off my heart.

LET IT GO. Blessings to my friends, Darla

Wasted Day

Tues are usually a good, strong, productive day for me. This day is wasted. It is already after noon and I am still doing nothing. Had a really rough day yesterday and still agonizing over it, not sure what to do, but it put me in a very blah mood today and threw in a headache just to piss me off. Grr! I guess I will just go with it though, I do not have the energy or drive to make up for what I have slacked on this a.m. Hope to make the afternoon a bit more productive and maybe I'll feel better then?
Some days I guess we just need an extra dose of Diet Mt Dew and a hug?

HOT HOT HOT!

I think we are all pretty much dealing with the "heat wave" so I wont' complain or say much more... but yes, we are HOT HOT HOT too...

Prayers for Mom...

No big stories to report, just needing to ask for prayers for my Mom. Having a rough time. Mom took a fall at the nursing home, tore herself up good. Will be going to have xrays and testing done this a.m. I am worried about her. Lots of prayers please. me

Wedding Photo Challenge...

So, one of the gals that I chat with online challenged us to show off our Wedding Photos. Uhhh ohhh kay?! First, I have to say, our wedding was VERY low budget, a lot of helpful family and friends and lots of improvising. (put nicely) So, we had no florist (aunt did flowers) , no photographer (bil took pix), no wedding dress (wore my mil's sundress) and I didn't make my Dad wear a tux, he walked me down the isle in his Wranglers (nice new ones) and cowboy boots! It was very very mellow, low budget, funky sorta fun. I have an assortment of photos, but I love this set the best...

http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i21/DarlaLOU/?action=view&current=WEDDINGRECEPTIOIN1.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1

... this is a series of photos of Ed opening the bottle of champagne which had been sitting out in 100+ degree temps for a while. The cork flew UP UP UP and into the patio covering ( a fiberglass style cover) which then caused a flood of dried up black walnuts to ROLL off the roof down into the yard, and the seats where our guests sat! During all this, the champagne was bubbling over the top of the bottle and we were laughing our heads off!!!!

One dissapointment/ hightlight of the wedding, the cake. As you can see in the photo, it WAS a pretty cake. However, it was PINK and LAVENDAR and I had wanted a cake with DARK PURPLE, LAVENDAR and SILVER on it! I WAS SO MAD! A lot of things went wrong, too numerous to mention here...but it was a wild day, we got married and are getting ready to celebrate our 16th anniversary in a couple months! YEAH!

Darla

How do you spell relief?? N * A * P !!

OK so this is just going to be one of THOSE weeks... you know, the one where each day drags on...and on...and on... one of the weeks when the kids fight nonstop, whine about chores and cannot be pleased. One of those weeks where a GOOD nights sleep is like 4 hours, where if the temp drops under 90 degrees outside you feel blessed and getting McDonalds' for dinner is like a blessing from the Good Lord above. Yea, one of those weeks when laundry never ends, the koolaid stuck to the floor is never mopped up enough and the phone rings non stop all day. Yup, along with 101 OTHER "minor" things this week... well, it IS just one of THOSE kind of weeks.
**oh, and it is only TUESDAY???????

Here a SNIFF there a SNIFF everywhere a SNIFF SNIFF

Ahh yes, the infamous summer cold. Well, actually, this is no cold. This is an allergy induced sinus "thing" from he**! Long story short, went to comdey night on Thurs and walked into a smoke filled room of party goers. We don't drink or smoke, so why WERE we there? Well, we were invited to the comdey night with some of Ed's co workers and it sounded fun. Yea, for 2.2 seconds. I walked it, got ID'd ( yes!!) and then immediatly felt my eyes burning and watering and my nose getting runny. So, here we are now on Sunday and I am still in full fledged misery. Sinus pressure, nonstop nose blowing, head, neck and shoulder aches, ear pain, ect ect... I feel like crud! I will admit, I am a total whiner, but dang, I feel like crud. I have taken cold meds, sinus meds, benadryl, tylenol, nose spray, and anything else I can get my hands on over the past 3 days and nothing has helped. I am praying that today will be the end of the worst part... I have a busy day on Monday and can't afford to feel like doodoo.

Other than that, we just had a really lazy like weekend. Kids with friends, chores, and so on. We did watch a movie here last night, that was nice. Today is Church (I am sluffing) and then back to routine on Monday.

Have a nice Sunday and stay away from the smoke!! me

Random thoughts...a bit of everything...

A bit of everything to share today, just some thoughts, ideas, wants... you know, utter ramblings.

Ready for school to start. So bad of me. I should relish the time with the kids over the summer, not like we are running to ball games and team practices for things, the kids are not involved in stuff like that. Just keep me busy with friends, house, meals, and playing taxi for other things. I miss the schedule and normalcy of school days. Plus Micheal starts Kind this year and that will be a nice time for a "mommy break" each day too. Aug 21... first day, not soon enough.

Needing to better organize my time. This sort of goes with the above scheduling issues. Being a SAHM now, I find I tend to procrastinate much worse, mostly because I know I have all the time in the world to do it ....later. I love to make lists and schedules and so on, and when I do, I follow them well. Think it is time to come up with some sort of system for me with set times and plans. Life planner?! Do they sell those?

CATS! Cats n kittens and kitty food and cat litter and scratches and meowing and pouncing and, pure, utter CUTENESS! We now have 2 females that are about 8 mos old and 2 males that are around 3-4 months old. We ARE CrAzY CaT PeOpLe!!!! They are so fun though!!

Water. I have been trying really hard to only drink one soda pop a day (Diet Mt Dew) and increase my water dramatically. For one, I need it. For two, I am having some major water retention in my feet and I know I need to drink more water to help. Being as hot as it has been I have done pretty well to keep a glass of ice water with me thoughout the day.

Stuffy nose. Went out last night with some of Ed's coworkers to a lounge to listen to a comedy show. GREAT FUN aside from the cigarette smoke and major stuffy nose I now have. ick!

OK I could just go on and on here but my eyes are heavy from the cold meds I took for my sinus... nap time. (I wish!) Darla

BLOG CHALLENGE!

So, my dear sweet online friend and fellow scrapper, Jules, posted a BLOG CHALLENGE to our group... had nothing else to post about so here goes!!


Post your favorite..
Top 5 Chick Flicks
- Terms of Endearment (get the tissues)
- Beaches (#1 of all time!)
- ToWongFoo Julie Numar (sp?)
- Steel Magnolias
- Stella and Louise
Top 5 Scary Movies
- Amityville Horrors
- Nightmare on Elm St
- Signs
- Phsyco
-Children of the Corn (aka "corn kids")
Top 5 Classics
- Gone with the Wind
- The Blue and the Grey
- Sound of Music
- Grease
- ANYthing with John Wayne (they are all classics!)
Top 5 Comedies
- Mrs Doubtfire
- In the Army Now (Pualie Shore)
- Blue Collar Comedy Tour
-Monty Python and the Holy Grail
- All of Me (Steve Martin / Lily Tomlin)
And a short list of others you love.
Favorites
- Footloose
- Dirty Dancing
- Mr Holland's Opus ***** (5 Star Movie!)
- Top Gun
- Disney's Little Mermaid and Mulan
- Pay it Forward
- Serendipity
- BIG and Splash! (Tom Hanks)

Oh this was fun! I could go on and on but I love so many good movies!

It is Monday again...

Well, here we are, it is Monday once again. They roll around much too fast if you ask me! I think the weekends should be much longer, just my thoughts.

My Monday will consist of housework, yardwork and megga loads of laundry. Yup. That is it! See, I was sort of a "slacker" this past week. What with having SIL and her family here, the holiday, the heat, I just did pretty much a whole lot of nothing. I am so behind on laundry it is sick. Ack! The dishes need doing, floors need mopped, toilee's need scrubbed. I should strip the beds and wash sheets too but with all the other laundry I need to catch up on we'd be sleeping on bare beds tonight! LOL So that will have to wait another day or so.

Yup, this is it, my exciting life. NOT! Guess I'll go start a load of wash and then make a list. Going to be a busy day......

until next time, me

4th Of July Celebration (sorry so late!)

OK So sometimes life just gets hectic. Can I blame it on that? OK good. Sorry to keep you all in GREAT SUSPENSE here..... ha ha ! So here it is, the big report of our 4th Of July activities in our home.

Mon night SIL and family traveled across state to arrive here for the 4th Of July celebration. At 2:15 am in the morning they pulled in! Eeeck! We got them all in, settled and asleep by 3:00am all was good. Wake up time: 7:00am! OH MY! Get up, get going, feed the kids, and prepped my daughter and neice for the Cheer Squad Float they were to be on (click to see photo)
http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i21/DarlaLOU/?action=view&current=100_3445.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch15
So, we get the two dancing queens off to thier float and then pack up and head down to our premarked spot on the parade route. 8:30 am and it is already HOT HOT HOT outside... we were packin' lawn chairs, coolers, the whole bit! Get in and get settled and the parade starts, I LOVE my hometown parade, it is fun and homey and just very nostalgic for me. My old High School was a highlight amongst other things. (click to see photos)
http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i21/DarlaLOU/?action=view&current=100_3450.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch6 Color Guard

http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i21/DarlaLOU/?action=view&current=100_3463.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch4 Daughters Cheer Team

http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i21/DarlaLOU/?action=view&current=100_3453.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch14 My previous employer float (and sponsor of the parade and fireworks)

The parade was fantastic, lots of music, candy thrown and so on... but the heat was killing us (90 degrees in straight sun) so we headed home soon after and then the IRON CHEF COOKOFF began. SIL and my DH had a cookoff witht the main ingredient being PINEAPPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(click for photos)
http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i21/DarlaLOU/?action=view&current=100_3500.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch12 ( chicken/veggie kabobs)

http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i21/DarlaLOU/?action=view&current=100_3484.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch3 (pineapple salad)

http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i21/DarlaLOU/?action=view&current=100_3505.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1 (the judges taste testing)

The Iron Chef was delicious and SIL won over my hubby by just 1.6 points!! We had quite the feast and guess WHO did the kitchen detail after?? Enuf said there.

So that evening with full bellies and temperatures cooled down, we headed off to the fireworks show. The Melaleuca Freedom Celebration is the BIGGEST and FINEST fireworks show this side of the Mississippi and it is just one of Idaho's great claims to fame. It is about 30-40 minutes of FANTASTIC FIREWORKS set to a beautfiul program of music and commentary. Very emotional and patriotic....love it. (more photos, click here:)
http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i21/DarlaLOU/?action=view&current=100_3521.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch9 (my boys watching)

http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i21/DarlaLOU/?action=view&current=100_3519.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch10 (blurry but there!)

So, after a very long, very HOT and fun day, we all got home and retired to our beds, floors, couches and wherever else we could crash. MUCH fun had by all and a great set of memories!

HAPPY INDEPENENCE DAY TO YOU ALL!!!!! (belated!)

Food GLORIOUS Food...

OK so I have not been able to give a great recap of our 4th of July but I did want to share this amazingly yummy-o photo of our "IRON CHEF COOKOFF" from the Holiday! My dear honey and his sister had the challenge of creating 3 dishes each with the secret ingredient : PINEAPPLE!

http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i21/DarlaLOU/?action=view&current=100_3500.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch6


This is just one of the many dishes that were made and shared and devoured...mmmmm so good! Lots more to tell and share but for now that should make your tastebuds water...

I FINALLY get a "TOOT" to share...!!!!!

Can we say TOOT TOOT baby!?! I am one extrememly HAPPY girl today... and in the world of scrapbooking a "TOOT" means you get to pat your own back, shout out from the rooftops, whatever, self recognition.. it is a good thing.

I am VERY excited to share with you that I got a scrapbook layout put up on the MM (Making memories) Idea Gallery Website!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.makingmemories.com/ideas/image_gallery.cfm Now, this is a BIG deal because this co is probably the largest leading mftr of scrapbook products out there and they are simply amazing!!! I submitted this page to them totally with a needle in a haystacks chance of it getting chosen and somehow someone saw it and BOOM! it got in! HAPPY DAY HERE IN DARLA'S HOUSE!

I must thank my buddy Shar for this...she had a couple of pages put up there and it totally got me on the ball...so thank you Shar... thank you thank you!

OK back to your regularly scheduled 4th of July Celebration programming...

This is the week!

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!

HAVE A GREAT TIME AND LOTS OF FUN AND MEMORIES!!!!
(and don't forget to take pictures!!!!)

FLOWERS FLOWERS EVERYWHERE!!!!

Who??? does NOT love FLOWERS?! Really.... flowers are a symbol of fresh, bright sunshining days, symbols of love, friendship and so much more.... so I am tickled PINK to share with you a few pix of my flowers I have been working on this summer....

http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i21/DarlaLOU/?action=view&current=MISCMAYJUNE2006Final137.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch2