Bad Mom

Yesterday was my middle dd's birthday! TIFFANY is 10 years old now (double digits!) and had a great day...but her bad bad Mom forgot to post her HAPPY BIRTHDAY here on the ol' blog!!!

SO..........

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR TIFFANY.......WE LOVE YOU! XOXOXOXOXOXOXO!!!!

Weridos

OK THERE ARE WEIRDOS IN THIS WORLD.


That said, I got the opportunity (ha ha) to get in on a weirder than weirdo situation last night. Actually, in all honesty, it was rather sad, but still, the weirdos are what made it weird.

A friend of mine calledyesterday, very upset, she had agreed (against her better judgement and ill gutted feelings) to meet up with her EX sister in law and her family for dinner out as they were in town for the day. Being smart, she decided they should go OUT to dinner as she did NOT want them to know where she lived. (SMART COOKIE SHE IS!) Well, when they did not show up to meet her she made some calls and found out they were apparently stopped for a traffic violation (not even close).
As the story comes to full cirlce, they are actually BOTH (wife and husband) being arrested and my dear friend shows up on the scene in time to get 3 small girls and an adoreable but stinky puppy handed over to her!!!!!!!!!!!!! Apparently the husband was seen being physical to the wife and someone called it in. The wife then drives off in a parking lot, only to be stopped by the cops and arrested for DUI and child endangerment!!! THEN they don't know what to do with the husband but being that he'd had preivous history with similar circumstances they decide to arrest him too for battery and also on child endangerment charges.
Meanwhile, my friend is left with these three children and a pup and no clue what to do! Well, after 1001 phone calls the weirdo guys' Mom agrees to come meet her and pick up the kids, she lives a good 2 hrs away so they decide to meet 1/2 way and drop off the kids. My friend calls me and asks me to ride along as she did not want to go alone (remember she IS a smart cookie!). After 1001 other phone calls we finally get them there and dropped off to the other Grandmother who in my opinion was probably not much more reliable than her son who was now sitting in jail. :O( SO SAD for those poor little kids. What a lifestyle....
The really sad part in all this is , besides the kids and the cutest, saddest puppy ever, is that the Mom of these three little girls comes from a really GREAT family! I happen to know her Mom and siblings and they are all awesome, great, wonderful, hard working people. I am sure it is heartbreaking for them to see her and her children go through all this. :O( Just sad that the girl went and married someone even more disturbed than she is....only made things worse.

Prayers for the little girls and the pup today!

INTRODUCING..

Our poochie pup: HERSHEY.



OK so I am SOOOOO bad, here we have had this mutt for a few weeks now and I am barely showing him off! HERSHEY came from the Freecycle message board here in Idaho Falls. He is a black Cocker Spaniel with a teeny tiny white patch on his chest. He is about 1.5 yrs old and a very good doggie. So far we have all fallen for his sweet charm and horribly awful drooping sad eyes! He is a sweet pup! I swore I would NOT get attatched to this guy, SWORE I WOULD NOT, and yet, here is "Momma" who loves him to bit. My only grumps would be that he has this tendancy to like to puke on OUR bed (new comforter and sheet set too!) and he barks when you leave him out back too long. Otherwise he is a great doggie. Our cats don't seem to love him quite as much as we all do however and the females in particular have ruffed him up a few times. :O( Poor pooch! Anyway, here are a couple of pix of him, one with our oldest ds Chris and then one by himself.

Darla

Wednesday Check In

I AM SOOOOOOOOO READY FOR THIS! C'mon flowers, start poppin' your little heads up through the wet snow and dirt!! I am ready for SPRING to SPRUNG already!!!

So, one of the many many reasons I love to live in Idaho is that we actually get to experience ALL FOUR SEASONS of the year.......yes, snowy winters, rain in the spring, hot hot summers and crisp cool fall....... love it. However, I have to admit, Idaho tends to drag the whole winter thing on a "wee bit" and we end up with shorter spring/summer/falls than I'd personally like. So I am totally ready for spring RIGHT NOW! I am dying to get out in the yard, dig in the dirt, water the flowers, mow the lawn, and just love up the freshness of the new season. I can't wait!!

I must confess though........the photo above, uhhh I didn't take it here in Idaho! ROTF I took that in SLC Utah last spring when we were visiting Primary Children's Hospital. The flowers were so pretty in the entry way that I had to stop and take pix. My family thought I'd gone plum nuts but I had to stop....there was actually a HUGE full entry circle full of these yellow beauties but I only captured a couple of close ups (and did a FAB scrap page of them I might add). I just love daffodils.......the only flower I can draw freehand too! Hee hee!

So that is my Wed update for you. No family fuss, or other trivia for you.....just my wish wish wishing for spring to arrive and SOON! Send in the sun folks, I am ready!

Darla xoxoxo

WOW! What a weekend.....

OK I so love Pres Day weekend....for one, there is always something fun going on for certain as my family hosts their annual get together, a full weekend of cards, games, snowmobiling and food and fun. We don't always go to that though, and this year we decided to go to Boise to visit dh's family instead. We left early Sat morning and arrived before noon, so nice to have the whole day to visit instead of driving all day and only eating and going to bed. LOL Anyway, we visited, ate, the kids played Guitar Hero on the PS2 and had fun. That night we slumberpartied at sil's house and the next am went out to breakfast and ate WAY too freaking much and then visited all day with Gram and Gramps. That night they bbsat while we went out to Cafe' Ole' , a great little Mexican resteraunt with the yummiest food. Good fun! Mon a.m. went too quick as we had to get loaded to go and have Pappa's traditional big pancake and spam feast for breakfast. Only downside to the whole visit was that our youngest boy Micheal got sick.... poor thing. :O( But we got home all ok and the weekend was fun anyway.

BIG news was the FUN FUN FUN shopping I got to do while there!!!!!!! I sneakered my way out all alone on Sat afternoon and hit one of the lss there in Boise (local scrapbook stores). I went to Paper Cottage off Fairview (by ShopKO) and got some fun things. Didn't spend too much, but found some treasures!!

- Junkitz new Salsa Celebration papers (they are wicked awesome!!)
- 3BUGS Coco collection papers (so cute and fun!)
- Fancy Pants Mulberry Road Fancy Free papers....(the florals are beautiful!)
-Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl papers ( the colors are so yummy!)
- couldn't get out without some Daisy D's too, Moda and ShowOffs (very BG'ish style)
-and then a fun and funky bright pc of Bo Bunny Shabby Princess line... love it!

also got myself
- yards and yards of lucious and lovely ribbons (totally makes me break into a sweat!)
- tons of little charms, do dads and other fun little embellishmets that I had to have

So now I guess this means I need to clean off my desk ONCE AGAIN and find places for all my new treasures!? Good thing ds is home sick today and I have an excuse to stay in all day long?

:O) Smiles.
me



*EDITED*

I forgot to add important stuff! Every Monday we have our weigh in date for The Biggest Loser at the YMCA... so far so good for me until this week. (the weekend was too tempting) I was UP THREE STINKING POUNDS from one weekend of fun and food! Can you believe it? ICK! However, my trusty partner was DOWN 4 POUNDS herself........so proud of her and her hard work! WAY TO GO!!!!!!!!!

Wer'e Home!

Just a quick HI!! and we are home...safe and sound and lots of fun memories! Kids were good, although Micheal is getting sick (pooey) and we had a great time. I'll tell more later, but wanted to say HI and that we are in fact home!

Darla

Happy Pres Day Weekend

VERY quick post to wish you all a happy Holiday Weekend. We are heading out of town on Sat and will be back Monday sometime. Hope you all have some fun planned and will squeeze in some down time.

Also, forgot to share this page........one of the ones I did at the crop a couple weeks ago. Photo was taken by our older dd Dani of her brother playing in the leaves.....loved it!! It is a pretty simple page, but I liked it anyway!

OK, you all have a great weekend, stay safe! Blessings to you,
Darla

IDAHO Jokes

So, my dear buddy Kip http://www.flkipper.typepad.com/ posted a list on her blog of Florida jokes... found it funny and made me think of these that I heard a few weeks ago. I added a couple of extras I've heard too. Idaho really is a unique place to live!




by BuddhAllahrist on April 3, 2006 @ 8:29 pm.
It has been awhile since I’ve seen this, and I do not know if Jeff Foxworthy really wrote it, but it hits close to home anyways.
If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 18 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you might live in Idaho.
If you’re proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights each year because Stanley is the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in Idaho.
If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in Idaho.
If you instinctively walk like a penguin for five months out of the year, you might live in Idaho.
If your brother’s suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, you might live in Idaho.
If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you might live in Idaho.
If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Idaho.
If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Idaho.

and...

If you know what a jockey box is, you might live in Idaho.
If you know where Poky is, you might live in Idaho.
If you ever ran your car heater and ac the same day, you might live in Idaho.
If you have taken a week off for spud harvest, you might live in Idaho.
If you know the teen pregnancy rate in Rigby in the 1980's, you might live in Idaho.

I could keep going, but yea, we are a fun little state! OH and it is IDAHO, not IOWA.

Wanted to share....

So I had these photos on my card from the last "round" of pictures..... I am always snapping a photo of one of the kids. Thought I'd share them. LOL (Sure the kids will LOVE this)

Close up in blue is our dd Dani, she is almost 13 and a total pre teen girl. In Jr High now, busy with phone, friends, hair and makeup. OYE!

In the pink is dear silly Tiffany. She will be 10 this month!!! Usually she is pretty serious. Tiff is our 'scholarly' child, loves to read and study and is excited to do homework. LOL

Then there is our oldest, Chris, he is going to be 16 this summer (YES, for real) and he is in his first year of High School. Super good kid, works part time after school, keeps up his grades, makes good friend choices, he is our "responsible" child. Love him so much.

Then Mr Man.....aka Micheal. He is our baby boy (in the tub here sporting a mowhawk!!) He just turned 6 in January and is 110% BOY. Loves his cars, trucks, puppies, bikes, anything boy, he is all about it. So silly too, keeps us laughing our heads off most days.

So there ya have it, thought some of you might like an update and for those of you who had cofused my kids now you know who is who!

Darla

One more time for today!

So I have totally been "Ms Blogger of the Year" today... sorry to keep posting. Hope you can keep up! hee hee!

This is a LO kit I put together for the crop a week or so ago. I never got it done so decided to throw it together tonight. The print paper is Cosmo Cricket and the title card is MME. VERY simply LO but a fun one! This is a photo Robin took of our dd Dani.....so pretty! Loved it!

Thanks for looking!
Darla

One more time....... thirds a charm , right?

OK this is getting old.....yes? Well, this is the last one for a while, I promise. LOL So, again the one of the three sisters (me in green) is the old one from back in Sept of last year. The one of me playing model (ha ha!) is today. 5 months of work. I can DEFINATLY see it in these photos.

Yeah! Darla

Let's try this again.....

OK those last pictures were just simpy "evil" and I have to take them off here. ICK! So, I staged some photos today with my dd Dani and hopefully the comparison will be more effective AND more flattering to moi'!

So, teh closer up one is from last Aug... one day after I started dieting/excersizing. The one that is a bit further back (with parted hair) is from today. hmmmmm not much of a difference in my opinion other than I LOOK a heck of a lot happier?? LOL

OK I'll do one more "set" of comparisons.......

Workouts Headaches Snow

So much going on these days. Seems like I never slow down. I did have to take a moment and post though.....

Workouts are going great. Have a new goal set for working up to the 5K walk/run in May. Feeling good. (and looking better)

Have had a headache ongoing now for over 24 hours. Thinking it is sinus related maybe, plus my eyes are bothering me like the kids were last week when they had pink eye.... ick! Taking it easy today and trying to kick this crud. I have not had a pounding headache like this since I don't know when AND one that does not react to Motrin is very unusual for me too.

Well, after a beautiful and sunny warm week here, today we are getting light snow........dangit all! I was hoping spring would poke out it's happy little sunny face soon. Bummer.

Funny note, one of our very close friends was on a radio show this a.m. Talking about thier business. Funny to listen to him, he is such an easy going guy but you could sure hear the nervousness in his voice this a.m. The show was pretty funny, the hosts are a couple of dorky guys who rambled on about utter silliness... cracked me up. Always good to spread the free advertising on any business though! Way to go Blake!

OK well, the headache is ruling over me, so I am going to go take a nice hot bath and maybe even lay down for a bit. wow!

Until later,
Darla

Another LO and Uplifting Night

Kindergarden Boy.....

This LO is one I did at the crop last Fri night, love how it came out. Pretty simple really, but fun colors and stuff. The large photo on the bottom is actually a photo "pocket" so I can put his little first day of school memorbilia in there .... so fun! Also had fun putting the cute little safety pins in there too!!

So tonight was a fun one. My sister goes to a Baptist Church here in town, they are so good to her, and I am thankful for that. Even though we are totally different/opposite religions we both can deal with the differences. So, her Pastors wife called me this last week and invited me to a "love" party for her. OK let me explain. LOL My sister has been through a rough year, lots of ups and downs, so they decided she needed to be lifted up a bit. They called it her "happy nursing" party as she graduated to her RN Nursing degree last year and she never really celebrated it. She also just had a birthday and again, with all the crazies in her life she just needed some uplifting. The party was fun, it was a Bible Study group and then we did the party........really enjoyed it all. VERY nice gals. So thankful she has such good loving women in her life.

Workouts are still going great. Have been getting up at 5 a.m. and going to the YMCA... like getting it done early and feeling accomplished by 6:30 a.m.!! Also has kick started my mornings for chores and things.....so cool. Building up my endurance and stamina, feels awesome but still have A LONG way to go!! LONG LONG LONG way to go. My good friend Lisa will be sending me a cool goal sheet "From couch to 5K in 9 weeks" and I hope that will encourage me too.

Guess that is about it. OH, we did get a COOL treat last night........dh found an awesome deal on Wolfgang Puck pots and pans at Sam's Club.... we went ahead and picked them up, so so so nice to have good pans!!

:O) Keep Smiling!
Darla

BUSY Weekend FUN Times CRAZY Goings On

Well, as you can see, I have been scrapbooking! YEAHHHH!! This is just one of a few LO's I did this last weekend, it was crazy!!

Thurs night my dh took me and bought me a new Cricut cartridge (Jasmine) just for the heck of it, I so love that guy! Also, I went to a stamping party, that was fun to get out, visit, enjoy the company of other crafters. OH and Heather had the YUMM YUMM YUMMIEST celery on her veggie tray! Good times...good times... (hee hee)

Friday night, I got to go to a crop at the lss, The Scrap Coop, here in Idaho Falls. We spent the evening visiting, being ultra silly, creating and just having a great time. I SO LOVE going to those crops.... totally rocks. I did get 3 whole LO's done and one started in the works. So cool.

(This layout is of my honey, Ed. I just rarely get a photo of him smiling.... he has a handsome smile... I had to scrap him, I love him so much!)

So, believe it or not, the weekend got even BETTER!! Sat we just sort of hung out, I did get some housework done, and then after running some errands, I went and got a hair cut, nothing major, just a bit off the back (growing bangs out for real this time). Then we met up with a friend and went to dinner, a great mexican food place, so yummy. After that we went shopping!!!!! Oh yea, 2 guys and one girl shopping, yup....they went to the electronics store and I went to the clothing store! (I LIKE that a lot!) I bought myself a few new peices of clothes to fit my slowly slimming body (2 sizes smaller to be precise!) and then we went to WalMart and they wandered about while I dug through 1001 clearance racks looking for a great deal...which I did find! Pants for $7 is a great deal in my humble opinion! So Sat was a total success!

but it still was even more fun.....

Sunday after Church (that was not the fun part) we cooked up some goodies for the big Superbowl game. Hot wings, bbq beef, chips n salsa, veggie dip and tray.... lots of yummy o stuff. The 'guys' watched the game while we all sort of hung out. Later in the evening I went to our friends and sat in the hot tub.... soooooo cool to be outside in 20 degree weather with the tub set at 101 degrees! AWESOME stuff. Such a good way to end such a great weekend. :O)

AND

Monday was a good one too! (winding down now) Got up early, did my workout, did my weigh in (down again!! yeahh!) and got the hosue tidy, went out to lunch with my honey and our bf's, did more housework, laundry, dinner, and then dh bought us a new cooking pan set.....Wolfgang Puck! SO COOL! Hope my run of good days keeps going and going and going...

Be good.
Be nice.
Stay out of trouble.

D

BRA ALERT! Thank You Shar

THIS is what I call pertinant information ladies and gentelmen. Thank you Shar for sharing.

"Research at the University of Portsmouth in England shows that when a woman runs without a bra, her breasts bounce up and down 3.5 inches for each step she takes. "After a mile, that's about the equivalent of your breasts bouncing 472 feet, which puts huge amounts of stress on the outer skin and connective tissue," says study author Joanna Scurr, PhD.
Wearing a sports bra reduced bounce by 74 percent. Just be sure to choose the right fit. "I recommend that you try on at least three sizes and jump up and down in them," says Julia Alleyne, MD, medical director of Sport Care Women's College Hospital in Toronto. Replace sports bras every six to nine months when they lose elasticity and support.
You can revitalize sag-prone breasts with chest exercises, which help sculpt muscles and make your bust appear higher and firmer, says LaJean Lawson, PhD, an adjunct professor in exercise and sports science at Oregon State University. Bench presses and push-ups are good options; do at least three sets of 8 to 12 three times a week."

FRIDAY FUNDAY

Totally check out these crazy women!!! This was our group at CKU PROVO from past May 2006. We had SO freaking much fun there together, playing, scrapping, and doing all sorts of ODD things! This phoeo has Lisa B in it with us, she was "admiring" our CLUE CKU taable set up!

...and WHY am I bringing all this up today??

I GET TO CROP WITH MY GIRLS TONIGHT!

Tonight Robin, Heather, Cindy, Cynthia and myself a long with a few other gals I don't know "too well" are going to THE SCRAP COOP (our lss here in Idaho Falls) http://www.sherellechristensen.typepad.com/the_scrap_coop/ We are VERY fortunate to have an awesome LSS here in town. The store is owned and operated by Sherelle Christensen, a CK HOFer and designer for several sb manufacture's. She is VERY talented and she runs one heck of a store. Her Mom, Sherry, is the SWEETEST thing that ever walked the streets of Idaho. I love her, she is so helpful, so chatty, friendly, really makes you feel comfortable at the store. I don't get to go in shopping nearly enough, but when I do always look forward to visiting with Sherry. So, I am just over the top excited about going to CROP there toinght!! (the last time I went was back in Sept) I have several pages planned out to work on and hope to be able to really make some progress on them. I have been so busy and since I have been going to the gym I seem to have lost a lot of sb time. Need to catch up on it!!

In other news... the wind chill here in IF has dropped down like crazy, getting REALLY COLD (I should be at gym now but I am NOT going out in that cold) We had temps as low as -26 degrees last night with the wind chill... so far so good, no school closures, but who knows, the last time they waited till' 15 min before bus to announce it! (shaking head) Maybe some snow this weekend too. Winter is DEFINATLY NOT OVER here yet. (Did the lil' guy see his shadow yet this a.m.??) I keep telling our youngest boy Micheal about GROUNDHOG DAY and he does not "get" it. HOPE they cover it in school today. LOL

Guess that is it. Have a GREAT FRIDAY and keep warm!

Darla

FRIDAY FUNDAY

Totally check out these crazy women!!! This was our group at CKU PROVO from past May 2006. We had SO freaking much fun there together, playing, scrapping, and doing all sorts of ODD things! This phoeo has Lisa B in it with us, she was "admiring" our CLUE CKU taable set up!

...and WHY am I bringing all this up today??

I GET TO CROP WITH MY GIRLS TONIGHT!

Tonight Robin, Heather, Cindy, Cynthia and myself a long with a few other gals I don't know "too well" are going to THE SCRAP COOP (our lss here in Idaho Falls) http://www.sherellechristensen.typepad.com/the_scrap_coop/ We are VERY fortunate to have an awesome LSS here in town. The store is owned and operated by Sherelle Christensen, a CK HOFer and designer for several sb manufacture's. She is VERY talented and she runs one heck of a store. Her Mom, Sherry, is the SWEETEST thing that ever walked the streets of Idaho. I love her, she is so helpful, so chatty, friendly, really makes you feel comfortable at the store. I don't get to go in shopping nearly enough, but when I do always look forward to visiting with Sherry. So, I am just over the top excited about going to CROP there toinght!! (the last time I went was back in Sept) I have several pages planned out to work on and hope to be able to really make some progress on them. I have been so busy and since I have been going to the gym I seem to have lost a lot of sb time. Need to catch up on it!!

In other news... the wind chill here in IF has dropped down like crazy, getting REALLY COLD (I should be at gym now but I am NOT going out in that cold) We had temps as low as -26 degrees last night with the wind chill... so far so good, no school closures, but who knows, the last time they waited till' 15 min before bus to announce it! (shaking head) Maybe some snow this weekend too. Winter is DEFINATLY NOT OVER here yet. (Did the lil' guy see his shadow yet this a.m.??) I keep telling our youngest boy Micheal about GROUNDHOG DAY and he does not "get" it. HOPE they cover it in school today. LOL

Guess that is it. Have a GREAT FRIDAY and keep warm!

Darla