Working on a new logo for my Photography

Starting anew!

Fall is officially here! I like to make zucchini breads, banana breads and permeate the air with baking scents from scentsy like baked apple pie and sugar cookie. Yum! (beats the heck out of the smell of litter box for sure!)
My life has turned a complete 360 as my husband of almost 18 years filed for divorce in August. Now, single and dating again with children on the autism spectrum, I feel compelled to share my journey. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there starting over again with kids, but add a little more stress to the mix and we get a worn out, lonely mom who feels like a crazy teen again with child-like crushes and wooing over cute guys again. Weird, I know! Can you imagine your mom doing this while you were in school? Well, I have gone through that as well when my parents separated when I was in 6th grade too.
So, my journey began 6 months ago...

It's been a while since my last post. Just making and selling Christmas cards online right now.
 Just got my tree up yesterday which turned out pretty awesome! The kids put all of the ornaments on for me. I just had to put the lights on. It was pretty darn great! Here is Samantha putting the finishing touches on the tree. Unfortuately, our star broke in the box so we'll have to get a new one. lol

 

I had my 20th year high school reunion in July which was pretty fantastic!

 Me and my great friend Guy from high school

Goofing off at the reunion

 

 

In October, my step-sister, Rebecca married Dylan after dating for 5 years. It was a beautiful wedding and my dad walked her down the aisle.

 

I hope to post some crafts I've been doing lately soon.

And work is hectic right now. Working until midnight most nights makes me sleep during the day while the kids are in school. But oh well, I'm a night owl anyway. TTFN

Summer cleaning...begins?

I think the saying is Spring cleaning, but when you have kiddos in the house, it takes place at all times of the year. My craft room, for example is the epitomy of disaster. When in use, nothing ever gets put away properly. That is my fault, but I have 3 distractions running around. So it's that time of year again to put it back together again. My motivation? Having to take a picture of this horrible mess and post it for my friends to see. lol Here's about a year and a half ago what I would like for it to look like:http://sweetdreamsthatcome.blogspot.com/2011/01/atg-gun.html

So this IS what it looks like now:

June 29, 2012 Beautiful day!

Today was an awesome day! Started off with Samantha's last day of swimming lessons.


Gorgeous day, I might add. Then we came back home and bummed around for a couple hours. Then I went and picked up Nina and we went to the Uptown Shopping Center to do a bit of "Antiquing" as we call it. (It's not really that we are looking for antiques, it's just that we like older things and repurpose them.)
Oh! Best part...I went to DQ and we all had ice-cream!

Wilderness in Wahkiakus

Great times make for great memories...

I took the kiddos to Wahkiakus, Washington this weekend. We had a great time!! Peaceful and relaxing except for the occasional peeving of the kids.

Map for Matty

I made this little map for Matty. He's going to love this. Still in the process of adding dates and details, but it'll always be a work in progress. So fun!!  I took this from inspiration I got from Craft Warehouse yesterday.

My version on Matty's wall.

They had 3 great ideas; on a cork board, one in a frame and another one that had photos:

Bathing in the dark

Wow! It has been a while since I've posted. Bummers for you, but been busy on my side.
So to catch up, Samantha is in 1st grade, Matty in 4th and Nathan in 5th.


I just had surgery on May 10th for bladder prolapse and a hernia so "me ouchy" right now.

I decided to post a couple of fun pictures that were inspired by my friend Nikki of Whimsylove. She is doing a Summer diary of things she does with her girls over the summer days. The last one that inspired me was when she put glow-in-the-dark sticks in a bubble bath and took pictures. So fun! Sooo...here is our version of that activity. Matty & Samantha stayed in the bath for at least 45 minutes connecting and reconnecting all of the sticks. They had so much fun! Sorry, no bubbles this time.

Anniversary blues AND a bit of a rant...

Ugh! Kind of frustrated with this year's anniversary. I won tickets to go to the American's Hockey game which was my idea in the first place to use as an anniversary "date" night. However, the tickets are on the 23rd (aka the day before Thanksgiving) and also the fact that it would be 5 days after our actual 16th wedding anniversary.
Guess what?!! I got nuttin! Not even a card.
I am presuming that on the 23rd, a card would be nice, but I don't want a damn card now. Hummmph!
You know, is it really that hard to prepare all year for a nice gift for your wife? I mean it's only 1....ONE day out of the year that would be important....well I guess there's 4...birthday, mother's day, Christmas AND your stinkin' wedding anniversary!
Okay, here's my prayer for myself since I am rolling my eyes at the fact that I am being selfish right now...
Dear Lord,
Forgive me for my human nature in expecting something and being so selfish. For I have everything I need, food, shelter, heat, clothes, health, my husband's health, my children and my family. I know you live in my heart and are letting me know that some people don't have any of these things. I also know that you know my heart and sometimes it is corrupt. Thank you for the things I do have and help me to overcome these selfish values that I hold on a pedistal of expectation. For I have the gift of love from my husband who works so hard to provide for our family and I have his love. Amen.

Sissy aka MonsterSpaceSucker

OMG! My little girl is totally an emotional mess! Being 6 years old and getting ready to start 1st grade, she thinks she can control the whole house. Yes, she might have us wrapped around her little finger, but she needs the structure I just know it.
I feel like every time I turn around she is right there like my shadow. Mommy does need a little space to breathe. Today I went into the bathroom just to have my space. She waited outside until I was ready to come out.
Tomorrow will be a better day!

Easter is coming!

We like to do little things during a couple weeks prior to Easter. It's not so much as doing the same thing every year, but different things each year such as this year I bought some fun Easter cookies made by Nestle. I thought they were cute so Samantha helped me punch them out. They were pretty good for being store bought, however, nothing beats homemade.

Autism Fun Run

I was able to take some pictures at the Autism Fun Run on Friday. LOTS of pictures even though I was LATE! lol

On T.V. again!

Yes, yet again, I was in the right place at the right time and was interviewed for KVEW TV station as a parent of autistic children. Then they followed me around a little bit for more footage.

Great cosmetic organizing ideas I found!

Six Cosmetic Storage Solutions

Family Economics

(Before)

By Trisha

If you are like me and ready to get organized, begin with these three steps:

1. De-clutter: First empty out all your drawers, containers and make-up bags that you use to store your cosmetics. Toss out old and no longer used items.

2. Sort: Make piles of the various types of cosmetics you use such as eye shadows, lip gloss, eyeliners, etc.

3. Organize: Use one of the below options I have come up with to keep your cosmetics organized.

• Option #1: Use plastic shoeboxes with lids to sort and organize your cosmetics. These can then easily be stored underneath your bathroom sink.

• Option #2: Use various sizes of utensil trays and drawer organizers in your bathroom drawers to sort and organize.

• Option #3: Use stackable drawers or drawers on wheels. These come in a variety of sizes to fit your needs. Designate a different drawer for each type of cosmetic.

• Option #4: Pencil boxes make great cosmetic organizers you can use for each category: eye shadows, lip glosses, brushes, etc.

• Option #5: Over-the-door shoe hangers make a perfect storage solution and create a simple place to see all of your cosmetics at once.

• Option #6: Fishing tackle boxes are great for corralling your entire collection of cosmetics. They are also on-the-go ready when you are.

Now on those crazy mornings when you are in a hurry, your cosmetics are ready to use and can be found quickly.

(After)

Going to a "Crop" at my friend Tessa's house today!!!

It's always amazing how much you can accomplish when you go outside of your own home to finish projects. There aren't kids running around asking for your help or to make a pb&j every hour. And also, you don't have to worry about cleaning because it's not your house. Tee-hee!
Woopee! Scrapbooking time!!

6 NEW Cards today!

I get on these tangents of creativity and make all these cards at once. I told my husband "You gotta come look at these cards I made. They are all the same, yet different. Come look and you will see what I mean." He says "Oh that makes a lot of sense." ha ha! You'll understand what I mean too:

Crafts take me away to my happy place!

I decided to craft after the kids went to bed this evening.