New Roof

Yup, that's my hubby, napping on the job!

In October of '08 our boiler blew up. In November our washer and Fridge died. In Deccember the roof started to leak. So we bought what we could/had to. And saved the roof for April vacation, except April vacation wasn't the week after Easter, it was the week after that. Good news is that the kids weren't around the power tools and other dangerous items all day. They were only around them after school! That's makes it better right? We haven't had anyone step on a nail, yet. I want to rent a metal detector, but haven't the money. As you can imagine. The roof looks great though, and I'm glad it is done! Well, mostly. We didn't do one small part because of the lack of money. Next year that will be done.

Now that the roof looks good, we have to repaint the rest of the house! Right now it looks odd because the house is in browns and the roof in a charcoal gray. I know the colors I want to paint the house, but with everything else happening we don't have the cash to repair and repaint. That will be another something for next year.

Taylor's Not A Surprise Birthday Party

Well, Taylor ended up knowing everything about the party before hand. And I can't put blame elsewhere, I mean, you can't really blame the dead. So it's all my fault. When I planned the party I didn't know that Pep was going to pass away and I didn't know that the family would have the funeral on the weekend of Taylor's party. But it was ok, because we were able to do it the next weekend. Which took the surprise out of the party. Then, and here is where it is 100% my fault, I was mentioning to Taylor that she should bring her new CD & a player to Julie's for her party. Yup, I'm a dumby.

No one jumped up to yell surprise at the actual party anyway. They just said, "Hi." Not even enthused or anything. I think they were a little caught off guard when she walked in with no warning.

But over all the kids had a great time! And isn't that the most important part?

There were many mishaps. Taylors HUGE owl sequin iron on, which she loved btw, it melted. The iron was broken so we couldn't see the settings, and it was too hot. And one of her best friends t-shirt's would not take the iron on. But other than that it was all good!

Roofing

My brother Steve comes out today from California. He's coming to help us reroof our house. We have a guy coming to tear the roof off on Monday and Steve will start work right away on Monday. We got the roofing supplies delivered today, it's on our lawn. Problem is that it's going to rain tonight and it's going sink into the mud. And by the looks of it, it will be too heavy for us to move it. It'll be fine in the long run i'm sure. Maybe we will cover it with a tarp.

Now I want to mentioned that we can't afford to reroof our house. We have set aside as much money as possible and are about $500 shy of what we need. At this point we are planning to eat ramen noodles and applesause for a week! We are just praying to Heavenly Father that he will make this happen. I don't know how, but some way, some how. We are relying on faith.

Party Plans and a Funeral

Jason's grandfather past away. If you enjoy WWII, then read "Find 'em, Chase 'em, Sink 'em," and you will learn about much of his military career. He was a hero to us all, as well as, well decorated by our military. His name is even mentioned in a movie, I'll find out what movie and edit this later.

So the funeral is planned for the day of Taylor's party. So now I have to call everyone who was invited and let them know that the date has changed. Problem is that Taylor doesn't have their phone numbers. *Sigh*

On a positive note I found paper products in her favorite shade of green for only $1 each item. So I got plates, forks, spoons, table cloth, napkins.

Photo's

A friend emailed me today and said that she was surprised that I didn't have photo's on here. You know what? Why don't I? First, I have no idea how to put them on. Second, I don't have that many recent pictures of my kids. I know, I'm bad! I run into the problem that I take lots, I just don't usually DL them to my computer until I have so many that I'm overwhelmed.



I took this one at the studio. If you are a sax player you will notice that the mouth peice is upside down. Jason was sleeping and I stole his sax, Elaine, for the shoot and kinda figured that I knew enough about the sax to put it together. I played the flute in 4th grade, how hard could it be?

I wanted just the bottom of her face showing to add a little mystery to the image. And the Fedora with the B&W to add an antique feel.

Anyway, this is the child who is having a birthday party soon.

Owl Theme's

Did you know that they make nothing in the way of owl themed party plates, napkins and cups, but they do make many other owl things that can be used for a b-day party?

I bought a stamp from ebay, it has an owl with a party hat on! It's so cute!
I have made party bags with brown paper bags, cardstock and scraps. I have made owl magnets with a die cuts and googlie eyes. I found a HUGE sequine(sp?) owl to iron on a t-shirt.

That's what gave me the idea for the party. We are doing iron on's. I bought about 10 t-shirts at $3.99 each. And Iron-on stuff ranging in price from $1.50 to $5 for the owl. But the thing is about 12 inches! We will also be making the parlor beads. Those are the plastic beads that you iron to melt together.

A fun thing my mom used to do when we were kids- We would take old crayon bits, you know the kind-half one crayon and just the tip another- you gather a small handful and put them on a peice of alimunum foil. Set it into your oven at 150 or 200F, or you can use a toaster oven. Watch them melt. Once they are melted pull them out. They will smoke if you don't watch them. And they are pretty toxic-smelling when smoking! Let them kool. Now you have a new crayon that writes in a million different colors. Or as many colors as you put in. :D

Parlor beads always remind me of crayon making. Not sure y though.

April Birthday Party

Taylor is having her 13th birthday in just about a month. She doesn't know what type of party she wants. She has no idea what theme or kind of cake. NOTHING! She only knows who she want there at the party. Which gives me little to go one. I know her favorite color and cake flavor so even though she won't commit, I will get something I know she will like.

So what do you do for a kid who isn't into anything except owls. That is the only thing she ever spends her time or money on. She has owl earrings, necklaces, stuffies, clothing, paintings, figurines, jewelry box, etc. And did you know that they don't make owl themed birthday party items?

We are going to have owl paper bag goodie bags and I'm going to rubberstamp owl themed invites.

The best part. This is all supposed to be a surprise! It's alot harder to keep it a surprise than I thought. She is always walking in the room at the wrong times. *Sigh*