A birthday card

Hey look! It turns out I DID make a card :)

It was my niece's birthday last week, & since it was her first since we met I bought her a Target gift card & made a card to put the gift card into. I couldn't just hand her a gift card now, could I? 

I dug deep for this stamp, lol.... I think I bought every Fluffles stamp there ever was & I will never get rid of them. The papers are oooold Basic Grey ... Sugar Rush, I think? Some flowers ... dies ....ribbon .... & I finished the whole thing off with some Glimmer Mist. Nope, it hadn't evaporated hahaaa .... still enough in the bottle to make another card or two :)

I even used Copics! I never really did master the art of using those ... but I figured there wasn't much to color so I was probably safe. 

Ohhhhhh & the fluffly stuff!! Darn it, can't think of what it's called & I'm not walking all the way down to look at the jar lol.  You can also see the Glimmer Mist a bit in this photo. 

I'm actually enjoying making cards for her, she appreciates it so much. Every time I give her one I get a big ole hug. Of course this time I'm sure most of the hug was for the gift card, hahaaa!

Linking up to:

Building Blocks Blog Booster Party

Freedom Fridays

That Friday Blog Hop

Welcome to the Weekend Blog Hop

Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday

Addicted to Stamps Anything Goes

Craft Frenzy Friday


Hope you all have a spectacular weekend!

~~ A sibling-versary ~~

Hello friends, I hope your Memorial weekend was .... memorable :)

{source}

Mine was fun, I spent it with my brother & his family. 

In fact, it was our one year sibling-versary. We met on Memorial Day, last year. I had just learned about him the week before. After 46 years of being an only child .... well, no longer an only. And I couldn't be happier. 

Here's the photo from the day we met. I'll never forget the feeling. 

He's my brother.

365 days later (well, I guess it's now 366) .... we have grown incredibly close. He's married to the sweetest, funniest woman (also adopted!) .... & they have the most adorable girl, who just turned 14 (also adopted!). I love them all. 

I won't tell the whole story again, but if you are interested (since this really only ever happens on tv!!) here is the link to my original post: The Best Memorial Day Ever


Today I'm linking up to:

Wordless Wednesday (although I'm never completely wordless)

Almost Wordless Wednesday (that's more like it)

Wakeup Wednesday (I'm trying to)

Wonderful Wednesday (even more wonderful when it's a 4 day work week!)

{PS - because it was my niece's birthday last week - I may have made a card. And if I did make a card, I may just show it in my next post. Just sayin'}

Friday randoms

Hello & happy Friday!! Better than a regular Friday .... a 3-day-weekend Friday! 

Here are some little tidbits about my week: 

1:  Today was beautiful. About 70 & sunny. So was yesterday. You know what wasn't beautiful? The 3 days before that, when it was about 45 degrees outside. My son has his final track meet on Monday, & I wore a scarf & mittens. I like winter, but not in May. 

2:   These shoes:

Aren't they adorable?? I looove polka dots. I saw them at Target a couple of weeks ago, but held off buying them. Went in last week .... they were on sale ... & they had ONE PAIR left. My size!! It was fate! 

3:  2 1/2 weeks of school left. I think I'm more excited than the kids! When they don't have school, I can get up an hour later. Right now I have to get up between 5 & 5:30. Ugh. Have I ever mentioned I am NOT a morning person?

4:  I managed to work out 4 times this week. 2 times at the gym, 2 walk/ runs (more walking than running, lol) around the neighborhood. Tomorrow I will be doing  yard work. I must be losing so much weight! 

5:  In the 4 months since I've joined the gym, I've gained 3 pounds. 

How was your week?

Linking up to:

Building Blocks Blog Booster Party

Freedom Fridays

That Friday Blog Hop

Welcome to the Weekend Blog Hop

Wordless Wednesday

~ In case you were in doubt that spring has arrived ~

~ Baltimore Oriole ~

Linking up to:

Wordless Wednesday

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Wakeup Wednesday

Wonderful Wednesday

Do Try This At Home: Wordless Wednesday

It's May, right??

Because right now, I have the heat on! And I wore multiple layers to work today. And had my space heater on. I was looking forward to May so I wouldn't have to do any of those things! 

I feel like I've hit a brick wall lately with just about everything in my life. I was so gung ho about getting my house organized these last few months.... & really, I've taken about 25 bags of stuff to Goodwill. But every time I walk by my husband's bedroom, I think "why bother?". He is an honest to goodness hoarder, & no matter how clean & organized the rest of the house is, I still have to look at his hole of a room, our garage that can barely fit one car (it's a 2 car garage) & our shed that looks like Home Depot threw up inside of it. 

I've also been trying really hard to craft at least a little bit. Heck, coloring in a color book would be better than nothing (side note: Did you all SEE these adult coloring books?? When I think of adult books these are NOT what come to mind but they are way cool!). I started another card about 2 weeks ago, & stopped halfway through cutting my colored image. I think I had to leave ... but I haven't gone back to it. I feel like I'm trying to force myself to get back into it. When do I stop doing that? I thought getting my work space organized & purging would really help motivate me. But I feel like I need something that's all mine. Making cards was that thing that was mine. Reading blogs & chatting on Facebook is not a hobby, but that seems to be what I do in my spare time. Oh, & let's not forget Pinterest. Wait ... I think I found the problem ....

And work ... work is good. I go up & down, sometimes I love it & sometimes ... not so much. But I guess we all go through that. I am very lucky to have the job that I have. Heck, I'm lucky to have a job at all! I will be there 5 years in July. Did that time fly or what?? Seems like yesterday I was all jittery about starting my new job! 

Anyhoo, if you read all this, thank you ~~ I didn't mean for this to be a depressing post. Do you go through periods where nothing seems "right"? Blue, but you don't know why?? It's kind of like PMS, but I don't have PMS. Must be that peri-menopause my doctor's been telling me I have for the last 92 years ....

(disclaimer .... it hasn't been 92 years ...)

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Hope you all had a fun Mother's Day with your loved ones! My kids & I spent a few hours having lunch with my mom today. Other than that just RELAXED, which is something I don't get to do too often! What did you do for Mother's Day?

Just a few random thoughts & photos on this Sunday night:

*We have one crazy bluebird nesting in our bird house!

This bugger has been perching on Matthew's bedroom window ... & pecking like it wants to come in! We had this same thing happen with some yellow finches a few years ago, but this is the first time a bluebird has done it. The poor thing is going to get a concussion with all the pounding! I taped it, because it's so darn funny, & because I don't think anyone will believe me. I'm not very video smart, so will have to figure out how to post that here.

*Only a few more weeks of school. I can't tell you how happy this makes me! Every year around this time I am so tired of helping with homework & packing lunches & picking up from & taking to activities (although since Matthew got his license, my time in the car has been reduced drastically) & getting up super early because some kids just can't quite get up on their own & need my assistance. And by assistance, I mean yelling.

*I bet Elwood will be happy when school is out too, so this scene can happen more often:

Love how he has his paw crossed :)

*This photo makes me happy on this very ugly, rainy day:

I hope you all have a sunny week!