Boom Chicka Rocka Chicka Rocka Chica Boom

Taking a blogging break to go sing silly songs in the mountains at girls camp! What's your favorite camp song? Mine was always Sippin Cider. I'll let you know if that changes.

Cutest Summer Invitation

Why is this so cute you say? Well, because it's a flip flop!I can't take credit for the idea, it's a card we made in a class at the scrapbook store but I just thought it was the cutest idea. You use those thin flimsy flip flops they give you when you get a pedicure- you can buy them at beauty supply stores then you just tie the information tag in the middle and tie whatever ribbons you like all over the straps. I wish I had bunko or some kind of a party coming up this summer...

I actually DID something!

back view:
It seems like my wannabe craft blog hasn't had many CRAFTS lately! But I actually did something tonight. This is embarrassing, but I gave this to my mother in law a few years ago for some gift. I knew it wasn't cute then, but I just couldn't figure out how to decorate it! I wanted her to have some kind of a journal/guest book at the ranch for people to write in when they visited. Every time I see it, I cringe so I finally decided to do something about it and improve it! It's not great, but I am very happy with how it turned out. Sam took the picture on the front and I used some denim scraps for the binding, tied on some twine and leather, a few silver charms (purchased a couple years ago during an obsessive silver charm shopping on eBay phase,) and then punched some holes and added eyelets and ribbon to close it. Oh, and I did rub-ons for the "please sign in" but I would type them on the picture before I printed it if I did it again.
So, hooray! A craft!

Meet the class of 2019!

That's what Miss B's kindergarten teacher said at their "graduation" today and it was crazy to think that 2019 will get here before I know it! I normally would consider kindergarten graduation silly and unneccessary (and maybe it is) but I was glad that they had one. It was sweet and the kids seemed to appreciate it. My smartie won the Good Citizen Award for the year in her class and we were so proud of her. They sent a microphone around and each kid told what they want to be when they grow up and we were surprised to hear "My name is [Miss B middle. last] and I want to be a social worker when I grow up." She does always say she wants to "help people" but I think her teacher helped her come up with that one. And it's a good thing, because if this class is a sample of our future, there are going to be a lot of astronauts and dolphin trainers and dance teachers, but very few social workers!

I love Shutterfly!

I haven't had much to blog about so I wanted to share a couple of my latest digital layouts. I printed a 12x12 book for Miss B a while ago with Shutterfly and it turned out so nice! Then they sent me a coupon for a free 8 1/2 x 11 book so I did some pages for Miss G and got her a book too. The quality is really good, and Shutterfly's customer service has been so great! On both of the books, I procrastinated to the very last minute (yes midnight) to order them before coupons expired, and had trouble, and when I e-mailed customer service they let me use the codes after they had expired! I won't do that to them again, but I th0ught that it was really awsesome they wanted to make me happy. I think I will do 8 1/2 x 11 or go to 8x8 for future books because the 12x12 pages were really big. If you don't do the digital scrapbooking, they have ready made books and you just tell them which pictures you want in it.

High Desert Retreat

Some of my favorite things about "The Ranch" are:
Watching the storm clouds roll by nearly every afternoon, sometimes bringing great thunderstorms.
The old collection of pottery they found there- it's illegal to collect it now, and unfortunately I doubt there's much left anyways. Slim and Slimette.
Michal's collection of whimsical southwestern art.

And antiques.

Climbing the twisted little treesIt's always Christmas there
Laying under the shade tree in the garden.
Collecting rocks.
Memorial Day weekend can't get here soon enough!

Need an easy summer dessert?

I was just looking through my Kraft Food & Family magazine and saw this awesome super easy ice cream cake:

Lindsey, is this what you made for Bunko? It was SO yummy and this looks looks something like I remembered. I think it will be Sam's birthday cake. HERE is the link to the recipe.

New Hair Cuts

The girls got their first REAL hair cuts (not trims) and I think they look so cute! They seem to think so too, and even Sam, who was not thirlled at the idea of chopping off their long locks seems to be happy with the results. Thanks Beth- you are the best!

Time to do some bzzing...

Have you heard about BzzAgent? Well, I am one, and it is really cool! It's a word of mouth advertising company. You get to try new products, tell people about them, and then report back the response and feedback you get. Right now I am "bzzing" Hillshire Farm Entree Salads. They sent me a coupon for a free one to try it, and then some more $1 off coupons to share with my friends who want to try it. (let me know if you want one, or check out their website to print one) I haven't been able to find them at Bashas or Frys or the Walmart Market near my house yet though but I saw them at Albertsons (when I didn't have a coupon with me of course!) But I am excited to try them and will let you know if they are good! They are a kit with meat, cheese, dressing or whatever toppings, and you just throw it in with a bag of lettuce for a complete salad meal- sounds like a great idea, especially if you work, an easy lunch to take with you right? Anyways, I also just joined a campaign for Off and Coppertone Sunscreen but I haven't gotten those kits yet but I'm excited to try it out and start spreading the word! If this sounds like something that would be fun for you, go HERE to sign up or find out more!

Happy Mother's Day!

Sad News, Silliness, & a Special Birthday!

So sad- last night I found out that there is only ONE MORE episode of Gilmore Girls left! Next week is the series finale. I knew it had to end, Rory is finished with school, but what am I going to look forward to now? (and if you watch Lost, isn't it getting creepy???)

Now for the silliness- CLICK HERE to see a totally ridiculous video that has been viewed almost 8 million times on You Tube. Charlie the Unicorn. The girls in my church class just thought it was hilarious and could reenact it word for word.

And a birthday! My adorable baby sister Diana is celebrating her 19th birthday today- Happy birthday Diana- I love you!I have a hard time thinking of Diana being older than she is in this picture:Did you ever wear rag curlers?

Free Money!

That's my ad- I signed up for Survey Savvy some time ago, unsure if it was legit, but it came on a good recommendation so I gave it a try. Once I got my first check, I told my friends and family about it. Since then I have only filled out a few surveys, and I guess a few of the people I told about it did too, and today after I finished a 5 minute survey, I decided to see how much money I had and there was $71 in my account! So click on this link, and sign up, tell your friends, and start getting some money. It's not exactly enough to go on a shopping spree, but who will turn down free money?

Martha Stewart Crafts

It's official- Michael's advertised the new Martha Stewart Crafts line in their ad today and you can see the website HERE. It looks really cool! Something that really caught my eye was all the food packaging products.
The downside is none of it is cheap, and you can't use the Michael's coupons on it right now.

Shopping

I have 2 slight addictions that balance each other out so they don't cause too much of a problem- over spending, and over eating. So I'm just *a little* fatter than I want to be, and I spend *just a little* over budget each month. The problem is, when I commit to really sticking to a budget, I can't stop eating, and when I go on a diet, I can't stop shopping! So I'm on a diet... and I found this really cute dress at Kohls.My measurements are slightly different than hers so don't let Sam see this picture. And I got it in black & white but I like it. And you can't beat that price, and it doesn't need to be ironed!

And something I want to buy, but have been holding off on, a new girly pair of Crocs! I don't know why these are so cute to me- in 10 years they will probably be something we laugh at, but they are so comfortable.

Get yer modest t-shirts!

Belle Clothing is clearing out the site and all shirts are $5. I haven't tried them but my sister's friend has and she likes them, so if you are interrested, go check it out! Click HERE.

And if you want to make your own special edition newspaper, click HERE to try the Newspaper Clipping generator I found posted at OScraps.

Don't forget about Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars tonight- yippee!