5 minutes

Write for at least five minutes any words that come into your head. Forget punctuation, spelling, syntax, even meaning. If you get stuck, keep writing the last word you wrote until a new one comes.

What am I doing up late again? It's 1 am. I tell myself every day that I am going to go to bed early. Let's see at least my dishes are done. The living room is not picked up but hey, by 9:30 I call it quits! I did the dishes and folded the cloths. Put another load on which consisted of a comforter which Justin pooped on and another load of his bed sheets again with poop. It's been a wonderful week of throw up and poop. My washing machine sure has been running non stop. My husband is working tomorrow out of the house and my mom is coming by. He was just in the kitchen asking if I was going to have company since my kitchen was clean. I told him to guess who was coming? He knew right away that my mom was coming by. I try my hardest to clean as much as possible before she arrives. She likes things neat and clean but most days I just let everything go until I can't take it any longer. I just hate to clean. I'd much rather do anything but clean. I got 2 more pages done tonight in my scrapbooking. That's a total of 39 pages for the month of January. Way to go. Now if only I wasn't interrupted. (DH came in and started to talk to me while I was writing). Until tomorrow.

Old Love Letters?

Do you have a box of old love letters stashed away somewhere? Who are they from?
If they're not from a current significant other, why have you kept them?
Any quotes you can share?

__________________
I know I don't have any old love letters from before high school because I got rid of them all. I don't think I have any letters from my husband while we were dating either. I do have cards that he has given me throughout the years. They are in a loose leaf type book among all the clutter in my scrapbooking room. I also have a letter that was written by my father-in-law the day we were married. It is in a box with all my wedding stuff. It is very special to me because he wrote to his dad (my husband's grandfather who passed away and wasn't able to attend our wedding).

Quotes:

We do not remember days; we remember moments. ~Cesare Pavese, The Burning Brand

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. ~Mother Teresa

A journey of a thousand sites begins with a single click. ~Author Unknown

What Kind of Little Girl Was I?

What kind of little girl were YOU?

Girly Girl
Take this quiz!

2 Answers to Questions

Two Names You Go By:
1. Laura
2. mom2triplets04

Two Parts of Your Heritage:
1. Italian
2. German

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. Jeans
2. God Bless Mothers of Triplets Sweatshirt my FIL gave me.

Two Things You Would Want in a Relationship:
1. Honesty
2. Trust

Two of Your Favorite Hobbies:
1. digital scrapbooking
2. photography

Two Things You Want Really Badly At The Moment:
1. sleep
2. drink

Two pets you had/have:
1. Cats
2. Dogs

Two people you talked to today:
1. Nicole
2. Stacy

Two things you did last night:
1. Made a page for my abc album. I is for Insomnia
2. ate popcorn

Two people that live in your house:
1. Victoria
2. Justin

Two things you ate today:
1. pizza
2. fried string beans

Two people you miss:
1. my husband
2. Mona

Two Things You’re doing tomorrow:
1. Going to Stacy's house
2. Watching a movie

Two vacations you’ve been on:
1. Bermuda
2. St. Thomas

Two Favorite Holidays:
1. Hanukkah
2. Valentine's Day

Two favorite Alcoholic beverages:
1. strawberry dakari
2. pina colada

Two bands you have seen live:
1. cool and the gang
2. can't think of any others

Two things you will do after you finish this survey:
1. publish post
2. go to sleep

Font Challenge

Credits:

Font Sample Template
Hardout by Lauren Bavin
Welcome Kit by Lauren Bavin

Font: DSP Sticky Keyboard

I is for INSOMNIA

Did you know? I suffer from insomnia. I almost never get a good nights sleep. This happened when the triplets were born about 2 years ago. Every night I stay up late to get everything done that I wanted to do for the day and go to sleep for only a few hours each night. My poor family suffers from having a tired wife and mother. I even started to get black eyes from lack of sleep. One day I’ll find a way to sleep like a normal person. Until then I’ll just spend those midnight hours with my photoshop elements and internet....and be grateful there is something to fill those hours.

Credits:
I cased this layout from isshinryu_mom. I used some of her journaling. I probably could have used her entire page in my album except for the photo. You can see her layout here.
Did you know adult Wordart by Tina Chambers
It's my party by Khristy Schmidt
Midnight Blues by A. Kletsch
SG Refresh Embellishment STI Tab

A Ha Moment

What has been your biggest A HA moment while blogging or journaling? What have you learned about yourself???

To think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted. ~George Kneller

My blog is used for therapy mostly. It is an outlet where I can be myself. Where I can share both my creativeness plus my thoughts and feelings. Where I am not a mom, not a wife, no just ME! Day to day I run a chaotic scheduled life. At night after the children are in bed I look forward to just me time. It's a time for me to unwind from the day and to relax as I know the next day will be just as chaotic. Yes, I do have a husband, however, he's constantly working to support our family so he's not much help with the children and when he does help it's very appreciated even if it's just to get them a drink or a snack. Every little bit helps to relieve the stress that I feel day after day. Yes, I feel overwhelmed most of the time and sometimes think about running away or dream of a vacation without the children. I am thankful that my children are healthy and that my husband tries to buy us whatever we need or want. It is a blessing that he can do this for us but what is the price he is paying to do so? He doesn't have much time to spend with the children or me for that matter. I feel very alone and as I said blogging and scrapbooking helps me to try to forget these feelings.

Another Rough Day

Anyway wanted to vent. Had a rough day. Lets see. It happened again last night at 2 am. Victoria starting coughing yet it was like a muffled cough. I ran to her room to see what was going on. She was sleeping. I turned on the light and a fountain of throw up came out of her mouth. It was awful. I had to pick her up and turn her so it would go out onto her bed even though she already was covered in it. There I am holding my breath not to gag myself. Meanwhile, Naomi wakes up and starts screaming. I call my husband to come up and help. He starts gagging too but at least he gets me the cleaning supplies and takes Naomi out of the room into our bedroom.

I clean up the mess, open up the windows and lysol their bedroom. Meanwhile Victoria is sitting on the floor wrapped in a blanket full of throw up. I carry her down to give her a bath. Well, when I left the kitchen the sink was clean of dishes and empty but not now. So I tell her stand there while mommy gets the sink clean so I can give you a bath. She's asking for medicine. I give her pedialyte.

I finally get the sink clean and get Victoria in and scrub her down to get the stuff out of her hair and telling her that we need to make her smell like roses again. Poor kid. It's been a rough week for her. This is the 3rd time this week she has had this virus or whatever it is.

So after she's all clean and I blow dry her hair it's now 3-3:30 I can't remember. She won't sleep in her crib so she winds up in my bed. I get hit in the face a couple of times as she sleeps like she's on the cross with her arms out on both sides. Dont' forget Naomi is in the bed too.

5 am DH decides he wants to go to bed. So he wakes me up and we try to bring the girls to their room. Big mistake. they start screaming and crying and wont' go into their cribs. This noise wakes up Jusin who is in his room. So they wind up back into my bed. DH gets all made and sleeps on the couch. It was his doing putting them into our bed in the first place so serves him right. He! He!

7 am the girls wake up and guess what they won't stay put. they get up and jump on the bed and wake me up. I'm exhausted at this point. I bring them down as theres no point in going back to sleep at this point. the entire time I'm praying we make it to lunch time.

No throwing up. Around 10 or so Justin goes to the potty and poohs. Stands up and says Yeah! Then he says not done! Sits on another potty and pees. Great job. this is without me asking him if he has to go or not.

by 11 - 11:30 they start to act really cranky and I just had it with the whining. I feed them lunch at 12 and up to naps they go. I eat my lunch and then lay down for a much needed nap myself.

3pm Justin prances into my bedroom (he undid the child safety doorknob again). He's in a different pair of pants and no shirt. I ask him where's your shirt? We go back to his room. Where I almost lost it. He pooped. Took off his diaper and decided to decorate the walls, window, shade and rug with it. Oh, it was a total nightmare! Meanwhile, Naomi wakes up and she's screaming in the other room to get out of her crib. It took me about 45 minutes to clean up the mess in his room holding my breath again.

The whole time I'm praying I make it to 7 (bedtime).

I'm Going on Vacation - NOT!

You're packing for a weekend away from your family. You're going to be seeing a bunch of online friends for the first time at, oh I don't know, maybe a CHA tradeshow in California.

What do you pack? What do you wear???

Oh, I so wish this was the case but nope not me. Won't be going to CA for a while. I luckily did get to go to CA before the triplets were born and I did get to meet a whole bunch of ladies from my scrapals group. What did I pack? Man, I can't remember as it was 4 or 5 years ago maybe even longer than that when I went. I remember packing lightly and bringing an extra suitcase to carry all my shopping purchases. I remember CA had tons of scrapbooking stores to shop at. I even purchased my sizzix while there because at the time the east coast did not have it.

I hardly ever wear shorts as I'm always cold. I don't even think I packed any shorts. Just comfortable jogging pants and t-shirts. It's a bit chilly to go swimming in Jan. I think I went in November and it was in the 70's there maybe it reached 80 but to me the temp needs to be higher to go swimming.

Well, back to reality.

Between Ages 5 and 10

Between the ages of 5 and 10, what was your favorite activity?

__________________
I loved to play school. I always would play with my friends in my neighborhood. I mainly was the teacher because all the kids were younger than me. I remember carrying crayons, books, chalk boards, chalk across the street and setting it up and having all the kids sit while I tried to teach them something.

Another activity would be playing with Barbie. I liked to dress her up. I had a trunk full of clothes for her. Most of my friends had the neat things like the Barbie house, Barbie car, etc. etc. And, of course, I had to have the other types of barbies like the bionic woman, and Ken. You had to have Ken too. When I outgrew these my sister took them over.

I also liked to play board games. My favorite would have to be mouse trap. This too I would play with my friends in the neighborhood. A card game which I enjoyed at that time would be UNO.

Toilet Paper

According to a physics professor quoted by Ann Landers, to get the toilet paper roll to turn requires a certain torque, which comes from the tension in the paper being withdrawn. The greater the distance between the plane of the paper being pulled and the axis support line, the lesser the force required and the lesser the chance of tearing the paper before you have enough.

(Yeah, I'm not sure what all that proves either.)

Which camp are you in: Should the toilet paper be hung so the paper dangles over or under the roll? This is a pet peeve of mine and I say that the paper always has to be over. I so hate when someone puts it under. I always wind up changing it to over.

One Word Only

This Moment: Hungry
Your Shoes: Socks
Craving: Bagel
The State of Your Home: NJ
Annoyed By: Naomi
Noise In the Background: TV
Really Want To: Sleep
Thinking about: Justin
Smelling: Lysol
Favorite Product In Office Supply Aisle: Organizers
Don't Ever Want To: Cry
Your Eye Color: Blue
The Weather: Cold
Have Never Tried: Aligator
Think Everyone Should Try: Scrapbooking
Last Vacation Destination: San Juan
The Last Thing You Had to Drink: Water
Your Bad Habit: Twizzlers
What You're Going To Do Now: EAT

Where has the Time Gone?

Credits:

Times Change by Lauren Bavin
Family Love by Tina Chambers
It's a Date Elegant by Tina Chambers
Fonts: New Times Roman

My Bedroom

Credits:
Dolci Page Kit and Add on by Kim Liddiard
Font: Blue Print

Who's a Nerd?

I live with a computer nerd, my husband. He follows up on all new technology and has to have whatever is new. When he does I wind up with the hand-me downs which isn't that bad because I have inherited tons of neat things such as computers, printers, cell phones, ipods, palms, digital cameras, software and lots of other things.

On rare occassions, he will splurge and get us both new things. This past August we both got new laptops. It's the best gift he has ever given me. Not only do I have the laptop but I have wireless internet so anywhere in the house I'm able to access the Internet.

Since I got the laptop I have been learning adobe photoshop elements and have been doing my scrapbooking digitally. I also started to make my own digital kits. So I guess his nerdiness is starting to rub off on me as well.

Restaurants

Ordering at restaurants? Do you get the usual each time? Do you sample food from your friend's plate? Are you adventurous? And most importantly, do you save room for dessert?

Once a month I try to attend the triplet moms night out. The night out always consists of a dinner at a restaurant. I normally order the same things. I try to order meals that I can't cook myself that includes seafood, steak or a pasta dish. If I go out with my husband which is very rare I will occasionally swap meals with him but only if I didn't order seafood since he dislikes seafood. I am not adventurous but occasionally will order shellfish and then feel guilty about that afterwards. Being Jewish we are not allowed to eat any shellfish it's part of the Kosher laws. I almost always save room for dessert. My favorite would be a hot brownie with ice cream.

My Awful Day

well we gave up on the potty thing today. Last night at 3 am victoria threw up. I gave her a bath and then she threw up again. I wound up putting her in my bed and she threw up again. Now, Naomi and Victoria share a room so of course Naomi was screaming and wanted to be in Mommy's bed too. so from 3:30-5 I had the two in my bed while my husband worked. at 5 am I put them back in their cribs because they felt it was play time in Mommy's bed and wouldn't lay down. at 5:20 am Naomi is screaming for mommy because Victoria again threw up in her crib.

I striped down her bed and gave her towels to sleep on. Luckily from 6am to 10am I was able to get some sleep. I woke up with extremely bad cramps in my stomach. I rush to the bathroom. Diarrhea. Meanwhile, Justin and the girls are up. It subsides I go in to get Justin.

Only for a brief moment and my stomach pains come back and I have to rush back to the bathroom almost not making it mind you. Meanwhile, Justin is naked from the night before. He peed on his bed which needed changing. Okay the pain subsides. I go to put Justin 's diaper on. Get the girls out of their crib and there are no diapers in the girls room so we all venture down stairs to the other changing table.

I dress and change one of the girls. Then while changing the other I get the cramps again. I rush to the bathroom a 3rd time. My husband comes down and sees the girls naked and I'm in the bathroom. I tell him I'm not feeling well,

I then go back to dress the girls. Get them situated in the living room. At this point I"m very weak and I feel worse then before. I go into the bathroom sit on the floor and the pain gets worse. I vomit all of last nights dinner. then Victoria throws up again. The other two are saying they are hungry I pop in a waffle and give them watered down juice. Give Victoria some water. I lay on the couch in a comatose state. I can't lay on my side as the pain is so much. I call my mom no answer. I call my sister no answer. I call my grandmother who I speak to and she said she will find my mom for me. I didn't want her involved but I had no where to turn. I tell her I'm okay I"m on the couch now and praying that it doesn't happen again. I fall asleep off and on getting up to go to the bathroom. My mom calls back. I tell her not to come I'll be okay I'm resting and the kids were pretty much doing what they pleased but not harming anything while I just laid there.

at 1:30 my husband comes up for lunch as he works in our basement and has a tantrum because I'm so out of it on the couch and they kids need to be fed lunch. So after he fussed he did manage to get the 2 fed after them having tantrums because daddy was feeding them and they are not used to that at all. So he had a bit of a melt down with them. Meanwhile I'm on the couch crying and in pain. the house is a total mess! Crackers all over the floor toys spread all over just a total mess.

at 2 - I managed to get up and change their diapers (my husband won't do this) and get them in for a nap. Victoria falls a sleep on the living room floor so I just leave her there and I venture to get the other two to nap and I collapse on our bed. at 3 am - I wake up again in pain rushing to the bathroom. Only this time not only did I have diarrhea I was throwing up at the same time. Luckily I had the waste basket right next to the toilet.

I call my mom and tell her there is no way I'm going to make it through the remainder of the day when the kids get up. She lives an hour away so she eventually showed up at 4:30. at 4 my husband finds Victoria in the formal living room crying for mommy. He takes her and puts her on the couch and puts the tv on. I then join her on the couch.

at 5 she seems to be very hot. I take her temp and she's 103. Give her Tylenol. At 5:30 - she is laying on top of me and starts whimpering. Throws up all over me at this same time I am screaming in pain as I get a Charley horse pain in my leg. My mom comes running over and grabs my leg to try to get the knot which is in it while I'm sitting there full of puke all over me and crying because the pain in my leg was excruciating. I managed to get the knot out and then take a shower. At 7 I finally decide to eat something a cracker and at 9 my mom gives me some tea. So far knock on wood I'm feeling better and no episodes since around 7.

Now I just pray that my mom, my husband and Justin don't get sick. We've been spraying Lysol everywhere and I keep reminding everyone to wash their hands. Pray for us.

Help Wanted!

Take the most boring job you've ever had and write a glowing job description for it. __________________

Ice Cream Parlor Counter Help Wanted, located in New York area, is seeking energetic, friendly counter help. Duties include serving customers, mopping floors, cleaning toilets, lifting heavy ice cream containers. Part-time closing hours. Fun place to work. $5.00/hr.

M is for Mom

Journaling reads:
Many days I feel I am failing as a mother. I Fail to model self-control and I just lose it. This reaction my mom claims is a temper tantrum. I yell, I throw, I slam doors, I scream, I cry and when it’s all said and done, I am left with the overwhelming feeling of failure and regret. I do try to be a great mom. I have to face reality though. It is not easy raising triplets and I am not supermom. I’m a mom who does not always get the 8 hours sleep that is needed to keep me from losing it. A mom whose husband works 24/7 and I am left alone for one too many days. A mom who selfishly wants some time to herself. A mom who tries her hardest to give you all love equally. A mom who fears that every mistake I make as a parent will somehow cause you harm or you will love me less. A mom who battles self-control daily. So kids, the reality is that I am not perfect. Of course, by the time you read this you will have figured this out. I want you to never forget that I absolutely love being your mom and I will never stop striving to be the best one I can be.

Credits:
Cafe Noir by Lauren Bavin
Family Add on kit by Lauren Bavin
Motherhood by Lisa Carter
Celtic Carve Freebie by Kim Liddiard
Beautiful Soul by Rene Bross
lriordan_chillin_brad
RachaelAH_SNL21_AlphaUpper
mrose-sophisticated-stickpintwo
Font: DSP Pat

What Inspires Me?

Write about someone or something that inspires you artistically. I sat and thought about this question for a long time. Boy this is a tough one. The only thing I really can come up with would be the beauty of things that God has created. The beauty of nature such as flowers, sun sets, children's little smiling faces, my cats, you know things that make you smile. I find that if I am feeling happy about things then I get inspired artistically faster and more often.

Photography by Jill Clark

L is for Love

The other day I wrote up an ABC list "Find out just what makes me me!" Well, here is my very first page. I know I'm not doing them in order but while missing my husband because he's on a business trip I thought of love and came up with this page. I am making the pages 5.75 x 8.75 to fit into my Stampin' Up Art Journal which by the way in March they will have a punch which will make the holes on the pages so I can insert them into the book. Pretty neat.

Anyway, this was taken from the bible. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4

It means a lot to me since it was one of the passages read at my wedding.

Credits:
This layout was cased from isshinryu_mom's Y page
Love's Splendor by Becky Soto
Fonts: CK Calligraphy & DecoCaps

Sing - Hell No!

Do you think you can sing? In front of people or just in the car? I sing to the children but I do not hit the correct notes. I certainly cannot sing right now since I am losing my voice. You should have heard me trying to read 2 books to the kids for story time today it was awful. My voice was going up and down and at times very very squeeky. So in a nut shell, I cannot sing and would never be caught singing in public.

Evan and Laura - Engaged

Credit

Mint Julep by Lauren Bavin
I shall love you by Tina Chambers
Font: Elegant

Childhood Friend

Describe a favorite childhood friend and something you did with her or him. My best friend was Debbie. I met her in kindergarden. We would walk to school together as she lived right down the block from my house. Our moms became friends too. When we were in first grade she moved to another state. We remained in contact with each other through the years. We would spend entire summers together. Either I would go to her house or she'd come to mine. We spent a lot of time at her grandmother's house too. We even went to sleep away camp together 3 summers. We did have some childhood fights and we did lose contact when we were in our teens but found our way back to each other in our 20's. We are in our 30's now and we are both married and have children of our own. We live about 1/2 hour away from each other and either we talk on the phone or get together at least once a month. It's very rare to have a friend for 30 years. I am so glad she is in my life. She is always there when I need her. I am very grateful for her especially when I delivered the triplets. She came to visit me each night I was in the hospital and she even helped me take a shower when my husband was too squirmish to help. Not many friends would do that. Thanks Debbie for always being there for me.

Faith

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day here in America:

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

What do you have faith in? We've been having a difficult time financially. I pray to God every day that things will get better and that income will start coming in. My husband works extremely long hours and sometimes doesn't even get to see the children. I pray that God will help him be a better father and relieve some of the stress from working so much to help raise our large family.

ABC -What Makes Me Me!

After seeing isshinryu_mom's album here I got the urge to start an album myself. So far here is my abc list. It could change though as it very tentative at the moment.

A- accounting/aunt
B- Beauty within
C - Digital Scrapbooking
E - Evan (husband)
F - Family/Friends
G- GIGGLE
H - home
I -insomnia
J - Justin (my son)
k - keepsakes
L -love
M - motherhood
n - naomi (my daughter)
O - organzied
P - photography
Q - quotes
R - READING
S - Soap Opera (Days of Our Lives)
T - Triplets/Tradition/Togetherness
U - unique
V - Victoria (my daughter)
W - Wedding/Wife
X - xtras
Y - Youthfulness/Yummy Recipes
Z - zipcodes/zodiac Sign

Stay tuned for the pages

__________________

Frozen Time - Less than an Hour

If you could freeze time for less than an hour, and you’d be the only living thing that’s “alive” in that moment:

What would you do? After thinking and thinking about this question the only thing I could come up with is - I'd rob a bank assuming that there would be no consequences. If the clocks are stopped that means the video cameras are also stopped so the money would just disappear and no one would know where it went. I'd hide the money somewhere safely so when we really needed it I would be able to have access to it so I could pay our bills and wouldn't have to worry about when the next pay check was coming.

Why you wouldn’t be able to do it if everything were normal and the time weren’t frozen? Well, first of all, I'd be put in jail if I robbed a bank in real life for a very long time. Who would take care of the children?

Marriage Quotes

Author Unknown on these quotes. Received these in an e-mail from one of my e-mail groups. Just wanted to share them.

"Experience the wonder of the weekly date. Not only does the much-recommended weekly date allow husband and wife to spend time in enjoyable activities together, it also sends the message that the relationship is important. One couple I worked with found an easy way to plan dates. Each submitted a list of 10 activities he or she would enjoy with the partner. They cut their two papers into 20 small suggestion slips and put these in a bowl. Then each Sunday, during the weekly marriage council meeting they had established, they would draw one slip from the bowl and pursue that activity as their date for the week."

"So often we seek a change in our condition when what we really need is a change in our attitude."

"Love is like a flower, and, like the body, it needs constant feeding. The mortal body would soon be emaciated and die if there were not frequent feedings. The tender flower would wither and die without food and water. And so love, also, cannot be expected to last forever unless it is continually fed with portions of love, the manifestation of esteem and admiration, the expressions of gratitude, and the consideration of unselfishness.

Total unselfishness is sure to accomplish another factor in successful marriage. If one is forever seeking the interests, comforts, and happiness of the other, the love found in courtship and cemented in marriage will grow into mighty proportions. Many couples permit their marriages to become stale and their love to grow cold like old bread or worn-out jokes or cold gravy. Certainly the foods most vital for love are consideration, kindness, thoughtfulness, concern, expressions of affection, embraces of appreciation, admiration, pride, companionship, confidence, faith, partnership, equality, and interdependence. "

"We build our marriages with endless friendship, confidence, integrity, and by administering and sustaining each other in our difficulties.
There are a few simple, relevant questions which each person, whether married or contemplating marriage, should honestly ask in an effort to become one flesh. They are:

First, am I able to think of the interest of my marriage and partner first before I think of my own desires?

Second, how deep is my commitment to my companion, aside from any other interests?

Third, is he or she my best friend?

Fourth, do I have respect for the dignity of my partner as a person of worth and value?

Fifth, do we quarrel over money? Money itself seems neither to make a couple happy, nor the lack of it, necessarily, to make them unhappy, but money is often a symbol of selfishness.

Sixth, is there a spiritually sanctifying bond between us?"

Dressing Up

Do you like to get dressed up? Why/why not? When's the last time you had a chance to dress formally?

I so do not like to get dressed up. I'd much rather be comfortable in a pair of sweat pants and sweat shirt. I don't even like to wear jeans because they aren't comfortable.

Man it's been so long since I dressed up that I really had to rack my brain on this one. I think the last time was June 2005 when my husband and I went on a cruise to Puerto Rico. Yes, this was after the triplets were born. My parents and in-laws took care of them while we went on our 10 year wedding anniversary vacation cruise.

Dreams

What do you dream about lately (literally or otherwise)? I don't sleep much but when I do lately I've been dreaming about quality time with my husband (sex). Hey, you asked.

I looked this up in the dream dictionary and it means:
Intercourse - Union. Release. Pleasure. Creation. Sexuality.

My husband works extremely long hours and we hardly spend any time together alone as a couple or together as a family.

Hope this wasn't too offensive.

Tardiness

(noun)
the quality or habit of not adhering to a correct or usual or expected time.

Do you usually arrive on time or late? I arrive on time. I have always been an on time type of person. If I do run late or over the time limit I get extremely stressed out. I always plan to arrive at least 1/2 hour to 15 minutes early. Now, with the triplets they do slow me down a bit and we are now moving to the 15 minutes early or right on time. My clock in my bedroom is 1/2 hour ahead and my clock in the kitchen is 10 minutes fast. In my car it is off by an hour. I don't know how to change the clock for the day light savings and haven't had my husband fix it yet. Yes, I like to be on time and by setting clocks ahead that is the way I am able to do it.

Do you get annoyed when other people arrive late or you really donÂ’t care? It really depends on the situation. If it affects me and makes me late then yes I do get annoyed. If I have to go somewhere like for an appointment or activity and I am waiting on someone to come with me I get extremely stressed out if they are late because then it makes me late. If we are already at the party or activity then I really don't care if they are late or not since I am not the one late.

Kindness of a Stranger

Describe a time when you have benefitted from the kindness of a stranger. Most of the time people are rude. Maybe I just notice it more now that I have the triplets. Maybe because we stick out like a sore thumb when we are in public and the comments from strangers are down right rude like "I'd rather be dead to have triplets", or "You must have your hands full", or "Here comes the bus" etc. etc. Sometimes I'd rather just stay at home then to deal with the public. Sorry to go off subject. Okay, when did I benefit from the kindness of a stranger? The only thing I can think of is when someone holds the door for us when we are going places like to the library or a store. No, wait! There was this one time that I took the triplets to Wendy's by myself for lunch. Yes, we are now going inside to eat instead of the drive through. Well, on my way out I had to hold the triplets hands plus hold my husband's lunch. Okay, how in the world can I hold 3 children's hands and plus hold lunch too? I was struggling at the door and a woman and her husband were going out and she offered to walk us to the car and hold one of my child's hands. Now, normally I would be very suspicious but she seemed very nice and she even told me that she was a grandmother of twins so she knew what I was going through. Anyway, she walked us to the car and waited until I got all the kids into the car safely before she went off to meet her husband who was already in their car waiting for her. That woman was like a real angel to me in my time of need.

Diamonds

Credits:
Jacquelynn by Lisa Carter
Alpha Christmas Chic Alphabet by Marcee Duggar
Font: CK Calligraphy

I Wish I Could

I wish I could call in sick.
I wish I could sleep late.
I wish I could go to sleep early.
I wish I could keep the house clean.
I wish I could scrapbook all day.
I wish I could win the lottery.
I wish I could go on vacation.
I wish I could not have to cook.
I wish I could take a day off.
I wish I could take a decent photo of my cat.
I wish I could have one-on-one time with my children.
I wish I could take a crap alone.
I wish I could experience having only one child.
I wish I could get my old sex drive back.
I wish I could be happy.
I wish I could get my giggle back.
I wish I could lose some weight.
I wish I could remember to eat every meal.
I wish I could remember.
I wish I could travel anywhere.

Crazy Days

Having a fun day. Here's a layout I just did. I wanted the kids to make funny faces and Justin was the only one who really cooperated.

Credits:

Font use Challenge Template by Suzanne C. Walker
Teachers Pet by Amber Gray
Doodley Bright by Lauren Bavin
Fonts: DSP Dash and Times New Roman

I have a little I-pod

This was done for the technology challenge. I woke up this morning singing this little song that I made using the tune of I have a little dreidel.

Credits:
Blue Jean Teen 2 by Elizabeth Weaver
Font: DSP Fiona

In Loving Memory of Joey-Bear

This page was done for MommySpice in loving memory of Joey-Bear. Details of the challenge is here .

Credits
Joey-Bear Page Kit by Amber Gray
Batter Up alphabet by Amber Gray

Sleeping Style

Describe your sleeping style. Are you a side sleeper, snoring on your back sleeper, wake at the slightest sound sleeper, sprall across the bed and sleep through an earthquake sleeper? Spill your secrets! (Keep it family friendly, girls!)

I sleep on my right side curled up in like a c position. If I try to sleep any other way I will toss and turn for a while. As far as I know I do not snore. I, however, wake up very easily. The room has to be dark. Once the sun shines through I wake up no matter what time I went to bed that night. I also have to sleep with a fan on to eliminate the outside noise.

Sleeping with the children is so uncomfortable. I always wake up with a sore back as they tend to take up half the bed. This does not happen all the time but occasionally one of them would want Mommy to stay with them while they sleep. Normally, they sleep in their own bed or crib. If one has slept in my bed the night before I become exhausted during the day and so need a nap. Acutally, lately I've been taking naps every day because I stay up late to get things done that I can't get done while the children are awake.

Before My Life is Over

What do you sense you're supposed to do before your life is over? Man, this is a hard prompt to write about especially since it's almost 1 am and I'm exhausted. Let's see! I'm assuming I'm supposed to raise the triplets and to document their lives in scrapbooks. Hey, I'm already doing that now. So what do I have left? The only thing I can think of is maybe I'm supposed to take care of my grandchildren like my mom takes care of my children. What else is there to do? Think! Ah, I give up nothing is coming to me. Very depressing entry. Until tomorrow!

Collect Unusual Things?

Does anyone you know collect unusual things or have an excessive amount of something? Do you? My mother would say that my collection of scrapbooking supplies is very excessive since it takes up my entire office. Not only do I have things in my closet, things on tables, things in my desk the room is filled from floor to ceiling with supplies! However, to a scrapbooker they would say that the amount that I have is the usual amount for a scrapbooking addict. But now that I am mostly digital I really don't know why I keep everything. I guess I'm just hoping that my children will be able to use all the papers and embellishments when they get older. At least one of my children I'm hoping will continue my addiction of preserving memories.

As for collecting unusual things my husband collects empty altoid boxes. For what? I don't know. I think he's just too lazy to throw them away. Whenever I go into his office I can always find about a dozen of these empty boxes scattered all over his desk. In addition to the boxes, I can always find empty soda cans and dirty cups among the strange and unsual things he collects throughout the week. He works in our basement office and tends to bring things down but never returns them to be washed. So there are times when my kitchen cabinets are empty because he has all the glasses from his daily trips to his office.

Love Grows Kit

I belong to a digital scrapbooking designing group. This is my 3rd month designing. The theme this month is love and this is what I designed.

Topic 6 - Technology - Show me your gadgets

I am doing a Preserving Everyday Snapshots for Tomorrows Antiques Challenge. Every 2 weeks we get a new topic to scrapbook about. This week we are on topic 6 - Technology. Here is a layout I did about TIVO. It's the only way we Watch Television.

Credits:
tivo.com for their logo
Gypsy Christmas by Lauren Bavin
A Thankful Heart Add on by Maria la Franco
Mustard Seed by Marcee J. Duggar
Fonts: DSP Old General Store and DSP Heather.

Meeting My Goals for 2007

Most major goals are achieved through small victories. What little things can you do to meet your goals?

Little Steps to Spend Less: Well, I could stay off the internet. Yeah, right like that is an option! Okay, I must stay away from ebay and amazon. Those are my major spending spots. I also have a problem with digitalscrapbookplace but hey that's my only therapy which keeps me from going absolutely insane and I work hard all day and all week so I deserve to have some me time and that's the place I go for some ME TIME!

Little Steps to Love More: To give my husband a kiss and hug every time I see him. He works 24/7 and we sometimes only see each other in passing. Sometimes for meals and sometimes we are on separate sleep patterns. To try not to get anoid when the children fight over sitting on my lap. Try to give them more attention especially when they are wanting to sit on my lap when I am trying to do something or just trying to relax.

Little Steps to Laugh Often: This is going to be my hardest goal to achieve. I haven't been the happiest of persons lately. Been kind of feeling down and crying often. I don't know if I'm dealing with depression or maybe I'm just stressed out from raising triplets and dealing with our financial struggles. I used to laugh all the time. I giggled so much that my husband used to say that when I talked I would giggle and he would point that out to me. I never knew that I was giggling until he pointed it out. I think that when I had the triplets my giggle has been taken away from me! I can't remember the last time I actually laughed or giggled for that matter. How can I bring back the giggle? Think! I must watch comedy central. Maybe watching a comedian again would make me laugh. I can also tickle my children. Just seeing them laugh maybe would put a smile back on my face. I guess this will be something I will have to work at much more than the other two goals.

New Years Resolution

Credits:
Floral Tapestry by Beth Nixon
Gonna Be A Great New Year by Kim Liddiard
Tuscan Red Alphabet by Lauren Bavin
RachaelAH_SNL21_Winter Softness
Font: Not His Angel

New Years Eve

We stayed home for New Years Eve like it is every year. My husband watched the kids while I ran out to get some snacks. First, I went to walmart which was closed at 7 pm. So, off to the supermarket I went to get some snacks such as brownies, ice cream, potato chips, cheese doodles, soda and candy. After putting the kids to sleep when I returned we ate a roast beef dinner with roasted potatoes that I cooked early in the day. Then we went to our basement where we have a movie theatre and we watched the movie "My Super Ex-Girlfriend". It was a cute movie. The movie ended about 10:30. We then spent some quality time together and fell asleep in each others arms waking up at 12:10 am missing the New Year. Boy, I lead a dull life.