June Round Up

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?

I am reading. Yes, you read that right. I am in the middle of a book. What am I reading? I am reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I already renewed the book once from the library so I've been reading for 4 weeks now. This is the book they are reading in the MOMS Club bookclub. Last book they read I never finished. I'm determined to complete this one. I have by July 18 to complete it so I've been reading on the treadmill at the gym and biking as well. I just can't seem to find the time at home to read.

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?

No time for movies this month. I almost saw Sex in the City last week but I became ill and never made it there. I'm actually going tomorrow so that will be a July post.

I did, however, go to see a play with the kids at the college. We saw "The Little Red Hen". The story was like my life. 3 friends (my children) who don't help out. Now, when they don't want to help out I remind them about the little red hen and tell them that they would be rewarded if they do it. The kids enjoyed the play so much that I got tickets for their birthday in August to see Winnie the Pooh's Birthday.

We continue to watch Samantha Who and The Big Bang Theory reruns.

What special days did I celebrate and how?

Our 13th Wedding Anniversary was on June 25. It was like every other day. Nothing special. We did go to Friendlies for dinner with the kids so at least I did not have to cook. He also gave me a card.

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

Cranium Hullabaloo Game. The triplets gave this to one of their friends for their birthday. We already own this game and play it quite often. It's a fun game for the kids.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

Naomi had an ear infection. She was on antibiotics for 10 days.

Justin had a fever when we went to the beach. He complained of ear pain too so off to the doctor's office we went. He did not have any infection.

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?

We did so much in the month of June. Lots of play dates, sprinkler events, beach, Cherry picking, Great Adventure, Puppet Show, Play, Blue Berry Bash, Spraygrounds.

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?

Nothing really new this month.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

After reading I'm an Organizing Junkie's entry on a beach cart I went and purchased one for myself. I searched Walmart and finally found one (last one) for $20. I already used it 2 times this month so it was well worth it.

After reading Katie the Scrapbook's entry on photography I went and purchased these digital filters for my Canon Rebel. I have them now but need to learn when to use them.

What were this month's disappointments?

June 22 we realized our cat Diamonds was missing. We have been searching everywhere for her. We looked both inside and out. We sent out flyers to neighbors, reported her missing to animal control and also left a flyer at our vet's office. I am really heartbroken. She was with us for 13 years. We actually got her the same week we got married 13 years ago. She has no claws and has never been outside. We recently lost my other cat Rocky back in October. So to have them both gone I'm so sad.

What were my accomplishments this month?

I actually cleaned and organized the play area and got that completed. Next month we will be working in our bathroom.

I also completed my first newsletter for the MOMS Club with lots of editing. Soon I will be working on my next one.

Anything else noteworthy to record?

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Backup your digital pictures to cd/dvd and upload them to an online site or two for an extra backup. Send the links to the online albums to friends and family.

Choose photos (or digital layouts) to be printed out and get that done while you are thinking about it.

Make sure your scrapbooking area is cleaned up and organized. Put away new purchases (or organize your hard drive if you are a digi scrapper)

Look over the calendar for the coming month and make note of upcoming events you will want to capture for your scrapbooks.

Sharing the Love Award

I’ve been tagged for the Sharing the Love award!!!

The rules of this award are to tag bloggers who make your day, make you laugh and/or smile as you read their blogs, and who leave uplifting comments on your own blog. You also include a link to this post, where the award originated, and ask the people you tag to do the same thing.

I am finding it very hard to read all my blogs lately so when I have a free moment these are the blogs that I read first. I have them in my google reader so I don’t miss anything.

The Life of Loonyhiker who I met at DSP. She tagged me with this award. She always leaves me encouraging comments especially when I'm feeling down. Thank you for this award.

I'm an Organizing Junkie. We have a lot in common. Not only do we have the same name but we also have this organizing thing going on. She has helped me in many ways to get my house in order and start meal planning. I look forward to every entry she makes because sometimes it's like she's reading my mind and she has the answer I was searching for. She's my angel.

Katie the Scrapbook Lady. I follow her monthly round up from her blog. She has inspirational photography tips and some scrapbooking as well.

Dreams of Nyssa. Stefani and I met through scrapals many years ago. She lives in the East Coast. I did meet her in California a couple years ago at a scrapals weekend crop before the triplets were born. Even though I don't comment all the time on her blog I do like reading her entries and seeing her photos. She takes photos every day.

Scrapping till the cows come home. I met Bonnie from DSP as well. She is a digital scrapbook designer. I am on her Creative Team. I enjoy reading her blog because she takes beautiful photography and enjoy looking at all her layouts.

My Favorite Author - I think?

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ABC's of Me

A] - AVAILABLE?
No.

B] - Birthday?
2/13

C] - Cartoon character reminds you of you?
Can't think of one but Snoopy reminds me of my husband

D]- Drink you had last?
Water

E]-Easiest person/s to talk to?
My friend Debbie

F] - FAVORITE COLORS ?
purple and green

G] - GUMMY BEARS OR GUMMY WORMS?
Both

H]- HOMETOWN?
East Windsor

I] -FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Chocolate Chip

-J] -Just something you always say?
I can't take it any more!


K] -Ever flown a kite?
yes

L] -Limeaid or lemonade?
lemonade

M] -Money or love?
love

N) -Number of Siblings?
1

O] - ONE WISH?
Financial struggles to be over

P] -Person you last commented?
scrap-genie

Q] -Quiet?
Most of the time except when yelling at my kids

R] - Reason you smile?
To not go crazy

S] - Song you last heard?
SOS by Rihanna

T] -Time you woke up today?
8

U] - U like someone right now?
lots of people


V] - VEGETABLES?
string beans

W] - WORST Habit?
Staying up too late

X] - Xrays before?
yes

Y] - Your favorite food?
any type of pasta

Z] -ZODIAC SIGN?
Aquarius

Our Playroom

For the month of June we are in the playroom organizing and decluttering. Remember my post about the play area here? I certainly was frustrated when I posted that entry. That was what it looked like before. Well, with a lot of purging and rearranging we are looking 100% better. I had 2 big bags to donate and 2 big bags of garbage. I threw out all the cases of DVD's we had and put all the movies into a looseleaf type zipper binder. I also gave away some DVDs to my niece, the ones my kids no longer watch like the potty training ones. I took the bookshelf from the girls closet and moved it into their play area.

So this is what the play area now looks like:

Dora bag I got from Avon and in that is all their dolls and doll clothing. The bookshelf is to the left from the girls closet. I have containers of log cabin blocks, stitching, musical instruments, lego boxes on top. In front of the bookcase is another bag filled with balls. I was tempted to get rid of the kitchen that is now in the middle of the room. But since I kept the kitchen stuff I decided to keep the kitchen too. Hoping that the kids would play with it.

Here's a close up of the bins. I was going to hang tags from the handles but figured the kids probably would tear them off so I printed them on cardstock and taped them to the front of the bin. I printed up images from the interent and used photoshop elements to make the tags for the front. There are 3 bins for boy toys and 3 bins for girl toys. They are the following:
Red - Trains
Purple - Barbies
Green - Kitchen
Burgundy - dinosaurs
Blue - Cars/Trucks
Pink - jewelry/Phones

Legos are stored high up so they can't get them down and put them all over my house. They have to ask when they want to play with those.

I moved their dress up clothes to the toy box.

Don't forget I have triplets so everything has to be done in 3's. Here are their computer desks. They got them for Christmas. They are only allowed to use them if we are in the room with them.

2 big rubbermade boxes. Top one used to have their dress up clothes in it. But now it has hats and pocketbooks. Still dress up but at least it's sorted. Bottom box is filled with books. I really need to go through that box and get rid of most of it. It's books from when they were little really and most of them have torn out pages.

Last but not least is their craft desks. These used to be in our kitchen because they are still not left alone when doing crafts because they are not trusted quite yet to be on their own. Walls show for this. Magic eraser to the rescue numerous times in our house. My husband wanted to get rid of these desks but I'm assuming they will come in handy once they are able to draw on their own. They have chairs that go with the desks too but at the moment they are in our garage.


That's it. Our new improved toy room. Now, lets see if I can get the kids to keep it organized.

For other links to playrooms please visit here.

CT - Denim N Sunflowers by Sharon Craven

You can purchase this kit here.

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Missing Diamonds

My Cat is Missing

We have searched the entire house, looked in the garage and looked outside as well. I'm assuming she got out when the kids were playing in the yard. My back sliding door is broken and the kids tend to leave it open. Poor little kitty. She has no claws and has never been outside before. She's 13 years old.

When I asked Naomi if she has seen Diamonds she told me, "She went to the Rainbow Bridge." I'm heartbroken. Rocky my other cat went to the bridge on Halloween and now she's missing.

My wedding anniversary is this Wed. We will be celebrating 13 years. 13 is an unlucky number so my husband says even though I was born on the 13th.

June 08 Gallery Hunt Challenge

It's not to late to come join me at Deco-Pages for the Gallery Hunt Challenge. Here is the quick pages you will receive for participating in the challenge. They were designed by me using "Man of the House" by CAZ.

A Laundry MeMe

1. In your home, who does the laundry? who else, Me!
   
2. Do you sort your laundry? I used to sort by lights/darks and whites/sheets/towels but now I only sort by lights and darks.
   
3. If you sort, how many different color/fabric type groups do you sort it into? Lights/Darks/Bedding/Towels
   
4. Do you hand wash anything? No. Who has time?
   
5. Are there any articles of clothing that you send out to be cleaned professionally? Nope but I do need to get my bed spread washed it's a king size one and won't fit in my washing machine. Just don't have the time it's hard with the kids to drop off stuff at laundromat.
   
6. If you have any clothes cleaned professionally, is that drycleaning? Or regular laundering/pressing? N/A
   
7. At home, what detergent do you use? Any detergent additives that you regularly use? I use Purex.
8. What whiteners/brighteners do you use? OxiClean
9. Do you use any fabric softeners? No.
10. How do you handle stains? Shout.
    
11. Do you use different water temperatures for your different loads? No. Everything goes through a cold-wash.
    
12. Do you use a tumble dryer, or do you hang your clothes to dry? I use the dryer.
    
13. In your home, who folds the clothes? Me.
14. Where do you fold your clothes? (i.e., in the laundry room, at the kitchen table, etc.) Almost always in the laundry room.
    
15. Who puts the folded clothes away? The kids and me.
    
16. Do you have a certain day of the week you consider ”laundry day”? Every day is laundry day.
    
17. About how many laundry loads do you do per week? About 10-12.
18. Do you iron? No don't have the time.
    

Wanna share how you do your laundry? Consider yourself tagged!

Menu Plan update

What in the world was I thinking when I planned my menu this week! All the recipes take over 2 hours to cook. Talk about stressful when you only have one hour to actually prepare stuff to get it on the table by 5.

Tues - I did make the chicken rice casserole. I thought it was okay. Unfortunately, my family didn't eat it. Nor did my children even try to eat it. So that recipe will not go in my book.

Wed - I wound up skipping what I had planned and made something really quick. Dan's Meat Wraps. Oh my this was a big hit in my house. I only did the roast beef and cheese in the wrap in the microwave like described and then cut them in half for each kid. The kids I used American Cheese and in mine I put swiss cheese. On the side I gave them thousand island to dip. They loved it. Even my husband liked it. Plus it only took 45 seconds to make. Great idea to get rid of lunch meat before it goes bad.

Thurs - Baked Swiss Steak - It was okay. Husband ate it but didn't comment. The kids only ate really the noodles which had butter on them. The meat and the tomatoes were not a big hit.

That comes to today! I didn't have time to get the crock pot ready so tonight I am making french fries and Egg and Sausage Casserole I had chicken sausage in the freezer and crescent rolls so I did an ingredient search and this is what I came up with. Luckily I had the cheeses too since I went shopping on Tues. It's baking now so won't have a comment on it until later.

But I so need to get my meals planned better. Anyone have any good 20 minute type meals or websites that they frequent for this information. I so need help. This menu planning always stresses me out.

My MeMe

Over at Flickr they are doing this really cool thing with photos called My MeMe. You can find out more information here. I decided to do mine and here is what I came up with.


1. What is your first name? Laura
2. What is your favorite food? Twizzlers
3. What high school did you go to? Tottenville
4. What is your favorite color? Purple
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Peter Reckell
6. Favorite drink? Diet Coke
7. Dream vacation? Hawaii
8. Favorite dessert? Fudge Brownies
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Mother
10. What do you love most in life? Family
11. One Word to describe you. Creative
12. Triplets. (I added this one)

1. The amazing Laura., 2. licorice—sorta, 3. Tottenville Local, 4. Purple Euphoria, 5. Bo Brady, 6. Hi, I'm Lisa.......I'm Addicted to Diet Coke [Day 8/366], 7. Stand Still, 8. Chilled/Freezer Chocolate Fudge - Raw Vegan, 9. Cat smelling a fragrant Double Delight Rose, 10. Duck Family Portrait, 11. Mallorca 2007 -- Waiting for summer to come, 12. The Triplets

Letter to Younger Self 2008

I did this for a journaling challenge. You had to write a letter to your younger self and give advice. If you like to join in on the challenge the rules can be found here.

My page may be a bit small to read the journaling so the journaling reads:
Dear Self, You will learn many different crafts but you will only stick with one. The one that you will stay with will allow you to achieve a lot of satisfaction quickly. You will enjoy your craft and do it often. It will give you comfort when you are lonely and feeling down. Your first love will be tragically taken away by a car accident at age 17. But don’t worry because at the time of the accident you will be comforted by another boy in high school. You will fall in love with this boy and have a long engagement and will marry at age 25. However, your husband will be a workaholic so your craft will certainly be a comfort to you while married. You will want to start a family but it will take you many years before having children. You will be told that you will never be able to have children. God will have other plans for you. He will find you and you will study very hard to learn about him. Once he feels you have learned about him he will bless you with not one but a complete family. He knows how frightened you are of child birth so he will bless you with triplets so you won’t have to go through child birth again. You will have a difficult time being a mom raising the triplets partially alone. You will get help from your mom when they are babies. As they get older your husband will start helping. Hang in there you can do it. Love Laura

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June Quick Page Exchange

I made this 5 x 7 quick page for the June Quick Page Exchange located at Digital Candy. For more details or to participate in the exchange please go here.


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Nature on my Stoop

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Grounds for Sculpture

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Menu Plan Monday

I'm having a hard time trying to keep up with my every day stuff like menu planning.

Monday - Since I had a lot of leftovers from Sunday cold cuts I made the following dishes: Dan's Meat Wrap and Roast Beef Pasta Salad. The wraps were really good. We dipped them in thousand Island dressing. Even the kids ate them. The pasta salad. I made way too much so we will be having this again as a side dish some time later in the week.

Tues - Chicken Rice Casserole (Crock Pot)

Wed - (crock pot) - BBQ Meatloaf

Thurs - Baked Swiss Steak Will probably make egg noodles or rice.

Fri - (crock pot) Smothered Steak Strips with string beans

Sat - EASY ONIONY STEAK AND POTATOES

Sun - Leftovers or take out.