First Collage I've ever made, didn't turn out too shabby. Here's pictures of Perry on his first day of 1st grade. He still seems so little to me. I didn't cry, but I took the day off just incase I did get emotional. His Aunt Abby got him the lobster shirt, which is his favorite, so he had to wear it on his first day of school.  

First Day of School

How do people do this year after year? Off he goes first day of 1st grade, today it's new and exciting for everyone in a few weeks we will be agonizing over 15 minutes of homework each night. 15 minutes doesn't seem long, but in Kindergarten it was torture for all involved, however he seems more mature this year so maybe it won't be so bad. He's still little though, which I suppose will always be the case, I was always one of the smallest in the class. I'll post pictures when they are developed.

Another Fun Weekend

Ok so the past few weekends I've not spent with my family. But I see them all the time! I am getting quite a bit of Jodi time, but I like to maintain a good balance. Keeps me sane ya know! This weekend is almost over, and this coming week school start and so does Alpha! Busy busy....but I tried to keep it not so busy this summer because I know how hectic fall and winter can be, and summer is for resting and resting I did. Got to hang out with the Alpha leaders on Saturday for some training, you just can't get enough training in listening skills, it's always good to refresh, someday I will get it completely. The consensus was we are learning to listen to people we don't know very well, however we don't do so good when it comes to our husbands. We tend to want to "fix it" immediately before we've heard everything they have to say. Hummm....maybe I should work on that huh? It's amazing though how more interesting people are when you really listen to what they have to say. Can't wait for another Alpha, strangers are so dang interesting. Ecspecially when they come hungry to know the truth, and willing to explore and ask crazy questions!

Got some scrappin done this weekend first time in a while. Now I am inspired to get my scrappin room cleaned up and scrap! I did 4 pages and this one was my favorite. 

And the Race Begins

Teenagers or college graduates should be reminded to not get all excited when they are done with school, because if they get married and have children, they gotta do it all over again. Kids in school is such hard work. Perry's only in the first grade, I am already dreading homework everynight, and fighting with him to get it done. Maybe this year will be different and he'll look forward to doing homework and love every minute of it! What do people do who have multiple children? Surely they have moments where they completely lose their mind! Ok so Perry starts 1st grade next week and he's completely excited. The unfortunate thing is his teachers name is Mrs. Emenacker, a respectable name true, but very hard to say for a 7 year old. Hopefully she's a nice teacher. The cool thing is she's coming to the house to meet him and his family. How cool is that? Who does that? What better way to get to know someone than in their natural enviroment. Holy cow that's tomorrow, better go clean!

I am finally finished. Here is a sample of some of the trading cards I made for stampaway this weekend. I made a total of 100! These will be trading for other trading cards other people make or for pins people make out of stamped images it's a lot of fun and done at all rubber stamp conventions. 

Crazy Weekend

Wow our Yard Sale was a huge success. We had a blast. We had people come on Saturday only to return on Sunday because we had good stuff, and if we didn't sell in on Saturday they needed to buy it on Sunday. Combined we made close to $1000. We gave away free pop, to show God's love in a practical way. It still baffles me that people are amazed when you give them something for free, even if it's a generic pop. Then on Sunday we gave away free ice scrappers with every purchase. At the end, the very helpful Harold made an enormous pile for the Salvation Army. They too everything even though it was nothing like what I had told them we'd have. I brought very little back into my house which was the goal. I still have a whole lot of crap. I procrastinated and didn't plan very well. This weekend is the big Stampaway rubber stamp convention. I can't wait. All the $$$ I made well not all but almost all, will go towards adding to my evergrowing collection of rubber. Stampaway is insane, it's 2 floors of rubber stamp dealers, it's so much fun. And people make pins or trading cards out of stamped images to trade, so I am making 100 trading cards to trade, I'll post some tonight when I get more done. Gearing up for a crazy rubber filled weekend, woohoo!

YARD SALE

Who knew Yard Sales were so much work??? However running around in the middle of the night putting up signs on telephone poles will always be fun no matter how old you are. If you need any good quality stuff that must leave mine and my best friends homes. Stop by 471 Symmes Rd tomorrow and Sunday 10am to 6pm.........Lots of good stuff and FREE DRINKS...while supplies last.

Confessions of a Reality TV-aholic

There was a need for me to go to Walmart this evening. So after sorting some toys for the yard sale this weekend, and getting Perry ready to go, off we went to Walmart. As I am pulling down the street, I check the time and it's 7:15! How'd it get so late? Then remembered very quickly, it's Trading Spouses night (that sounds crazy). If I go to Walmart, I won't make it home in time to see my show! Any normal person would be like "oh well", but not I. I thought, it's only Tuesday, I got time, I'll just get some food, and go back home. So Perry and I got some Arby's (their new Chicken Salad is awesome!) and went back home. Just another adventure in the life of Jodi. The show was very good. I didn't think it could be as good as the last one but it is, this time the wealthy women is the nice one, and the lower middle class women is a raving lunatic! The second show is really when you get to see their true colors so we shall see next week.

Here's Mr. Einstein. On the previous page when you pull out the tag it reveals his face through a square hole.  

It sure felt good to be creative tonight this is a Altered Book entry in one of my friends Altered Book. I actually used sponge letter stamps with acrylic paints. Scrapbook stores actually sell stamps like these for a lot of money, my friend found these for cheap at Target. Her theme is "Hip to Be Square". So for some reason I went with Albert Einstein. Gave me a reason to use my brain stamp, and who doesn't love a segmented leg?? 

Loooong Day!

Well we went to Kings Island today, for my sister in law's company picnic. Apparently half a million people had the same idea. So we went to the picnic, Perry rode one ride, we stood around in the HOT sun for 20 minutes watched the parade (well worth the wait, it was very cute). Road the train back to boomerang bay and went home. You know what when theres that many people at Kings Island, you just don't stay, because what's gonna happen is you get all hot sweaty and you just end up being nasty to strangers. We have season pass's so we only paid for the meal anyways. Perry didn't seem to protest, so he was hot and crabby too.

On the way home Ron dropped me off at Carraba's and I met my scrappin peeps (friends who scrap) for dinner. Very nice resturant and the food was very good. There was 10 of us and we always have fun when we get together. We then decided to go over to the Handcraft in Hamilton, since tonight was there last night, after 25 years of business, and they were open till midnight. Surely there was something we could find, and at 70% off. I got some safety pins, and magnet strip, you can always use that. It was fun, seeing pictures from back in the day, and saying goodbye to the Handcraft staff...sniff sniff...Well then we got to talking about some cool ribbon one of my friends had used on something, and had to have some....she got it at Walmart, so off we went to Walmart. I had a fun day spent time with family and friends....