LOTS AND LOTS OF RUBBER!

This represents my day from 8am to 4:30 pm today. The sea of pink at the bottom of the picture also represents hours of cutting rubber and mounting it on EZ mount. It also represents ALOT of money. However if you consider for a moment if that there rubber was mounted on wood.....I'd have to take a second mortgage......shhhh......I am experiencing a rubber high. Connie was new to the whole thing, and it was fun to have her along since she also can't say no to a good piece of rubber or super cool embellishment. The ATC cards were a big hit, however there are alot of ladies who do still make the pins. (not a big fan of the pins people!) Another few years they'll catch on. ATC's are so much easier. I've done the pins and the magnets to trade, and they represent days of stamping. ATC's represent days as well but you can get a lot more done in a short amount of time. Ok again, promise not to ever talk about the weather on my blog exception to this rule is when it's unreasonably HOT! Or unreasonably cold, and todayGOOD LORD IT'S FREAKIN HOT! What better place to be than an over crowded convention center full of rubber on a hot day like this. It did get a bit warm at the convention but for the most part it was comfortable. Perry ran through the sprinkler when I got home. I absolutely love water pictures. Stay cool people it's freakin hot out there. Sorry but love the Ladies....the video's a little freaky, but a fun song!

PS Missed you Stacie! Connie split a grab bag with me. It was fun but still missed ya! Next year friend!!!!

One of these Days..........

Man I look forward to that day when all the troubles of life will pass away, and I get to see my Savior face to face.....ever think about it? Don't get me wrong I love my life. There are moments I can do without, like argueing with my scatterbrained child who is at an age where he'd rather do whatever he wants than to listen to me and do what he's told, or just follow simple 2 step instructions seem to be impossible for his mind to grasp because he's too busy obsessing with whatever is going on in his head. When the evening ends with us arguing and me being mad at him because he just will NOT go to bed, I still look forward to waking him up in the morning by crawling into his bed and snuggling with him, kissing his sweet soft cheek, then tickling him gently awake, as he giggles and stretches. He frustrates me beyond belief, but it's worth every minute. God gave him to me and I'm gonna do the best I can with what I know, and hopefully if I'm doing something right he too will look forward to the day he gets to see his Savior face to face. My challenge to you is to take 5-10 minutes today and spend it alone with God, I promise you, you won't be sorry.

Off in ATC land....

Just wanted to update the video. Used to love 10,000 Maniacs, Natalie Merchants voice is just the bomb. Back in the day I wanted to be her, loved her voice, her dance and her hair.

Small Canvas...

I am convinced I am an artist. Not educated as such but aspiring to be as such. Be nice to get paid to play like this all day everyday!

LET THE MADNESS BEGIN!
Well here we go, time to make some ATC's for Stampaway. I started this last year. I used to make pins, and little magnets, but now I think ATC's will be more trendy this year. So excited. None of my friends do the trading, I got a newbie to do it last year, you get some fun stuff back. I hope to get lots more ATC's this year!

Um yeah...it's August!

Holy crap the summers almost over. I think I've made stampaway my last big to do of the summer every year for the past couple years. It's good to have a little rubber retail therapy just before school starts. I guess last year was an indication that Hey Jodi, school is just going to be stressful for you. I wish I could find a way for it to not be stressful. I wish P and I could just sit down at night and just happily do homework in like say 20-30 minutes. Or if he could just get ur done before I even get home and it's correct, man.......BOY THAT IS DREAMLAND! Truth is, I did not do as much review as I wanted this summer, I didn't do half as much, and I feel like I am a complete failure, and the teachers that worked so hard to get him where he was before summer will hate me. But geez isn't that what summer is for to relax already, you should have seen what I had to go through just to get him to do a few pages in his summer workbook, and read a little a couple times a week. NIGHTMARE!

I dedicate todays video, to hope for a nonstressful school year, an understanding teacher, assistance for P at school, less homework, did I mention an understanding teacher? Ok God hook a sister up!

Oh in other news. Stacie is starting to schedule appointments for her childs testing process at childrens, and she started her process maybe a month before me so that means we should be scheduling soon. Man that will be a great relief. To finally see if we are dealing with anything other than ADHD and get some added aid in making life easier.

TBN....

Don't ask me why I was watching TBN last night, but I was. Channel surfing. There was the blonde chic, I've seen her before, she's got a very evangelistic way of preaching, kind of a yeller, but very good at what she does. Kirk Franklin was on there, he likes to get loud too...there was some other bishops there as well, rather interesting. Something they said that was very true.....She said "Faith graduates to trust." Very interesting, you can not trust if you don't have faith. Not to mention without faith it's impossible to agree with God. Very true, I find that when I am doubting God, it's when my faith is the weakest. Very hard to trust what you do not believe.

I found that to be rather profound. Missed church last weekend, first time all summer really since June anyways. Am really feeling disconnected this week. But the good thing is Alpha starts next month so then I'll feel like I am doing something to advance the kingdom. Although, I feel I help to advance the kingdom in my everyday life just the way I live or at least try to live anyways. "Advance the kingdom", who says that anyways? Did I just make that up? Where the heck did it come from? Not sure how else to put it, maybe sharing God's love in a practical way? Geez as if that's not been said before! LOL......Oh well it's who I am, and it's what I do Anyways Psalms 35 is a good one for this topic. Oh yeah and the video.....geez sure makes you appreciate you life don't it? Makes me want to hop a plane, and head off into the field to love some folks in another land. Someday people, that'll be me I promise. I just hope the works not done by the time I am able. I am sure Jesus will hold off showing up till I get a chance to show some love in a foreign land he knows I want to. That don't mean you all should just go buck wild cause Jesus ain't coming back soon, you still need to be livin' right.

So Sorry!

I know the millions of blurkers are straight trippin I haven't posted in days. I've been a giant loser for days actually. I have so many projects just waiting for my creative juices, and what have I done all week nothing! I scrapped last weekend, with some peeps, had breakfast with Connie at the Original Pancake House.....the bomb! I was soooo tired Saturday from staying up late and preplanning pages friday night, I had to have an energy drink Saturday evening. It seemed to work, I picked it up on the way back to Archivers from Maddie's Party. Had to break from Scrappin to celebrate Maddie's 5th birthday. Can't believe she's 5 already! It was a Mexican Fiesta, thus the ginormous Sambraro, how the heck do you spell that word anyways? We had a lovely time, with all the mexican fixens. Those Mexicans know what they are doing when it comes to food. The real stuff will kill ya, trust me 10 days in Mexico will make you appreciate the american made Mexican food. Those folks in Mexico, don't know how to season the stuff right, and for God sake people put the milk in the fridge will ya! Gross! The big Stampaway is next weekend, can't wait. Gonna try and limit myself again. I'll be with some folks who actually stick to a budget so maybe they'll be a good influence on me.....NOT! I love Rubber and have to not limit myself. Nuff said! Love the new Video, that new Album of hers is awesome. I've had it for a while and listen to it all the time.

Who Knew?

Had I not ventured away from my own blog, and checked out other peoples blogs I would have never discovered Jack Johnson. Not to mention countless other cool finds. As well as others checking out stuff I like. Thats the cool thing about the internet folks get to share cool finds. Then you think hey they are fairly cool maybe I'll like that. This video is soooo cool. He's like the James Taylor of the millenium.

I'm Famous!

Aside from the obvious reasons. I have hit the big time. I made a Hall of Famers blog! How cool is that? Do you ever think back to what life would be like without the internet? I probably have twice as many friends as I did 10 years ago. Plus I now know people from all over the world. How cool is that? I will admit, although not name drop, at least 3 Hall of Famers actually know my name. But Teri's the only one who knows me well, and she's never even met me in person. If you are wanting my autograph, there will be a book signing at Archivers in Cincinnati on Saturday, you'll need the November 2003 issue of Memory Makers magazine. I'd suggest getting there early as there could be a long line, have your magazine and sharpie ready!

Music of My Heart!

I was thinking about Nicole today. As in Nicole C. Mullen. I can't believe it's been 4 years ago or maybe it's 3 years ago since the Billy Graham Crusade was in town. I have to say that is the coolest thing I've ever done. Be a counselor at the Billy Graham Crusade. That's one of things a lot of people want to do before they die, whether they are a Christian or not is see Billy Graham in person. And boy did I. I wasn't just a counselor, I was commited to being at all 4 shows. Driving down there everyday, in the hottest part of the summer. I'd do it again all over again. I didn't get to counsel a whole lot of people only 3 since there was a ton of counselors. But just to be a part of it was amazing. And the night Nicole was there was nothing short of amazing...she sang beautiful with the choir made up of hundreds of volunteers. So amazing. If you ever have a chance to see Nicole or Billy DO IT! This video is way cool because it was shot in Cincinnati, mine and Nicoles hometown!

Life is Chaotic!

I've been nothing but a big lazy bumb lately. Wonder if it's the heat? I did gain 3 lbs, that could be it too. Just don't feel like doing anything but play on the computer lately. I did start a mail art project last night. So that's a good sign I may feel productive here soon. I vowed never to discuss the weather on my blog....sorry folks that just seems so freakin boring. But.........HOLY CRAP IT'S FREAKIN HOT!
Ok there you have it people probably my most boring blog entry to date!

Reds Game

Ok I could be a faithful Reds fan like my grandma was. But I'm not, I have a hard time cheering for a losing team. I hate going to a game and they lose. Not to mention the runs they did get was due to errors, and it looked fixed. Hopefully next game will be closer and it won't be 90+, degrees and my kid won't be obnoxious. Oh yeah and hey snooty family in front of us. I hope you have grand children someday who are obnoxious and unruly. You could have at least acknowledged my apology for my kid kicking you in the back (which wasn't even that hard) instead of just rudely getting up and moving. Don't worry I prayed for you.

Tired....

But for some odd reason I found myself here writing. Why? Hello it's 1:41 am, why not just go to bed? Theres something about me, I just hate to let the day go. I hate to go to bed, even when I'm exhausted. I love sleep, but actually letting go of another day is hard.

Look whose back! Mazy the amazing wonder dog. Aparently a lady from Hamilton found her wandering in the parking lot, and picked her up 3 weeks ago. Finally called in the number on her registration tag, and got our number. In 3 weeks they got attached to her. Ron was right, "it'll be fine she always comes back. Dang dog! Putting us through that emotional hell again. Last time she left it was for 4 months. Nice of her to just leave for a short time. Long story but her previous departure she was stolen, we suspect.....lots of evidence. The theifs began to feel guilty and then returned her. Crazy I know....but that's what happened....insane. WELCOME HOME, MAZY THE AMAZING WONDER DOG.....next time they get to keep ya!

Music Madness

I am having fun with this video thing. This is now Five for Fighting. A band I just discovered although they've been around for a while. This song I had heard before, but when I became more obsessed with them I gave it a good listen. I guess the message I get from it is "it's not easy to be me." He's got that right. I could get really deep and phylisophical right about here, I have all these words in my head that I'd like to put down, but I think once they came out and through my fingers, it would sound like a bunch of nonsense. So instead I will go shopping. See I told you.....not easy to be me. How about you blog lurkers, leave me something meaningful in the comments, and tell me what I should have said right about there. Ha...this could be good either you will ignore me and decide I'm crazy, or I'll get lots of messages. Love you crazy lurkers....I think blog lurkers should be called blurkers......I think it should be a thing.

Pink

Man what ever happened to Pink. I mean she did an album a few years ago, with a song on the Charlies Angels 2, but then nothing and her newer album sucked I heard. This album is awesome, I love almost every song on it. Yo Pink what happened. She worked with Linda Perry on this album whose from 4 non-blondes which also disappeared but had a great sound. Anyways enjoy the video PINK ROCKS!

This picture could not be funnier....can't ever get a good picture of both of them at the same time. And if they both can make wacked out faces then they are happy. Too funny! 

Little Something

Ok so I was surfing around reading blogs I read regularly. And this person had a cool idea in regards to old music and finding old CD's. I'd tell you her name, except um I don't know it. I know I got linked to her blog from two peas, but I'm too lazy to go there find out who she is and then type it on my blog. I know I know wierd I'm discussing someone whose name I don't even know. It happens people it's the internet. I made a comment on her blog so maybe she'll swing by here and introduce herself. Unless she's a famous scrapper, in which case don't count on it. Rarely do famous scrappers make comments on my blog. Ok I digress....what was I doing? Oh old music. Ok, the fancy video code website and could find anything for the old jams I was thinking of so the video is from my college years. Probably sophmore year was when I became a punk rock girl, or more alternative than punk rock. So thus the Depeche Mode video, it's a cool one too.

Depeche Mode: Hooked up with Amy's roommate from college, Mindy came to cincy to go to the music for the mass's concert. One of the best concerts of all time. Nitzer Eb opened for them, I was a fan of both and really enjoyed the song from Nitzer Eb, Join in the Chant.....really crazy industrial dance song.

Def Leopard: Oh hello Joe Elliot, you sure are hot, but I am sure not so much anymore cause you are probably old and fat. LOL #1 memory rocking out with the youth group kids to Rock of Ages on our way to go camping, on the camping trip from hell. Oh we kids had a great time being slacker teenagers and got majorly lectured at the end of the trip by some very stressed out youth leaders. A couple quit after that camping trip. I was 16 I believe.

Midnight Star: More youth group memories. Playing Freak a Zoid over and over again during our possum trip to smokey Mountians/Florida/Disney

Ok folks gimme some of your old music memories.

What?

So I gave up gossiping. Now I got a continuous run of Switchfoot video's that is now causing all my blog readers to lust after hot rockers. How much you want to bet tomorrow's message at church will be about lust. Ok so until the lusting ban is in place, allow yourself to gaze upon the ever so hot rocker Jon Foreman. Theres just something about the way he sings in the microphone the way he does. I tell you what if I wasn't a responsible, married women with a child, I'd drop everything and be an all out Jon Foreman Switchfoot groupie. But alas, I am a responsible adult with a job, husband and kid, not to mention with MORALS! Dudes probably married too, so go take a shower people.

I TOLD YOU!

I don't know how many times I've told you people to hook yourselves up with some Switchfoot. Now come on people, look at these boys? I can get insanely passionate about some good music. Thus the reason why I can justify owning an Ipod. Music is my life, it speaks to me, it controls my every emotion. So when I find something that really speaks to me and shouts in a good way what I've been trying to say for years, good Lord you need to listen they got something to say. Ok I'll admit, that one limp Bizkit song has spoken a time or two to my mood, but I quickly go back to reality and who I really am a Jesus girl, can't change it, that's just who I am. I may come on strong at times to some folks, but I'm just keepin it real, I got nothing to hide or be ashamed of.

On the repeat: Matthew West~Next thing you know I downloaded the whole album and a couple old songs like Happy. He's cool, another new discovery.

How's the gossip ban? HOLY CRAP! Who knew, I am a complete addict. So many folks commented in person and on my blog. I nailed it, or should I say Andy did, it was God but you know what I'm saying. OMG.....how hard is it not to gossip. Amazingly hard. Ecspecially when there are some folks who would rather gossip than not, even though you have told them hey SHUT THE HELL UP! And then theres the dilema, is my life that freakin boring that the only thing I have interesting to talk about is other peoples misfortunes, how completely sad is that? Now I need to make a freakin list of appropriate topics of discussion that will not lead to gossiping. Can I get some help here? We can talk about hummmm......Coffee, Ipods, cool TV shows, blogs, scrapbooking (careful can lead to gossip with the quickness), stamping, rubber mounted or unmounted. Food, (might be a bad idea), music. Things to stay away from when trying not to gossip. Tabloids, topics about your family, (very dangerous territory if they are dysfunctional), folks who anoy you that you don't know well enough to be talking about, hear say, dude who just cut you off in his mini van....don't, good heavens you don't know him, he's gotta get somewhere right now leave him alone. Ok people good luck with this, I am struggling, and my coworkers can not wait for the ban to be lifted little do they know it's NOT temporary, it's a lifestyle change deal with it.

Grace is enough

Wow....did I get shalanged or what? CHURCH....ok if you are a regular blog reader, you know I love my church. Even when I'm not involved and feel a bit disconnected, I still love my church. I'm just taking the summer for some church downtime, and kicking it with Perry it all balances out once fall comes, theres school and me involved in church stuff.

Anyways....shalanged remember? So I did a little unnessasary gossiping last week at work. Thought it was bad when I did it, and Andy was sure to tell me so this week at church. What's up with that. Dag I know I was wrong but does God gotta be so freakin loud about it? Obviously the message was on gossip this week. I knew this last week but apparently forgot so that I could be a prime example of what not to do.

Ok that was for me, now for the rest of you. SHUT THE HELL UP. It does no one any good to talk about folks. Serously is what you're saying important and pleasing to God, if not.....what I said previously. So funny, my best friend who still attends the church I grew up in, skipped church this morning but apparently read the Vineyards message a couple days ago on the website. And I was on the phone with her just after church saying something unnessary....Satan is quite amazing do not underestimate the power of the evil one......I stopped, and scream....what? Was I deaf? And she said ah dag, the vineyards message was on gossiping and I actually read about it a few days ago. HELLO.....So I said we are so done, no more! So even today we swam all day, and on more than one occasion I had some unnessesary talk in my head that I so wanted to unload.....and TADA...did not....so back up off me Satan, um Jesus is in control and you aren't as powerful as you think you are! See message here. The first song Robbie sings is "Your Grace is Enough." So true!

I do have skills after all. I did that technique where you remove the color, and add it back in one spot. It was pretty easy. And looks super cool.  

Finally!

Ok we've been letterboxing for a few years. We didn't really hunt any last year. This year we tried out hand at a few geocaches and found nothing in the past week or so. Well last night we had a letterbox to search for, and even though we went the wrong way, WE FOUND IT. That's right we found it. So now we are all gung ho, and are bound and determined to find more. We will be letterboxing fanatics for the rest of the summer and have a filled up log book to prove it bet.

All Grown up!

All Grown up!
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/20647533@N00/.

Marcie's in town! Load up the kids head out to the farm for a visit. I love this time of year. Makes me oh so thankful for my uneventful teenage years. I was part of Marcie's very first Student Venture bible study 20 YEARS AGO! Marcie is always happy to see me as I am always happy to see her. She's always made me feel so important. I mean I know I am important to someone. But Marcie seemed to always believe and that I was special and she always made me feel like I was special, unique and wonderfully made. She and Salt work with Heres Life ministry in CO, I hope all those teenagers and leaders they work with know how lucky they are! Once we got Marcie trained she headed out to Anderson and Nicole was in one of her first bible studies there. She got to know Layni because I'd drag Layni to all the Student Venture gigs. One of the many memories I have from those years is my senior year on my birthday Layni, Abby and I went and TP'd my friends house for fun. Well in those days if you house got TP'd that meant you were cool. So this friend thought she was cool until she found out it was "just us", then she was rather mad. And she was my best friend in High School. She didn't speak to me for like a year. And I'll never forget how upset I was. Marcie met me at McDonalds one day after school, and she told me, "Jodi, you don't need to worry about anyone else but yourself." For some reason those words right there was a life changing moment. No one had ever said that to me. I suddenly felt empowered. There was a little something that clicked inside me that day.

Enabler

OMG....these stamps are amazing. I have the Live, Laugh one, that I got mounted because I didn't know the unmounted existed.....these are the absolute coolest stamps ever!

Cardiac Hill

Cardiac Hill
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/20647533@N00/.

Ok I've returned safe and sound from 4 days of Cub Scout Summer camp. This here is Cardiac Hill as it is so lovingly called this is the bottom of the first set of 3 very steep steps up the side of a hill to get to the pool. At the top of this hill before you get to the pool is a SEWAGE PLANT that smells of a nice fresh healthy dump...as in toilet! Then just beyond that is a very nice pool that you may not get into unless you have a buddy. Thankfully Perry was kind enough to be my buddy for the week. If you click on the photo it will take you to more pictures from summer camp. We had a blast!

Am I ready for this?

Ok daycamp was just practice tomorrow morning we leave for the real deal.
4 days away from home camping in a Fort! He's practiced getting dressed on his own without being reminded 100 times. He's practiced bathing himself, trying not to have to remind him to wash all of his hair. I got him special chocolate shampoo, to make hair washing fun. He's had a million questions.

Perry: "Mommy will you be there with me?"
Mommy: "Yes honey I'll be at camp, I may not be right beside you the whole time, but I won't be far away."
Perry: "Mommy, will you be sleeping in the same room as me?"
Mommy: "No, honey Mommy's can't sleep in the same room as the kids, but I'll be one room away."
Perry: "Mommy, what if I have to poop, can I take my gameboy"
"I'll take a magazine."
Mommy: "ok, make sure it's one of my magazines"
Mommy: "Do you think they'll mind if I smuggle in my IPOD?"
~I'm willing to take that chance.....LOL

Dude can dance.

Sometimes you just gotta work it! I just know one of these days my husbands going to do this to me! Trying to catch up on stuff before me and Perry take off to camp. I am sure I'll have lots of fun stuff to talk about and fun pictures to post after camp. If you don't have the address and you wanna send us some camp mail love e-mail me and I'll hook you up with the address. You'd have to send it this weekend.

Hide and Seek anyone? They play so cute together!  

Can't believe she's 12....where did the time go? She's a great kid at 12, a lot like her Aunt Jodi in many ways, and a lot like her Mom in many ways....both could be for the good or bad. LOL.....Love you Ashton! 

This is the hill we, yes we meaning the middle aged women and the children climbed up on our quest for a geochache. This was from the way back, and we had them climb up without us to show how steep this freakin hill was! 

Couple of middle aged women. This was at mile marker 4 I believe. I will say I do look slimmer than last summer.

Conversation while hiking....

Aunt Jodi: Hey Ashton how's my butt look, (she's hiking behind me.) and be nice!

Ashton: Ummm.....

Aunt Jodi: Ahhh come on, you gotta have something kind to say. I know it's big, but what do you think.

Ashton: It looks like it should look for a women your age.

Aunt Jodi: Good answer, sorry Layni (Ashton's Mom) next year when you 36 your butts going to blow up!

Maddie and Ashton...cute! 

oh looks like I'll have to post them one at a time....I get it! 

I uploaded several pics. Not sure how it will handle it. We camped this weekend. Theres nothing I love more in life than a nice weekend of rainfree camping. We think the curse of Harold the "rainking" has been broken. No rain at all this weekend. And seriously since we've been camping together for 5 years, it's rained everytime. Except the times Harold wasn't with us. We hiked our booty's off, Layni, Maddie, Ashton and I.  

What the?

I know, I know it's way late. But holy crap have you seen Wendi's new stamps??? How do these people create such cool stuff? Do they think we are rich? I want all of them but lets be realistic, I'd have to not buy groceries or something. These talented folks out there making this super cool rubber.....stop give a girl a break would ya!

God Knows.....

Ever feel overwhelmed with responsibility? Me....right now! And it's not really anything huge, just feel like it's all me. Adult BS, I guess. Not even PMSing or anything, just overwhelmed with life in general I think. Feel like theres not enough time to do the things I enjoy, like hanging out with my friends, being a small group leader, playing with my kid, doing artwork, spending time with my husband, ect.....sure theres enough time to do maybe 1 or 2 of those but not all of them. And then add in the stuff you'd also like to be doing such as mission work, reading more, more church stuff, going on trips, volunteer for cubscout stuff, volunteer for school stuff......not enough time. I've not been a small group leader for like 2 years now, and I've missed the connection with people alot. Sure I still connect upon occasion but it's more unplanned, and spuratic. So past couple weeks I've felt a bit out of touch, just a little empty. I skipped church last week, which had a lot to do with it. So went this sunday, it was like God was there waiting for me, as if he knew exactly what I needed. I am not a touchy feely type person, I will gladly take a hug if you come at me with it, but I am in no way shape or form a hug initiator. Just to clear that up, incase there were some questions. But first person I see as soon as I get out of my car, is my former small group co-leader and her cute little family. She's just one of those people, who you know is completely genuine. When she says "I've been thinking about you", you know she really has, and she's genuinely happy to see you. Love that! She doesn't even have to say she's been thinking about you, you can tell when she looks at you. Not a lot of people like that in the world if you know someone like that appreciate them. So then the message......wasn't even an in your face type message it was just what I needed. Full version here. Here are the points, it was on the story of the women at the well John 4:7-30

God knows we're outsiders
God knows we don't know who he is.
God knows what we could be.
God knows all our failures.
God knows our religion is never enough
God knows we'll be inviters when we know him.

"I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God Himself, it is not. How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important." ~ CS Lewis

Sometimes we just need someone to be there and desire nothing in return.

Got Flippies?

Ok whatever I got problems!
What's wrong with this picture? Also pick your favorite, and if it's the same as mine, maybe I'll send you a little something.
I think I need some yellow ones don't you?

Mail Love!

Heres some mail art. I sent it to a complete stranger. Hopefully I'll make some new pen pals, haven't had a pen pal in years. The internet has taken away the joy of letter writing, and now with my discovery of mail art theres no stopping me. Before e-mail, I'd write letters all the time. And received quite a few as well. That's your official assignment, if you are reading this, send somebody some mail love! Mail Art has been so much fun. I've only got 2 peices of mail but they were both fun and from another state. I sent out 9 pieces of love in the past 2 days. Fun Fun Fun!

Bleh.....

That's just what I'm feeling. Not sure why? Perry's been kind of blah since friday, and can't get him to eat much, which frustrates me.

Ron (my husband) is so not a joiner. Theres tons of stuff I'd like to do, but doing things alone or just with the kid sucks after a while. Wow nothing inspirational here...better move on.....skipped church this morning too. Better go read Wendi's blog, she's got ALOT more meaningful stuff to read today.

I found a new blog to stalk, Wendi, really great stuff going on there. I am making all sorts of cool friends. Gotta love blogland! Great quote she had on there I am gonna have to steal and put it here only bigger!


"Quit telling your God how big your mountain is, and start telling your mountain how big your God is."


man I so did that with Perry and school stuff the past couple weeks. At first I was like I can't do this, this is way too big for little ole unassertive me, and then I was like wait this is my kid.....don't mess with my kid, said a PRAYERand said BRING IT!

I is for I think I found a new love.........

I am so in love with music right now. Trust me an Ipod will save you from cube hell. And the music right there in you ear buds, all up in your head it's like your own personal concert right in your cube. Love IT! Check out the new love, of which will be my next whole album download. Five for Fighting. Click on music and listen to "If God Made You".......man great cube crying song. Heres the words.

If God Made You
"Hey Kid… Your time has come to changeThough I need you more than I’ve needed anyone in any way tonightHey Kid… I know it won’t be longThe Captain’s calling…come to see you back where we belong
Something inside me is breakingSomething inside says there’s somewhere better than this…
Sunset sailing on April skiesBloodshot fire clouds in her eyesI can’t say what I might believeBut if God made you he’s in love with me
Hey Kid…Do wishes count at allCan you give me a sign…give me anything I won’t tell a soul you toldHey Kid…Will you hold me when I sleepWill you find me when the tide decides that I got to leave
Something inside me is breakingSomething inside says there’s somewhere better than this…
Sunset sailing on April skiesBloodshot fire clouds in her eyesI can’t say what I might believeBut if God made you he’s in love with me
Sunset sailing on April skiesBloodshot fire clouds in your eyesI can’t say what I might believeBut if God made you he’s in love with me
Something inside me is breakingSomething inside says there’s somewhere better than this my love
Sunset sailing on April skiesBloodshot fire clouds in her eyesI can’t say what I might believeBut if God made you he’s in love with me
Sunset sailing on April skiesBloodshot fire clouds in your eyesI can’t say what I might believeBut if God made you… he’s in love with me…"

Sorry it pasted all wierd.

They sound so lovely, where has this group been all my life?

I is for Major Ink Action......

That's whats going on here. I'm taking a mail art class, and I went ink crazy on some postcards. Totally fun. That was the first assignment. I'd post one here but I seriously don't feel like scanning it, not sure if I will before I send it off. My second assignment had specific instructions to restructure some junk mail, it's done, but I don't think it's all that great. Who ever gets it will find it to be a work of art I am sure. 2 more days of school.......THANK GOD! Except now to maintain some sort of structure for Mr. P for the summer, so he doesn't have a hard time transitioning when school starts in the fall. I am such a disorganized person, it's hard, and odd that my child has ADD, God truly has a sense of humor. So I plan to do one big fun thing each month. June is cubscout camp....Lord help me.....I am going, those boys will wear my fat arse out! July I think he'll do daycamp, and then August we get to spend the night in the Loveland Castle.......yippee.....it will be SPOOKY can't wait! The castle should be great fun.

I is for Interesting 8 year old......

Am I even on I? I think I've lost track.

Ah yes, he's 8 years old. His actual birthday was last thursday but we always celebrate it this weekend. He had a star wars birthday party. Then Ron and I topped it off and went and saw the new Star Wars. Thoughts on the new Star Wars? I couldn't put my finger on it, what didn't I like about it? I mean I love all the stuff going on, and Yoda, he's the bomb! When I got to my brothers house afterwards to get Perry, he said..."isn't the dude who plays Anikan a terrible actor? BINGO....that's what I didn't like. He's a bad actor and makes all the other folks who are great actors, look bad. Glad he's Darth Vader now, since you don't have to see his face anymore when he does the bad acting. Him becoming Darth Vader was way cool. Nice that everything comes together now.

JUST ONE OF THOSE DAYS!

VERY stressful day to say the least. Not even worth repeating! Lets just say a whole lot of Limp Bizkit got listened to this afternoon to help me through my day. It's not work people it's life. You're probably thinking whats a nice girl like me doing listening to Limp Bizkit? Sometimes you just gotta yell, say bullshit, and the F word a whole lot. And Limp Bizkit can help you do that. That's all I'm saying. Good Night

I is for I forgot to mention.

See back on track already! Wanted to mention my latest blog I enjoy reading....it's funny funny stuff! Laid-Off Dad.

Bathroom Bandit!

This one's totally for the scrapbook. I may need to take a picture of the school bathroom if I'd like a photo to reinact it, or it may just be a page in his small book about ADD. 2 weeks left in school, almost made it the whole year with a clean record. Other than the wrong bus incident one day, he's been good all year. As if my week with meeting with the intervention team, psychiatrist, and the child psychologist wasn't stressful enough, he comes home with a detention slip. I was devastated! Just my initial reaction if soon wore off. Confronted the child, the child who rarely cares what people think about him, didn't want to talk about it, and his reasoning? I might tell his teacher and she'd think he was a bad kid. Um....hello she's the one who wrote you up dude. Not sure what he was getting at, but he wasn't talking. The detention slip said for crawling under the bathroom stalls. Which seemed fairly amusing to me but 2 days lunch and recess detention for a first time offender seemed a bit much. So I had to talk to his teacher anyways regarding end of the year stuff, so I got to ask her over the phone. I got the whole crazy story.

BATHROOM BANDIT!
Big conspiracy going on at West Elementary. For several days someone had been going into the bathroom stall locking the door, then crawling out under the stall. Announcement made over the PA system through the whole school. "Whoever you are cut it out", and "if you see the perpetrator, please tell a teacher." Friday Mr. Perry goes into the bathroom to do his business, or maybe not even to do his busniness maybe to cause a little mischief, goes into the stall, 3rd grade student walks into the bathroom, sees Perry's little head crawling out from under the stall.....Being the school rule abiding 3rd grader he was contacted the nearest teacher, who busted the bathroom bandit, which so happened to be my kid. So he's on lock down for yesterdays lunch/recess, and tomorrow. Hummm....did he act alone? Was their a reward? Will this be on his perminent record?

Not to worry people , I did not make light of the situation in front of the child. To him it was serious offense, and not likely to do it ever again. But away from the kid, that right there is some dang funny stuff. Poor thing, he said after his shower tonight. {after shower time is good talking and singing time} He said "Mommy I'm 8 years old now, am I gonna get any taller? Everyone is taller than me." I told him "yeah you'll get taller eventually maybe when your in 2nd grade. " Good heavens I think I just lied to my kid. I mean I'm only 5'4" and my husband is only 5'6" so it's quite possible the kids not going to be a tall person. Unless he takes after my side of the family, my brother and uncles are tall. But I doubt Perry will be tall. I promise to get back to my alphabet listings, I had to share the latest Perry antics. Never a dull moment.

I got to scrap today. I did 5 pages and this one is my favorite, it's got the lyrics to that wonderful Sarah Mclachlan song Answer. It REALLY spoke to me this week. This page turned out great. It was good to get to scrap with my peeps all day today.  

H is for Honesty........

Thats what my blogs for. Keeping it real. This is my life, and I got nothing to hide. Hopefully somewhere along the way I'll say something that means something to someone else. Or helps them along their journey. This has been a busy busy thought provoking week. Wednesdays bible study was on the major profits, Isaiah, Ezekial, Sammuel, and Jeremiah. Man if those folks were around today, making the predictions they made....holy cow, they'd be complete wackos. Reading Isaiah, and some of the prophecies that are about Jesus, and are right on target, wow that's some good stuff.

Dealing with schools, psychologist, pediatricians, childrens hospital......is no joke people, makes you grow up real quick. I have never had an assertive personality, but the minute I think my kids not getting the best he can get, wow I become a women with power. And I start making phone calls and sending e-mails to get to the bottom of things, amazingly it works and you get answers! Who knew? Perry met with the child psychologist this morning. Truely, God was all up in the mix. I prayed briefly before I got there, that he would be a christian. Not a christian psychologist practicing in a christian practice, but a mainstream psychologist that just so happens to be a christian. Big difference, the other can be a bit too churchy, and have a hard time getting to the scientific stuff that causes whatevers going on, I feel you need that and it gives you the bigger picture. Bingo.....one of the first things he asked us what if we went to church. And he knew of the Vineyard, as a matter of fact he attends Clovernook Christian which is where a lot of Vineyard folks leave and go there and visa versa....he's gone there for 30 years. How cool is that? May not mean alot to some folks, but if someone can understand what makes me tick and how I am raising my kid to begin with because my spiritual life plays such a huge part in everything in my life, that makes a world of difference.

Thanks so much for the great support I have gotten from the 2 people who can admit they read my blog, your comments mean a lot. I have become aware of a few fans who are addicts of my blog......I know who you are, and how about some love every once in a while! Ha Ha just kidding silent lurking is perfectly acceptable. I am sure there are many who do that.

How cute is this face? God truely has given me more than I asked for. Tonight he had a monster of a headache when I got home so I prayed for his little head. "Dear Jesus make Perry's headache go away." So when we got home from his birthday dinner his headache was gone, and mine was hurting, so I asked him to kiss my head....and he said "Dear Jesus make mommy's headache go away...amen." I love you mommy and kissed my head. That right there is the "voice of truth" in a rather stressful day. 

H is for HELP!

Ok so maybe I asked for a kid that was slightly different. Maybe I said to myself or God, hey it'd be cool to have a kid that wasn't your average, "everyone's got one" kind of kid. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PRAY FOR. That's always well and good until they have to adjust to real life. Or the life that your average kid can adjust to easily. From what I gathered from the intervention meeting at Perry's school today, yes they are going to send him on to 2nd grade, with some additional help. Something called and IEP, Individual Education Plan, which is more help (I hope) than what he got this year. This year we honestly had no idea what we were dealing with. We thought, ok so the kids got ADD or ADHD, give him some meds we'll turn a passing kid into an honor roll student, at least thats what I heard can happen. Not so much the case with Perry, We have done 4 different meds, 3 of which he's on all together now. None of them have helped really. There were signs of improved focus for maybe a few days then, whatevers going on inside of him, laughed basically at the meds, and this demon if you will said I am much stronger and I'll be the winner. Whoa.....looking at it that way makes it sound scary but it makes sense. Again the initial request for a different child, bad idea. He's not even your average ADHD kid! He's a horse of a different color, honestly I like him that way. Why must we change him, why can't we work with what we have? He's not harmful to others, or defient. Granted we can't tell if he's learning or not, because it's almost impossible to test him with a standardized test. Today, and really this could just be today, I'm convinced theres something other than and maybe even instead of ADHD. Ok so we see a therapist tomorrow, and hopefully we can go to Childrens and get some testing done so we can create the best plan for Perry. Continued prayers for this truely blessed child I requested.

Noticed something interesting whenever you post a picture through hello...and you hit publish it drops a little icon through your screen. The first time it did it it was an heart dropping down over Switchfoot, then when I did the second switchfoot picture it did a little sign that said LOL.....thought I might be losing it, sleep deprived remember...so here some more photo's from Abby's birthday, wine, fondue and Jane Austin Party. 

Oh well will you look at that? There they are again. LOL.....they are dang cool.  

H is for HOT....cause I look HOT in pink. It started with the ipod....now the skirt...A-line skirts are an amazing creation! Got this hot little number at walmart, it looks nice and slimming on as well.  

Oh Hey....HELLO! Not only are these boys amazingly talented....but.....they are kind of fine, don't ya think? That's right people, my all time favorite band of all time.......why has this picture not made the blog until now?? Man I'd love to see them live! 

H is for.....EXHAUSTED

See I can tell what letter I am on but can't spell, because I am so tired. WW was not my friend this week and I gained 2 lbs which is the most I've gained in the 16 or so weeks I've been doing this "eat right" program. Frankly it's rather shocking I've not gained before, since like anything else in my life, I am super organized about the whole thing at first, counting points eating only the right foods ect.....then when I think I have it all figured out I slack off and stop counting, because I don't need to because I have it all figured out.

The ipod is a lovely, amazing, and beautiful piece of equiptment. But I've decided it's the devil. It and itunes kept me up way too late several times this week. I have absolutely NO "go to bed" discipline. I'd like to take this moment right here to blame my parents, for strictly enforcing a bedtime on me as a child. So now since I've been incharge of my own life for like 16 years....I don't think I've had a good 8 hours of sleep! It's a free for all people. My mind tells me sleeping is a waste of time theres 8 good hours you could be downloading music or scrapping....what would you be doing otherwise but laying lifeless in you bed sawing logs....BORING....! Theres really something I need to do to change my attitude, my body is telling me....."dude you need some sleep yo!" Any advice for changing my attitude is very welcomed.