Pig Roast...more like Mudding!

This past weekend we went to our friends annual Pig Roast. Minus the rain and hail storms it really wasn't that bad :) Since the girls did not go with us we took our 4 wheeler and ran through a lot of trails that are on our friends property! We had a blast getting very muddy!!

Matt and I got into an accident where we both fell off the 4 wheeler. We have great friends who helped me to my feet. I felt my worst on Monday but have gotten better progressively since then. I just hurt now in the center of my back, right at the base of my ribs.

The pictures are of as follows: Above, this is Chrissy and I, after round one in the mud! Below is the 2 guys, Matt and Tom cleaning up after our first trip out.

Here are the four of us after the 3rd trip out....Just think how I looked after I feel into the mud :)

FAMILY FISHING!!
This kids have been bugging us for about two weeks to go fishing....then the men in our family decided that last night was the night to drag all the kids to the pond to fish. I do not have a pole but I still had a blast watching the kids catch seaweed and bluegils. Then I decided to take my brothers pole and see if I could still cast it out! It was just like riding a bike :)

My neice Jocelyn thought kissing her first fish was going to bring her more fish....I do not think she caught anymore for the evening.

Coy caught about 8 Bluegils yesterday. He was out top catcher for the evening :)

Cayden caught several fish for the night and then he thought it would be more fun to hand with me and try to catch frogs with the net.

Madelyn only caught one fish...she was a little dissapointed. I told her I'd teach her how to use a lure to catch the big ones :)

Kayden and Grace both caught the same fish :) Matt helped them real in a fight that they already had caught so the two little ones could experience rolling in a fish....I think they are going to catch on rather quickly that they were helped.

This is the big guy that I caught (I was the only adult to catch anything other than a Bluegil). I caught him with my tadpole/frog lure. The one below that is belly up had swallowed my hook and worm...needless to day he is fillet in my fridge right now :) All in all we had a fun night!

Polymer Clay Anyone?

I have decided to add more things to do in my "now" clean room :)

My friend Pam makes the cutest things for her daughter and posts on her blog. I have seen her polymer clay jewerly that she makes for her little one and I just had to take a stamp at it.

Tonight I just made a what the called a "cane" it was my first attempt to get a "flower" look as per Madelyn's request. Tomorrow night I will bake the beads and make them into a bracelet for her and her sister.

This is when I rolled up tiny snakes that I wanted to be inside my bead. After I rolled them individually I stacked them like so.

Then I picked out my outside color and rolled out flat to warp around my pile of snakes. I really want to get a pasta maker as rolling this out by hand was a pain :)

Once I rolled out my outer color I think rolled it around my interior colors, then rolled them out on the counter to create a bond so that it looked like one piece.

Then I sliced the beads and pierced them so they could be strug for the bracelet. Tomorrow night I will back them and turn them into the bracelets that they girls are very excited about!

My Stampin Scrappin Craftin Everything Room

Welcome to my finally unpacked room! It is nice to finally see the floor and know where about 90% of everything is!! The picture to the left is the view of the room when you first walk in.

Below is my computer area. I have come to notice that now since it is all cleaned up the girls are using it for their game computer. It's great though. There is enough in this room that to keep both of the girls occupied while I work.

To the right here is one of my work areas. My sink is located here. I tend to do my embossing or anything requiring my heat gun here.

Here is my paper rak all filled up that a friend of mine got me for Christmas. I love it. I am hoping she tells me who her connections are so that I can get a 12x12 rak as well.

Here are 3 more work areas. I have 2 tables put together here. I am able to work on either side. In the back, near the wall, is a Drafting table. I like having the space to spread out or to have friends over to play in my room!

This is the unit that Matt built me for Christmas in 2006. This one of the few large items that were saved from the fire. It is still unfinished :) I have a lot of things stored here. Since I have a paper rack now, I use the top slots to stores different packs of patterned paper and some mini scrapbooks that are works in progress. I have my stamps all in CD cases and on the second shelf from the top and also in the bottom of the two drawers. In the top drawer is a lot of primas, chipboards, scissors, paintbrushes etc. In the middle section I have my ink storage and my marker storage. In the bottom two cabinet areas is where I store all of my 12x12 scrapbooks and papers. Along with things that I acquire along the way to alter.

Here are 3 more work areas. I have 2 tables put together here. I am able to work on either side. In the back, near the wall, is a Drafting table. I like having the space to spread out or to have friends over to play in my room!This is a close up of my work area. I have an older spice rack that was cleaned out and my embellishments are in there. I have a tall lazy Susan type storage area that holds my glitters, EP, reinkers, pearlex, CB plates, misc blocked stamps, tool, adhesive etc. I have a little Rubbermaid container for my acrylic blocks, water brushes and other utensils, another Rubbermaid container for my Cricut accessories. My cricut is also in this area. I run the USB cable to my laptop to use the software that they have. There is a metal bucket full of scissors, punches and other cutting accessories. Up against the wall are plastic containers that have my Wish RAK images in it, and all of my CB dies. On the wall is my gutter for all of my ribbon.

This is the girl’s table. Usually its full of Playdoh, markers or paint :)

Lastly, this is what is behind the closet doors. I have all of my magazines, books etc here. I also have drawers full of stickers, embellishments, stamp wheels, punches, a lot of the girls art stuff. On that blue table, you cannot see, but there is my sew stuff. I also keep my paint in here and more stuff to alter.

Another cool picture!!!

A few weeks ago we had a quick storm roll through....for as short as it was the kids were itching to get outside right away. When we went outside we had a double rainbow. It's not often we see one let alone two and I was glad I could get a good shot with my camera.

Long Time No See :)

I have been meaning to get on here for some time to share with you my crazy life!!

Since May I have gotten my full time position with FIS. I am a property preservation processor. Basically we are the people that help "preserve" homes that have been taken back by the bank. This past week I covered for my Billing Team Lead. It was interesting task but I really liked it. I realized how much more that I really know. I am happy that FIS has given me the opportunity to show them what I am capable of. Starting Monday I am back to my regular duties...I hope that I do not get bored.

This is from my Supervisor "Nice job this week. I was very impressed with the way you handled everything. I greatly appreciate all your efforts." So, I hope that I can move up to a team lead very soon!!!

The girls have been enjoying their summer and are very tan to show for it! It seems to be more fun for them because they have 4 cousins to play with instead of 1 like they are used to.

Here are five of the cousins: Kayden, Coy, Jocelyn, Madelyn and Grace. The one that is not pictured is Cayden (yes and they are brothers.....My future sister in law has a son named Cayden and my brother in law has a son named Kayden), Cayden is pictured below. I took this picture of the kids a few weekends ago and then I printed it as a black and white photos onto white tissue paper and created a 6x6 time for my mother in law. See below:

We have spent quite a bit of time in the pool this year which is great seeing that last summer we were in the midst of rebuilding the house, here is a pic of the girls in the pool:We were going to go camping over the 4th, but our tent never made it here on time. The tent we had must have been stolen when the other stuff was stolen back in October. So the girls got to ride in the Parade in a Limo and threw out candy with their cousins. Afterwards they got to see fireworks at the local fairgrounds. Here they are in the limo:
And while I am at it....a picture of the tent that came a few days too late:

Kayden had his 3rd Birthday on the 7th, here are a few photos from the festivities:

Also, in the last few weeks that I have been MIA we have been beautifying the yard. We have been trying to get our property back into shape since the fire and all the construction. We had a water back up in the yard so it has been dug up so that we could run all new drains. We also got some flowers planted and my litte pond that Matt made me finally has lilly pads growing in it!
Today I saw a poor tattered Monarch Butterfly. It was beatiful to see even if he had been through a battle. I got out my camera and played around with some of it's features. I got a few good pictures.

Oh, and Last week, my future sister in law went back to Michigan and was granted with the joint custody of her son Cayden and was able to bring him back to Ohio for the rest of the summer. Today him and Grace played firefighters...here he is:

Lastly, I did get some stamping done. I was in the DORK technique swap and I did a cracked glass card to swap out with everyone. I found a new set of Clear Stamps at Walmart and used them with these fun flowers I got from the SCS Wish RAK group. I also used the Paisley Paper from TAC that matched my flowers. Since I did not have UTEE to do the cracked glass I just used about 4 layers of EP to build up the layer before I let it cool for a while and then "cracked" the EP to look like cracked Glass.

Now I am off to work in the studio. I would like to get some updated photos online for all of you to see!