Monday, May 25, 2009

[Today We Remember]



Happy Memorial Day! Mason has a parade this morning with his baseball team, so we have to be out of here shortly for that.



Five more days until MY big day. Turning 30.

Four more days until we leave for Baltimore (can't wait!!)
Three more days until I have to pack.
Two more days until Mason's big school field trip.
One more day until I have to get back to work.
And today, I am going to relax and maybe catch some more Lifetime movies!

Happy Memorial Day. Please remember to hang out your flag and remember the ones who gave all and the ones who are serving this great country of ours.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

My Neighbor Calls Me Regina & Other Amusing Stories

We have lived here for about a year and a half now and have been friendly with our neighbors to the right of us. I had my dogs outside and Anne, the neighbor lady brought her little dog over and we got to chatting. Looking kind of embarrassed she asked me what my last name was (I guess that she thought she should have asked when we moved in). I told her. Then she said, "All the neighbors keep asking me WHO moved in next door" and continued, "I tell them, all I know is that Jason, Regina and Mason live there." Now at this point, I could have simply said, "Oh, no, my name is Robyn", but why make things so simple, right? I almost felt bad about telling her my 'real' name, so I said nothing. The next day I was playing with Mason out on the deck with some sidewalk chalk. I decided to write, "ROBYN was here" all over the deck in colorful chalk!! *HINT, HINT*!! Nope, she didn't bite, even though I knew she saw it!! Well, it's too late to actually tell her now (I would feel weird telling her now) and I have found myself responding to the name Regina when she says good morning to me or wants me to come check out her flowers in her yard. It's funny, but ridiculous at the same time!! So, at this point, I guess my name is Regina. Oh well!

Mason had a baseball game last night. The teams first win of the season! Yeah! I caved to the constant nagging of asking me for money for the concession stand and let him go get something. His first trip he got a snickers (wouldn't it be nice to just eat a snickers because you want to without feeling guilty??). His next trip was this:



Candy cigarettes. Up until a few days ago, I thought these things were a thing of the past. I mean, WHAT kind of example is that?? Perhaps the kids should start going on pretend beer runs *wink, wink Cherie*!! Maybe I overreacted, but I don't smoke and I certainly don't think that kids should walk around with faux cigs hanging out of their mouth. I embarrassed Mason, so I am sure he won't pull that again!

I walked 8 miles on Monday!! WooHoo. It felt awesome. Me and my walking buddy (and baseball buddy and soon to be football buddy), Cherie, and her friend walked on the walking trail and hit the 4 mile mark and then walked it back. That set the standard pretty high. I don't think that's going to be a regular thing, but I hope to keep up the miles! I was sore this morning, but since have been feeling fine. I can't wait to go tomorrow.

I have had this annoying nose/head/throat/cough cold for a long time and it's just plain driving me crazy. I went to Martin's, the world's best grocery store (at least in these parts!) and picked up some of this herbal tea:



Amazing! It is unbelievable how well it works! I had a cup of tea before bed last night and slept so soundly, woke up and could breathe! As the morning went on I could feel my symptoms coming back, so I had a really big cup of the tea again. It took about an hour to kick in, but as I was working today, I just felt normal. No stuffy nose. No sore throat. No sinus pressure. Just wonderful. I have never really been into herbs for healing, sometimes they scare me, but this worked fantastic. I plan to use this anytime I feel horrible.

That's all I've got!
Thanks for reading,

Regina

Sunday, May 17, 2009

GoodBye Ben, I'm A Winner (oh, yeah) & More...

Mason's hamster Ben crossed the Rainbow Bridge last night. I have been noticing the past few weeks that he has been sleeping a lot and having trouble getting up the steps/ramp in the cage, but I certainly didn't think his time was up. Yesterday afternoon after work I came home, rushed around to get Mason to his game and I checked on the hamsters and they were both asleep (I always check to see if they are breathing because they sleep so soundly!) and all was good. Then last night as the night was winding down, I again checked on them and Ben was not breathing. So, we called Mason in and he took it pretty hard. It breaks my heart as a Mom to see him so upset, but I know it is a good thing for him to have those feelings, I would have been concerned if he had not cared. So, we gave him the proper burial last night and Mason made a tombstone for him today.

On to much better news. A couple of weeks ago I commented on One Scrappin Mama's blog and I won this awesome paper!! I got it the other day in the mail and I can't wait to use it, so THANK YOU, THANK YOU, I love it!! The paper is from the AC Bailey May Kit.



Ok, I had to work on Saturday and there happened to be a yard sale RIGHT across the street from the store that I had to go in to, so what would you do?? Well, I knew what to do. I was pressed for time, but I know how to speed shop, my eyes have the ability to look in both directions at once (not really, but that would be cool, or maybe creepy, but...)anyway, I found this birdcage for .50 and I had so much fun doing the last bird cage that I thought I would give another one a try.

Here's the before:



The finish was nice, so I didn't need spray paint (did you hear that, NO spray paint, I must be sick) and it was is really good condition.

Here's what I did with it:



Top view:



Bottom view:




The house is made out of a granola bar box and the roof is from a box of Annie's Cheddar Bunnies crackers (they are delicious, by the way!) and I just covered it in pretty paper, used a lot of mod podge and hot glue and buttons and then made the 'nest' out of scraps that I rolled with a pencil. I really like it and I think that I am going to hang it either in my mud room or in the dining room with the other bird cage to keep Rocco (that's the bird's name!) company. Hope you like them!!

Well, it is May and I DO NOT have a theme for Mason's birthday, WHAT?? I need to plan this, I have been searching online for some inspiration, however, I think the older he gets the less fun 'themed' parties are, boo hoo. He keeps telling me he'll come up with an idea, but come on, he is a boy and this is a party planning project (AKA 'THE PPP') and we all know that the two don't mix. So, I hope to at least come up with some sort of idea here soon. I also would like little to no travel because of the nice ice storm that we had last birthday party. But not traveling leaves very little options in this neck of the woods. Maybe I should just chill!

Alright, I'm out of things to talk about for now!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

{Fun Clock Project}

I purchased this item at the Goodwill for a whopping $4.99, yes, yes, well out of my usual $2 price range, but boy did I see potential in this thing!!



Here is the finished project:







The clock was in working order, 'BONUS'-[spoken like Ted from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure!!]. The back was super simple to get off and the extremely ugly 'decorations' were not that easy to get off, but I just turned the wood pieces over and had a fresh start! I used some Cosmo Cricket paper, Prima overlays (at least I think that's what they are!), Tim Holtz numbers, and just a little bit of this and that. I L.O.V.E it! The frame part wasn't what I envisioned, but it turned out better than what I expected, I love when that happens! I spray painted it black and used some blue distress paint, but it started to flake off, so I just took off what would come off with sandpaper and then used some alcohol ink to distress it a little more. It's a little hard to see in the picture, but the clock part says, 'Time goes by so fast'.

On a side note, I am having a MAJOR ant issue. I searched for natural repellents and found vinegar and cinnamon, but it has not worked. Feeding them poison is last on my list, so if anyone could give me some suggestions, I'd appreciate it. The commercial for the ant killer makes it sound like so much fun for the ants to feast on 'food' that's poison and I just think that is plain cruel. But on the other hand, I can't have these ginormous ants in my kitchen any longer.

That's all for now!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

~~Happy Mother's Day!~~

Happy Mother's Day!

Mason made this gift for me in school and he was so proud of how it turned out! So, this goes right into the 'keep it forever box'!



I have had my eye on this little table at the M&M ever since I saw it a few months ago when I was there last. I knew it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, so I decided to ask for it for Mother's Day. I want to strip it down and paint it red. It is really solid and the top is the old metal style. It goes perfect with the cheapy chairs I bought at the yard sale 2 weeks ago.



See, Newsie Bear gives her approval:



I actually made two cards for Mother's Day, one for my Mom and one for Jason's Mom and my camera would not get a good picture. AHHH, Canon Rebel, why do you have to be so expensive??? I wasn't really thrilled with either card anyway, so I guess not posting them isn't a bad thing. Jason already took his Mom's card, so I may spend some time making another for my Mom since I won't be going over to see her until later this evening. If it turns out and I can get a good picture, I will post it, I hope to get some other stuff done also.


Here's an LOL cat for Mother's Day:





And this one is just funny!!:





That's all for now!

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

{rAiNy dAyS}

I thought for sure when I saw the sun come out this afternoon that Mason would get his game in today. This is his second game and the second rain out! The poor kid just wants to play baseball and the weather won't cooperate. Hopefully we can get in the rest of the games scheduled for this week, but as I look at the forecast, it doesn't look too promising. But, it didn't keep Mason from getting mud all over his brand new uniform!



I have been trying to get Mother's Day cards done and I think my creativity has left the building. I came up with something last night and didn't like it, so I started on another earlier today and the same thing, it just didn't look right. I hope this is a temporary situation! I honestly think it is because I CLEANED my scrap room/area. I have been sorting things and organizing and it just seems like I can't create under those very clean, uncluttered circumstances!! Isn't there a saying by Albert Einstein that goes, "If a Cluttered Desk is a Sign of a Cluttered Mind, What's an Empty Desk a Sign Of?" This is so true! I can't seem to work on an empty desk. Now, I'm not saying that I enjoy not being able to find something that I just put down, but there has to be a happy medium out there somewhere. When I find it, I'll share!

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Teacher Gift, Kind Of...

There are a few 2nd grade teachers in Mason's school. I made this for one of them, although she is not Mason's teacher she has been a huge help to Mason when he was going through some 'issues' this school year. She is always so kind and has the nicest things to say, her husband is in Iraq and I don't know how she balances life, to be honest. So, I thought that I would just make her something special for her home. I got this idea and inspiration from a post that I saw on the 2peas gallery and I just thought it was awesome. I changed it up a bit and here it is:



Closer look:



So, it will be an end of the year gift for her, that is rapidly approaching. Can you believe how fast time flies? It's like the school year just started a couple of weeks ago! That is all I got done this weekend, but I'm happy with it.

Saturday, May 02, 2009

.Just A Quicky Yard Sale Find.

I went to a yard sale this morning just up the block from me and found these awesome yellow chairs. I really want to use them in my kitchen, so I am going to have to figure out how. I just love the retro look to them. They were $3 a piece-that's a bargain!



Then I found these old graters:



I think I am going to use the smaller ones for projects, the larger ones, I'm not too sure of, but I really didn't want to pass these up for .50 each.


Happy Scrapbooking Day, everyone! I am going to go create today and hopefully catch up on some projects that have been sitting around while I was sick. I hope to post some tomorrow, COPS and AMW is not on tonight because of Nascar [how dare they interrupt my weekly plans!], so I'll have to find some other crime TV to catch while I'm getting things done.

Friday, May 01, 2009

This Month.

This month:

Mason has his first baseball game for the season.
We are going to Baltimore to see the aquarium.
Mason has an awesome school field trip.
I plan to get out and walk more.
I need to get the dogs groomed.
I may celebrate Cinco de Mayo with a fun dinner.
Jason celebrates a big day.
It's National Fungal Infection Awareness month. [gross]
This month also houses National Chocolate Chip Day, Pack Rat Day, National Dance Like A Chicken Day, and Clean Up Your Room Day among others.

This month, I turn 30. Thirty. I keep telling myself that 30 is not old, because it isn't, yet I feel like a part of me has to move on, like a whole decade worth of me. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's how I feel. I'm not feeling depressed or anything but it just feels different. So, I am going to enjoy the last 29 days in my 20's!

Swine Flu. I have had 4 people ask me if I have this! I know it's not funny, but what is funny is the hype that the news/government feeds us. I know it's serious and I know that there are possible reported cases right in our area, but really, why do they have to get all of us so scared?? Is it the next bubonic plague?? Come on.

However, I am feeling better. I feel like I am making a cocktail of meds in the morning, but hopefully, it's for this week only. I hate to have to take medicine, but I hate feeling sick even more. I have this nagging cough that won't go away and keeps me up at night, but the fever, body aches and stuffy nose are gone.

That's all I've got for now, not before a couple of LOL cats!