Courtesy of Judy (the fun fabric I'm using as a table cloth....from Africa!) and Menards and Target (cheap metal storage containers), this is my new space. Am way excited and proud of it!

Unfortunately, I will not be showing Judy this tonight, as our craft night has been postponed. I'm not necessarily disappointed because of cancelled craft night...I'm disappointed because one of the Crafty Bitches is not feeling her best. Hate it when those I care about are not feeling well.

I shall be gone to my hometown this weekend to participate in a bridal shower for my future sis-in-law. Should be a good time.

Have a lovely weekend, all! :)

Crafting Weekend....

I spent the entire weekend crafting....aside from eating and sleeping (otherwise known as being tossed about in a bed with a pre-schooler....). I did four cards and seventeen layouts!! Of course, I'm starting the Katie plan, because I did a two page layout three times in identical fashion...and I did the same layout with alternating colors for the twins' third birthday. But seventeen is a good number, methinks! *grins* I've been scrapping out of order, but am finding that this gives me a more creative outlet. I will scrap them as they "speak to me."

Aaron's been doing things around the house. Our house is nearly all painted now, which has been no small feat, because he's been doing this mostly himself. He has another coat to put on the trim and some siding to replace, but it's coming along! Pretty nifty for a one-man show. This morning I left with a big pile of stinky mulch on my driveway. He'll have fun with that.

Collin's away this week until Wednesday for Cub Scout Camp. This is the first time he's been away from home without family...ever. I'm excited for him, but a little nervous that I can't just call him if I want to. Funnily enough, I was one of the only moms at drop off yesterday who wasn't all up in their kid's face, giving them last minute instructions. All those Alphamoms would definitely tell me that I'm a slacker mom. But then again, I did pack all of Collin's clothes in zip lock bags (did you know they even make three-gallon sized ones with handles?) and made sure to pack four changes of clothes and soap and stuff. Aaron managed to get it all into his backpack, though. That wasn't going to happen for me. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, not much else ado Chez Byers. Hope you all have a lovely Monday!

I went Crafting Last Night.....

....and Aaron gave his second hair cut in two weeks! I think it makes him look so old.... *sniff, sniff* Aaron had been asking me to cut his hair for weeks now, so this is how he got back at me. hehe

Rain....

...so it's no joke that we're experiencing a bit of a drought right now. Today, we finally get some rain. My lawn is thankful, for it's starting to look like we live in Arizona rather than Indiana. And I'm truly thankful for this rain. You don't know what you got until it's gone, right? I love green lawns. The lawns are a far cry from lush and green this year. They're dead. So hopefully this rain will bring a bit of the green back.

...the downside to the rain?? I won tickets to see "the Fray" tonight downtown....and, well, they're lawn tickets. *sigh* BFL syndrome is back. I don't know, though, maybe it will stop for a few brief hours this evening.

...created another few pages last night. Am getting to the cute, sleeping and snuggling twins pics that are probably the only fun things about having twinfants. Journaling is sparse for many of these pics because I've long since forgotten most things about them being babies. It was not an easy time for us. At the time, it didn't seem so bad, and I didn't feel like I had much of a reason to whine.....Pondering the fact that I don't remember a lot, maybe I did have a reason to whine more when they were little. At this time, we were still doing round-the-clock mandatory feedings...still giving medicine eight times a day.....still worrying about whether the monitors would be going off for real this time.....still trying to figure out who was going to stay home and who was going to work.....And then when I ponder all this, it throws the fact back in my face of just how fortunate we are. The two who gave us so many scares are now giving us typical, rotten pre-schooler scares....and that's how it should be.

....by the way, you know how I said yesterday I hoarde paper? This is that type of thing... I bought this last year (I think...). After my post yesterday, I thought maybe it was time for this paper to have its special place in an album. So I used it. I'm trying to make sure that the twins have separate albums, so Erin has a version of this, too....it's got pink instead of blue. *grins*

Hello, out there.....

How's everyone been? I've been doing ok. I'm in a creating kick these days, and have churned out many things I can be proud of. One of them is what you see here. I got the paper for dirt cheap at Archiver's (12 pcs of pattern paper and 12 pcs. of coordinating textured cardstock for $3.99!). Of course, usually when I buy things like these, I wind up hoarding them for so long I don't even like them when I get around to actually parting with them (feeling like using them, rather). But these, I decided to use on a little mini album. You see, a few friends and I get together as much as humanly possible to craft. Once a month or so, one of us (there are four of us) hosts the craft night. The people attending most often have to only bring themselves to craft and wind up taking home a finished product and a full belly. There have been occasions where someone (more often me than not) gets frustrated with what they are making and we wind up heading for adult beverages after crafting, but most often it's not much more than a few cookies (Lofthouse iced sugar being the preferred by more than one of us....) and some sweet iced tea. But it's enough. Because we have had the chance to hang out with people that make us feel good about ourselves. I would not trade that for the world. (See, Katie, you have to move back to Indiana so that we can make the quartet a quintet. I'm sure the others would agree that there's more than enough room!)

Anyway, I took this little album that was once a naked chipboard accordian album and tossed around what to do with it. Most often when it's my turn, I have a basic idea and tell the girls to have at my stash. And, while we've churned out some really great stuff by doing this, sometimes it leaves a little to be desired. So this time, I hemmed and hawed over what to do until I came up with a design for an album that's a total tribute to these three amazing women who enrich my life so much. These girls provide me with so much support, so many laughs, so many good times, that I needed and wanted to do something to capture that. And, laden with a few photos from our night out around Christmas, I was able to do just that. Not often do I make things that totally speak to me. But this does. And I hope that the other girls think so, too.

(um...there are other things going on Chez Byers, but some things just have to be kept on a more private domain....believe you me, it's not always easy to keep all my dirty laundry to myself. There's a lot to bitch about around my house! hehe)

Aaron's first day of Summer.....

.... So you all know by now my husband's a teacher. Thus, he now gets to spend the summer taking care of our little lovelies. They are giving him a run for his money, too! Here is a brief summary of his day:

6:30: wakes up to Erin in bed with us, pushing him off to the far reaches of his side of the bed.

7:00: goes in to school so that he can prepare for the tutoring jobs he has this summer.

8:00: gets home so that I can leave.

8:30: sits Collin down to tell him that he is going to be watching the twins. It's only for two hours and they are under no circumstances to go outside, have anyone over, or even answer the door.

10:30: he returns home to find both Collin and Griffin outside in the driveway and Erin inside where she's supposed to be. He calls me and we agree that Collin is to remain inside for the rest of the day, Griffin should get spanked, and the babysitting won't be happening again.

10:45-1:20: He does all the fatherly stuff he needs to do..... he gives the kids lunch, plays with them, and talks on the phone to his friend.

1:21: he calls me up and his exact words were "I quit. Tomorrow, I'm going back to school to work all summer. I have had it." Erin, while Aaron was on the phone with his friend Curt had cut her hair. I take back for ever laughing at Katie for Kelly's own works of art with her lovely baby curls. At least her kid had the decency to do it before she knew better!

1:40: he calls me back to say that he cut her hair the rest of the way (WTF?!) and that it was now a bob-style. He then gets in the van and trucks three kids (awful, awful kids) to the doctor. Amazingly enough, he talked about NOT taking happy pills instead of getting lots and lots of happy pills. (I will not be surprised if I come home and he's passed out on the couch if they keep up...but wait, it doesn't end here....)

2:30: he takes kids to used book store, where Erin throws a fit because he doesn't buy her the stickers she wants..... punishes all three kids by only buying books for himself.

6:30: I come home late to find a wonderful meal on the table (he worked off any aggression cooking a fabulous meal of ribs and other good food.) I start talking to Collin about the morning's mishap to find out that it was not Griffin, but HIM, Collin, who went outside first.

6:45-7:00: he had to listen to me yell at the top of my lungs at Collin who let his kid brother get his ass whipped for something he didn't do.

By 7:30, he was at the liquor store, replenishing the beer he'd been out of for a few days.

Today has been a better day, if reports are correct. I think that the kids shall live to see another day without their father blind drunk! Of course, if it were me, I think I would become BFF with Tanqueray again!

Have a lovely weekend, all! I shall be getting my loverly orange bridesmaid dress altered!

whew...

...it's been quite the whirlwind of events for us these past few weeks. I keep trying to remind myself how fortunate I am to have the life I have. Not so easy to do at times, but I seriously am fortunate. (Yes, I've been reading Khaled Hosseini books again. His latest {thank you Judy for letting me borrow} is quite gripping and totally puts my life into perspective.....) I have a fantastic family (although the four year old tempers and the ten year old attitude tend to get me down....) I live in one of the wealthiest spots on earth, where anything I could possibly want is within five miles of my house. Granted, there are times that I feel stressed out about being really tight on cash....like right now.... roll on Friday! But if that's my biggest concern of the moment, I'm really sitting very pretty, no? Great family, great friends (who remain sorely neglected due to my manic lifestyle of the moment....), and a ton of (neglected, too!) craft supplies.

Please refer me back to this post in the future when I piss and moan again. K?