Employees Only

Back 2 School

SO the kiddos are {almost} all officially back to school. THe bigger guys started school last week, and Stella starts next week. SO far, so good. THey are liking their teachers,classes, hanging out with friends etc. We are doing pretty well surviving the early morning routine too {surprisingly}. We are up at 6.30 and out the door at 7.40. IN that time, everyone dresses, does hygiene stuff, eats, and gets there stuff together. There is no TV, and few other distractions. We have learned over the years that morning tv does not work for us. SPeaking of routines, I ran across a great online article about going Back to School: 17 Good Habits . It talks about good habits that are learned outside the class room, but what better time to start reinforcing these habits than right now. There are lots of other great articles on that site too.

ETA: Michelle you are the RAK winner, please send me your address and I will mail you a pack of scrapbook goodies. Thnaks for the comments!    

From the Urban Garden

I just came in from the back yard and look what I brought...

Yummy food! This year we planted watermelon, 5 kinds of tomatoes, 2 kinds of sweet peppers, eggplant, onions, and strawberries. We planted the berries too late, and didn't get much at all, but the rest are growing like gangbusters. The watermelon has pretty much taken over the play ground, lol. I was out there cutting it back some right before I picked the food in the photo above.

Do any of you grow food? I'd love to see pictures of your garden, whether it be a pot of herbs in a window sill or a giant plot. Send me some ideas .... and I'll send out a RAK over the weekend to a random winner.   

Swap-bot, Projects & a new Baby Pic (He's smiling!!)

Hi all,

I had another ultrasound yesterday and this time the tech caught baby boy smiling & made us a picture. See for yourself, LOL.

And here are a few cards & a layout that I made earlier this week.

Also, if you are someone who likes to swap supplies, ATC's, etc. you might want to check out swap-bot.com . It is a very organized site with rating systems and every kind of craft swap under the sun. I just participated in a favorite color swap & look what a wonderfully, vibrant pack I got....

Beads, Buttons, & Bijoux

I picked up the cutest book at the Public Library today:

Beads, Buttons, and Bijoux: 58 Original Designs for Making Rings, Necklaces, and Bracelets (Paperback) by Nathalie Delhaye

It is packed full of bright, fun pics, fresh ideas, and step by step instructions.  If you like  funky jewelry you can make  in an afternoon, check out this one!

Simplify

I love this site. SO many ideas for productivity, time management, creativity, organizing, etc.

{ well-loved articles }

one. Home Management Notebooks

two. Your Morning Routine

three. Going Barefoot

four. 30 Days to a New Habit

five. Handmade at Home: Keeping the Skills Alive

{ Inspiration } - Productivity & Organization

• Your Home: The Best Company To Work For

• Better E-mail Efficiency

• Your Family, on a Mission

• 36 Tips for Productivity in the Home

!UMAX Scanner! And 3 tips for: Scrapping "OLD" photos..

Yay! I finally found the drivers and the card that I need to connect my large format scanner to my laptop. This means that I can scan layouts again without having to stitch them! Yay. Needless to say, I have been scanning recently made layouts and would like to share a few with you.

 

    

Half of these are made with older photos(think 2000'ish). I am trying to sort through the boxes of printed photos that clutter up my shelves. I know that I can't scrap them all, but I am at least trying to scrap (for each year): major holidays, each child's birthday, and any significant trips, get togethers, family events, etc. It's easier than it seems.

1. Since the pictures are already printed, there is no Photoshopping, printing, etc to do.

2. All I have to do is grab a stack, choose a few to work with, and then snatch up some scraps of paper that are laying around and get to work.

3. I am trying to keep them simple. My other goal is to use up tons of "scraps" older stickers, tags, ribbon, etc. I have so many cute things that are "half used" that I don't want to throw out, can't really sell them, and they are hard to store, so the solution must be- TO USE THEM!

SO these are my 3 tips on getting those older photos out of the box and onto the page. DO you have any tips to share? Leave me a comment :p

A COuple of Cards I made from SCRAPs & Incase I haven't told you Yet....

Here are a few cards that I made today. I have so many baskets full of paper scraps. I really need to make more cards. DOn't cha think? I love mailing handmade cards. Here they are:

And for those of you who don't know..... we are expecting a new member of the family sometime in early September. On Friday I had a 4d Ultrasound and got a good look at the little guy. He seems to resemble Stella from these photos, but only time will tell, lol. We are very, super, extremely excited about out little addition and can't wait to welcome him into our home.

   

My Favorite Cook Books::

     

1. The River Cottage Family Cookbook

2. Simple Food

3. How TO Boil Water

These are the three that I am loving right now, although there are quite a few preserving and canning books that I am enjoying right now too. I will list those another day. What cookbooks do you rely on? Are you someone that NEVER uses a recipe? Or maybe someone who ALWAYS cooks from a recipe? I do a little of both. I use allrecipes.com a fair bit too. MOst times I look up dinner ideas by which ingredients I have on hand.

Cute CHildren's Books by Cynthia Rylant

We are big readers around here. They know us by name at the local library branch. It's not unusual to have 50 library books on the living room bookshelf at a time. Did you know that you can also check out audio books, videos, dvds, etc at your local library? It's a great system and its free (as long as you take them back on time, LOL)! I search for everything online and then put it "on hold" through the FULTON COUNTY LIBRARY system. Then when I go to the library, they have everything waiting behind the counter with my name on it. Does it get any easier than that?! I bet your local library has a system like this too; check it out sometime.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand: Great Children's Books that we have read by this author. Keep in mind that these were favorites of my 4 & 6 year old, but would probably entertain children a year or two older or younger.

1. The Old Woman Who Named Things by Cynthia Rylant

2. When I Was Young In The Mountains by Cynthia Rylant

3. The Relatives Came  by Cynthia Rylant

All of these stories are very sweet and kind and feel goody. An added plus is that they have super illustrations too. So if you are looking for some new tales to tell, these are wonderful.