Digi Scrapping

I started up my photoshop elements program again on Sunday.  I hadn't worked with it since March and really forget how much I enjoy working with it.  Here are some pages... the first two were from March that I don't think I posted, but the other ones are what I did this week.

Snack Time

A friend reminded me today about a Yummy snack!  I'd even bought all the ingredients for it recently, but then never made it for the kids.

Honey Graham Chex Mix

6 cups rice chex
6 cups golden grahams
1 cup chopped almonds (or slivered)
1 cup coconut.

2 sticks butter
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Combine cereals, almonds and coconut in a large bowl, set aside.

Combine butter, corn syrup, and sugar in a medium sauce pan.  Cook on med until it boils, stirring constantly.

Boil for 5 minutes or until it reaches a light golden taffy color. Add vanilla.

Pour over cereal mixture and stir well.

Spread out on wax paper and cool.

Enjoy!

Ramblings of the sleep deprived..

So my hubbie is out of town for a few nights.  It's just a short trip- 3 days 2 nights.  I deal with these trips so much easier than the week long or week+ trips that occasionally come up.

I don't sleep well when he's gone, I just don't.  I've tried just about everything and even when I do get myself to sleep at a decent time, I wake up multiple times at night.  I can take a sleeping pill, but I don't like to do that when I'm the only adult in the house with four kids... it just doesn't seem like a good combination.

In the past when hubbie has had trips I relax on a lot of house rules.  I let the kids make messes, and don't make them clean it up.  We eat comfort food that's quick and not the healthiest.  We bake desserts, or go and buy ice cream.

This trip feels different though.  I'm realizing that although I tell myself we clean up each day because it makes hubbie happy- in truth is makes me happy.  My mind feels so much free'er and uncluttered, when the house is basically clean and picked up.  (we aren't talking magazing cover clean... there are 4 kids and a dog that live here!)  I feel so much better when I'm not eating a lot of comfort junk foods with the kids (I'll still let them have some- that's tradition!).  I'm trying to stay busy with stuff to do in the house to keep my mind working- and I'm feeling less tired and cranky than I usually do at this stage of the trip.

I guess I'm growing up a little bit myself... took a while... maybe by the time I get to 40 I'll feel like I really should be the grown-up in charge that wants to make the grown up choices instead of just grudgingly admitting when I make them that they are the right ones... :)

Grateful

I'm grateful today for A/C.

I'm grateful today that I have the ability to stay home and take care of our kids and home and I have the freedom to choose if I want to work outside of the home or not.

I'm grateful today that when an urgent email went out on the PTA email list- that the middle school's A/C was out and they needed ice, water, and fans to distribute around to classrooms, I was able to help out.

I'm grateful that I'm now sitting in my house with the A/C on... and I'll be meeting my 6th grader with a nice big ice cold drink when I pick him up from school in an hour.

Pst.... Wanna hear a secret??

I LOVE having a house full of kids.  It's loud, it's crazy, and I feel like I don't have to keep up with the messes or worry about having the most nutritious dinner, or having bedtime be on time and quiet and calm.

We have four extra kids staying with us overnight, and up till bedtime tomorrow night, and that means I can let them play, we can have a movie night, and I can sit back and read my book while they all play together with each other.

And then, when it's all over and they are gone my hubbie helps get the house back in order and appreciates the lesser noise of just our four kids even more.

And I enjoy the quiet the next week when they are all in school even more.

And the reciprocal trades when Hubby and I get to take off for a night or two and they keep our kids are great as well.

It's a good thing... :)

Hobbies, truths revealed.

I am surrounded by women in my life that have incredibly rewarding hobbies.  They paint, they scrapbook (My Pink Stamper and Karlee Krafts, they exercise, they go boating, they are scriptorians, they are political minds, and they juggle the incredibly busy lives of their families.

I often go through times when I feel unable to measure up to them.  I can't keep the schedules they keep.  I can't handle the pressure they deal with deadlines and pushing their bodies to the limit with exercise and schedules.

I don't find the deep satisfying sense of fullfillment with hobbies that they do.  I guess I have yet to find the right hobbies to really dive into and give me a sense of accomplishment and fullfillment.

So what hobbies do others have?

I do like to bake, but try to not bake too much... that doesn't work well with my waistline.
I like to play on the computer
I like to read books
I like to watch sports


I find myself wasting too much time on the computer or playing on my iphone... it's a love hate relationship I have with it... I love it, but I waste too much time playing silly app games on it. lol!

Right now I LOVE audio books and use them to listen to books during the day.  I play them while I run on the treadmill.  I play them while I tackle the pile of laundry that I keep putting off until laundry is falling off the shelves and onto the floor of my laundry room.  I play them while I'm trying to clean up my daughter's room that is also where all the toys in the house live.

What things do you love, and what are your time wasters?

Avoidance, dread, fear... enjoyment, relief, and calm...

I find myself in my mind using those words to describe my feelings towards exercise.  I avoid it... I dread it, I fear the pain that it will bring to me.

And then I finally make myself change into the exercise clothes, pull the treadmill out and open it up and use it.

And I wind up feeling enjoyment, relief that I have gotten it done for the day, and calmness that I overcame the urge to avoid it.

Now if I could only apply that same reasoning to the mountain of laundry waiting to be folded, or the little girls bedroom that needs to be cleaned. lol!