My daughter(DD1) made the Honor Roll for the 2nd time this year. I am so proud of her!

This morning I packed up Little Guy and Little Man and DD2 (who is really close to being on the Honor Roll herself!) and we went over to the school for a special honor breakfast and presentation of the certificates. It was really nice to have a car to be able to be there this time. She missed it last time because I didn't have a car to take her there to school early. I think getting to walk up and be presented with a certificate is a big motivator.

There is nothing like trying to keep a 2-1/2 year old little boy quiet and still in a seat, after he's had Sunny D orange drink (packed with corn syrup sweeteners) and donuts. I'm personally still trying to come down from the sugar high. Not to worry, I know I'll come down from it, with a thud.

I agree. Chocolate ice cream is really, really, really good.

Yesterday I finally made some headway in my art commissions backlog! I feel so much better when I can get some work done. There is still a lot to go, but I'm getting there. DH took Little Man (2 - 1/2 years old) to the grocery store with him and Little Guy (5 months old) was napping. That allowed me to work without distractions.

Sure, I had tons of housework staring me in the face, doing its best to annoy me and keep me from drawing, but I ignored it. Seems the housework is always there, no matter if it takes priority or not. So I worked on drawing and listening to the TV...some show about dragons and the history of people's belief in dragons. Anything that keeps my brain awake, but is not so interesting that it distracts me and makes me look up from my artwork.

Another thing we have worked on in the last few days is cleaning out Little Man's room, to make room for Little Guy! We have/had about 5 bookshelves in there. I am donating most of it, (the charity is picking up today, yay!) ebaying some of it. Most of the auctions are starting on Friday in the evening. I am selling most of the stuff as lots, and pricing really low to get bidding going. I have listened to about 15 old Beatles 45s so I can make sure they don't skip. I'm hoping they will do well in auction...one is She Loves You on the Swan record label, and I have a lot of Beatles Apple 45s.

Back to my Little Man's bedroom:
I received a white wooden headboard/footboard from another Freecycler ,
and I painted it a royal blue to match Little Man's Little Tikes toybox. (the headboard and footboard had a really girly type flower motif before). Because Little Man is currently crazy about Batman, I found a Batman sheet set at Kmart. It is going to look so cute when it's all put together. Bought a bunkie board and a twin mattress from the Original Mattress Factory.
So we're all ready to go, it's just a matter of getting all the junk out of the room!

Little Guy needs to move from the bassinet into the crib that Little Man is currently using. I know Little Man will be excited to go into a big kid bed, but we're not forcing it. We're going to just set up the new cool bed with the Batman stuff, and he can move into it when he's ready (I expect he'll be comfortable to move over into the twin bed within a week's time). By that time, he won't mind the baby moving into his old crib. I just want to make sure I'm careful so it won't look to Little Man as if the baby is taking over. Sometimes Little Man comes to me with his arms up, pretending to be a baby "I bay-bee, I bay-bee!" he says, and I play along, holding him like a baby and feeding him his 'bottle' the sippy cup. I see this as a sign he wants some attention.

This is an oil painting portrait I did in a class a few years ago. It's unfinished, as you can see. This is the only oil painting I have ever done of a person, and my second oil painting ever. The last time I had done any painting in oils before this one was done when I was in junior high school!
I really wish I had finished this one, now I wonder if I will ever get back to it (I have the photo of the young lady here somewhere!)...this was painted from live sittings. I would like to do more art from live sittings, but not necessarily in oil.

Little Guy playing with the activity gym Miss Amy from Freecycle gave him yesterday!

I'm posting this because I know a lot of parents and grandparents read my blog.
If you have seen this bracelet around your house, it is made of lead and is dangerous. A 4 year old girl swallowed a bracelet like this one and died of lead poisoning.

See the CNN Article HERE
See the CPSC Article HERE
with more photos and more recall alerts.

It was a giveaway/promo item with purchase of Reebok children's shoes. Later, the bracelets were also sold at Dollar Tree stores.

I have been working on the display for a promotional board for my chapter of the ABWA. This is for a membership drive. Here's 4 sheets of what I have done so far.

I normally wouldn't go for red on a gray/blue background paper, but the display board that these will be attached to has been described as 'blue.' Well, as you know, there are a billion shades of blue. Because I'm an office supply nerd, I expect the board to be either Royal Blue or Navy Blue. Just going with the odds! So I decided to make the background one that would look nice on either blue. White was another possible option, but I thought it would look too generic.

I knew I wanted to incorporate red into the theme, because red is usually part of the ABWA logo. These will be going on a triptych sort of display board. I want 3 pages of general/national information on the ABWA on each side panel, and I want the middle panel to be about our local chapter with the ABWA logo at the top, our chapter name, then the ABWA Mission Statement below that.

Now I just need to finish up some more pages, and then compile the information and photos for the local chapter section. I have an ABWA logo I printed out that I will need to colorize in some way. Then within the next couple of days I will be taking all of these to be laminated. I'll then attach Velcro to the backs, so we can reuse these on the display board that belongs to one of the members, Barbara McClure of ImageSpa in Snellville. (it can't be permanent, because she needs to be able to use the board for her business.

It is a little challenging to do a project like this one, because my top skills are in drawing, not in scrapbooking - I do enjoy scrapbooking. I just want to make sure it will look professional.

I always feel blessed that I can visualize things like this in my head, then all I have to do is scribble down the plan and follow it and it all works out okay.

Perhaps I have too much information on the sheets. I'm not sure if ladies will have time to stare at the board and read all this stuff at an event, and if they do have that kind of time, I'd be a little concerned about them. LOL

Well I better get to work some more on it now so I can get it done today.

Thanks for stopping by!

Desperately Seeking Chocolate

Ah that joyous thing called PMS. Yes guys it's REAL.

I swear, it is.
You'll have to just take my word for it.

I know when I have PMS.

I know I have PMS when I'm making tuna casserole and I have to be careful not to get my tears in it.

I know when my fuse is so short that I shouldn't even drive.

I know when I need to just chill out and sit down at the table and put my head on my arms and keep my mouth shut before I say anything hateful.
Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't. I find I will feel worse if I let myself get hateful, because then I have guilt!

There is a great episode of the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond that illustrates PMS perfectly. In that episode, Ray's wife, Debra has PMS. Given that Debra is generally grouchy anyway, she is particularly scary when she has PMS. It's a wonderful, well-written episode, but unfortunately too real to life for me to find it to be as hilarious as it should be.

The snacking, craving salty snacks...that's real.
I snack voraciously when I need to. I try to take it easy when I think I'm having PMS - I don't pressure myself about housework for a day or two. Everything becomes a disaster, but I just let go and it is easily fixed up in the following days. I never let it get too behind.

Chocolate for PMS? - yes, that really helps. Definitely dark chocolate. Milk chocolate doesn't really seem to help as much. I think we need really concentrated cocoa for it to work.

If your girlfriend or wife has PMS, what can you do to help you ask?
Bring chocolate home and stay out of swinging range.

If you're reading this, my husband has survived.

Send chocolate to:

Darla Dixon PO Box 1755 Snellville GA 30078

Hey it's Sunday and that's my traditional day for pure laziness which I cover up cleverly by claiming to be following the Commandment: "remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy." So here are some funny quotes that made me laugh and I thought you might enjoy.

A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
~Emo Phillips (I just love this guy!)

I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
~Emo Phillips

Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps.
~Emo Phillips

Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.
~George Carlin

Do you think that when they asked George Washington for ID that he just whipped out a quarter?
~Stephen Wright

Dusting is a good example of the futility of trying to put things right. As soon as you dust, the fact of your next dusting has already been established.
~George Carlin

I'm not concerned about all hell breaking loose, but that a PART of hell will break loose... it'll be much harder to detect.
~George Carlin

From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it.
~Groucho Marx

For my birthday I got a humidifier and a de-humidifier... I put them in the same room and let them fight it out.
~Stephen Wright

I didn't like the play, but then I saw it under adverse conditions - the curtain was up.
~Groucho Marx

Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.
~Groucho Marx

Found this car for sale post online ... the ad contains everything except the important details, like oh...the make and year of the car, and oh it needs brakes...I'm not kidding, this is a real ad.


NICE BLUE CAR FOR SALE

IT'S A GREAT LITTLE CAR!! IT IS MISSING THE LITTLE ARM REST ON THE DRIVER'S SIDE AND THE PAINT ON THE HOOD IS NOT THAT GOOD, BUT THERE IS A NICE LITTLE BUTTERFLY ON HOOD IT'S LIKE A STICKER OR SOMETHING AND IT MAKES IT SO YOU DON'T EVEN NOTICE THE PAINT !! REALLY IT USE TO BELONG TO A SEXY GAL I KNEW ALONG TIME AGO , MET HER HERE IN NAS ESOJ WE HAD SOME GOOD TIMES; KIND OF MISS THAT LITTLE LADY !!! I GUESS I WILL GET OVER IT!! I MEAN HER, ANYWAY BACK TO THE CAR ph# 804 - [I removed #] ask for mit!!! call it will go fast i forgot it might need brakes sorry

<---Before and After
Well, if you got here, congratulations! I know Blogger is still having some issues. I know I had to get here through a list of archives. Weird...here's hoping it will be all fixed soon.

Ok, here is a picture of the bathroom now...the new vinyl flooring is in, the new tub is in (but still in search of a compatible knob for the faucet), and the toilet is new. It's some kind of water saving toilet, 1.6 litre, and uses gravity to flush with more force or sumptin'...all I know is, it works and I like it. Isn't indoor plumbing wonderful anyway?!? :-) It doesn't take much to thrill me.

Still a little more fine tuning to go - the fixit guys are coming back on Monday. I will be changing the walls at some point...probably will paint them.

Well hopefully the bathroom remodel will get done today. When it's done I'll take a picture and post it.

I have a lot of work to do today...yesterday I just felt really draggy, like I was getting sick, so I took it easy, well as easy as I could...but now a lot of work has piled up. I am already doing laundry, have done the dishes and cleaned the kitchen counter. Hopefully by doing the household tasks now, when the little ones are sleeping I can do some artwork.

~ Bathroom Remodel ~

Here is our front bathroom, mid remodel....the new tub is leaning up, the floor is primed with white Kilz in preparation for the new vinyl flooring.

They figured out why the old tub cracked...the builder never leveled part of the concrete slab under the tub...so the concrete bumps were pressure points. Now that I know that, I'm amazed the tub lasted as long as it did. But now I feel better that the tub didn't crack because I'm too fat! (oh yes that thought was there in my mind!).

Norm and Clark from Exact Measure Construction are awesome guys...they don't just 'make do,' they do the job right, even though it is taking them longer than they expected, they want to do it right and not just slap dash.
They are working on my house as if I'm a member of their family. I really appreciate that! How often do we see that today? Then later, my friend Amy is going to help me paint or faux or whatever it is we want to do. She does gorgeous work. I am very excited!

~ Twins in Braces ~

I took the girls to an orthodontist for the consultation visit. Bottom line is that it will be close to about $5,000 for each. I am rounding the figures. (They gave us a discount for having more than one kid in braces). I'm expecting insurance to pay about $1,000 of each, but it's $650 for each child to start (the photos, the models of mouth, etc) and then would be $130 a month for each. That's $260 a month! YIKES! At least there isn't interest involved in that, but we'll probably have to put some of it on credit card - that is the bit I am truly dreading!

DD1 has the worst case mouth situation. So we will probably start her first, then DD2 a few months after. They both have crossbites, the upper teeth are inside the bottom teeth - and the upper palates are narrow. So they'll have a palatal expansion appliance as well as a special apparatus called a Herbst Appliance that will help grow more bottom jaw and move bottom jaw forward. The process should take 28 months.

I guess the main thing is to keep thinking about the end result for the girls.

A photo I took of Little Guy today. He is 5 months old now!

My friend Shelly Lorenzen is participating in the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk in Atlanta to benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the National Philanthropic Breast Cancer Fund. She is collecting donations now. It's really easy to donate online, here is the information:

Phone Number: (800) 996-3DAY
Web: www.The3Day.org
Then click on Donations, click on Atlanta on the left, and then please enter Shelly Lorenzen in the fields that ask for participant's name so Shelly's team will be able to reach their goal.

All donations are tax deductible. Thank you!

We bought a 1999 Honda Accord LX yesterday.

Saved at least $2,000 by buying from a private party and avoiding the dreaded car dealer and their mind games.

Used a great website called AutoTrader.com. I highly recommend that site, it really helped in our search.

Glad to have another vehicle...finally!