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You may have seen this.

But if you haven't:

Labels: Harry Potter

Easter in Alabama this year was fuhREEZING, so I didn't even try to get pics of the kids all spiffed up. Way too cold to stand still in one spot anyways.

So yesterday I finally was able to take some pics of the kidlets in our yard. Yay! Enjoy! :)

love these thoughts.

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." -Ralph Waldo Emerson (someone we have affection for anyways. ;) )


And I saw this on the Spark People website:

PARADOX 1: Perfectionism does not lead to perfection.
Excellence is a good thing. So is working as hard as possible to create, build, and perform to the best of your abilities. But what you may not realize is that trying to be perfect can actually hinder your chances of being excellent.

The pursuit of perfection comes with an ugly flip side: a fear of failure, or fear of making a mistake. This fear keeps a lot of people from trying something different or learning a new skill. They'd rather not try than go through the anguish of not doing it perfectly. The perfectionist likes to stick with things she knows that she can do.


Hmmm... good thoughts for me today. :)

I am cracking up at

1) the number of people that enjoyed my finger quiz

and

2) the number of people that took it.

oh blogthings quizzes, we salute you. how many mindless hours of entertainment you provide.

while i was taking the finger quiz, i also took the

Meganame Generator

Virginia Leanne Tillery's Aliases

Your movie star name: Chocolate Chip Cookies George Your fashion designer name is Virginia Goppingen Your socialite name is Titanic Butt Seattle Your fly girl / guy name is V Til Your detective name is Cat Homeschool Your barfly name is Mozzarella Sticks Bacardi Silver Your soap opera name is Leanne Pine Cliff Drive Your rock star name is M & Ms Leopard Your Star Wars name is Virfro Tilsha Your punk rock band name is The Chill Bottle Brush

They were wrong about my detective name, though. It's Wanda Grieg. (Which is a whole 'nother post for another time.)

And the "How Good With Money Are You" quiz

(I am "okay" with money, which my honey will laugh at.)

I also took the "What color should you paint your room" quiz, but I don't think we're going to go with a purple kitchen.

Anyways. I said this post was going to be something of more substance, so I guess I should close my blogthings tab now. Hee!

I've been on a major scrapping kick. Last night I did four layouts and a mini album for Crop Addict's May kit! Soooo fun! And I think I'm going to do at least one more; I have a great idea for one using some of the leftovers of the kit. :)

Tonight I am gonna kick out some more layouts for my girl at Scrap Etc. (I sound like a major hip person right now, but I promise you, I am not. I think I must have been reading too many celeb gossip blogs today.) I have a bunch of new goodies I want to try out- the new Queen & Co. felt floral borders, some gorgeous die cut Creative Imaginations papers & stickers (which, I might add, when I was taking out of my bag, Shaun said, "Those are really cool!"). ::grin:: And of course... yummy smelling Hambly.

I was shaking my head at myself the other night, because I headed into SE2 up at the Pinnacle in Trussville, and as soon as I walked in I said to Nubia, "I smell Hambly!" LOL That's pathetic, honestly now, it is. Mmm tho... smells so good.

Ok, in other inconsequential news, I found three new blogs that I am loving right now.

The first is my sweet friend Stephie who just started her blog. Check her out!

The second is thepioneerwoman.com.
This lady is awesome. She is a city girl who married a cowboy, and lives on a ranch with their four kiddos and a bazillion horses and cows. She takes beautiful pics, has SUCH YUMMY recipes on her blog, and is super funny. She's even been nominated for several Bloggies awards. :)

And my third blog pick is Auntie Em's Creations.
I mentioned a friend of mine trying to adopt, and her sister creating blankets to help in the financial process. Well, they've created this little website to order them and see them, so just keep them in mind if you have any baby gifts to purchase!

Here are some little tiny composition notebooks I've been on a kick making. I'll make some more soon and post 'em here when I do.



Ok, so I lied about this being a post of more substance, but meh. I just want to ramble tonight.

And now I just want to eat my chicken quesadilla that Shaun made me, so later dudes!

You Are a Ring Finger

You are romantic, expressive, and hopeful. You see the best in everything. You are very artistic, and you see the world as your canvas. You are also drawn to the written word. Inventive and unique, you are often away in your own inner world. You get along well with: The Pinky Stay away from: The Index Finger

As any mom of young children knows, laundry is a BIG deal.

A really big deal.

I typically do 1-2 loads of laundry a day (or rather, I typically should do 1-2 loads of laundry a day). Clothes & bedding get all manners of goop on them.

Usually, after dinner time, I strip the kids down at the table, along with the loudly worded caution of "Don't touch me don't touch me! UGH!" (due to cheetos/yogurt/pudding/applesauce or whatever else is spread all over their face & hands). Then the clothes get flung into the washer, from my fingers pinching whatever dry corner I can grasp. The children are promptly scoured in the tub.

Today, there was a miracle in Leeds.

Emerson's clothes can be worn for another day. They are spotless. Not a crumb, spot, smudge, or glop on them.

And to top matters off,

she
was
wearing
WHITE WHITE WHITE
bermuda
shorts.

:)







*****************

other newsy news:

karen challenged me to use these stamps, because i am not much of a stamper, although i'd like to be... so here's my useage. the journaling is about last summer & em's reaction to the "fun" of a swimming pool.




****************

and some cute pics. just 'cause i gotta share.

Last Sunday afternoon I put together my "Finish Line" album from Stacy Julian's class at the Scrap Etc. Event.

The point of this project was to sit down and complete the whole album within a couple of hours.. keep it simple, and get it done without getting hung up on perfectionism.

I really liked the concept, and I loved the Scenic Route Laurel papers that were given to use in it... so here's the little album I created. I added my own cover using some scrap chipboard and one of the new 6x6 Hambly overlays. I created this for friend of mine whose mom is going through some hard stuff right now- I thought it might be a "pick-me-up" to make a little album with places for pics of her mom and her family in it . :)



I loved the template for this album... just slap some papers down in a design appealing to you- without overthinking it... then go back and add your embellishments. (I cheated a little because you were only supposed to use 50 black embellies or something like that, but I just grabbed what I thought would look good on it and piled it on my desk.) I did this whole album probably in about 3 hours total. I will definitely be using this technique again!

2 years ago I was wishing I'd never signed up for the whole "labor & delivery" thing.

1 year, 11 months ago, I was drowning in exhaustion, new mom insecurities, and lots and lots of pink clothes.

1 year, 10 months ago, I was delighting in sweet baby smiles.

1 year, 6 months ago I was discovering what it was to be pregnant, and have a crawling baby.

1 year, 3 months ago I watched her bang around on her new piano at Christmas.

1 year, 2 months ago she started walking.

1 year ago, I watched my baby girl eat her first birthday cake.

11 months ago I cried when she left to stay the night at my Grams'.

I saw her two days later, when she met her brother for the first time.

10 months ago I watched her kiss her baby brother a bazillion times a day.

5 months ago she trick or treated in her pink fairy costume.

3 months ago she decided to start picking out her own clothes to wear every day.

Today, she turned two. And we really, honestly, truly, can't imagine our life without this

spunky, sassy, adorable
Emerson.

but not of myself, this time. ;)

I have some very good friends that are in pursuit of adopting a baby from El Salvador. They are in the ministry in Texas- these are friends of ours that we knew when Shaun was in seminary. They honor God in their actions and words; I really admire them. Here they are in this layout:


Anyways, they are trying to raise some money to help support their adoption process, and are selling these adorable handmade blankets for $15 (that includes shipping). You can email Rachel at rachelsetliffe@aol.com, or visit her blog at http://setliffefamily.blogspot.com/to make arrangements to order your blanket. Seriously, how cute are these? And that's a really great price for a handmade, unique baby gift.