sick sick sick

if i don't answer your posts or emails, please forgive me.

for the past week/10 days i have felt like crap.

tired, sore throat, belly aches...

i tried to blame it on allergies.

and the fire.

but per the doctor in at the instacare, it is strep.

lovely.

i have posts that will just be popping up every day but i really feel too yucky to care about much else.

but please comment.

i do read.

i just don't feel like talking back.

(that is a first!)

xoxox

you oughta' be in pictures

i just found this at savers for $1!

it is a leather frame from pier 1 with the original price tag still on it! ($12.99)

TOTAL SCORE!

 what am i going to put in it? well this photo...

and im sending it to my aunt. i always send her photos of my kids, but i thought she could use an updated one of her favorite niece!

not yet, though. im in the middle of a project for her and her class. stay tuned!

id like to thank...

yesterday i won a gift certificate to cns stores! from tracy trinkets and treasures.

 im looking at getting me this...

then i won over at sumos sweet stuff 

and i got another gift certificate to christine and co and im getting this...

and id like to thank the firefighters and other who put themselves in harms way. you see, sometimes i can be dramatic, but...

this was my yesterday. (but not my home)

i didn't take either of these photos, but my neighbors did. alot of my neighborhood and city was evacuated. it was a long night watching the news, twitter and facebook for updates. we had our bags packed and ready but thankfully we didn't need it.

here is some info on what is now being called the machine gun fire.

so thank you sumo, tracy and the heros who came to herriman to save our homes!

time to switch my purse...(aka, more mid life crisis shopping)

some of you might remember when i was hitting my mid life crisis and bought this amazing bag! i still love it but with me needing to change to fall (not so much because of the weather as because i'm sick of summer), i put her away for awhile.

sad. she is so pretty.

but thankfully, i have my crazy aunt trish (who thought id be sad seeing both of my kids in school all day and sent me $50 kohls gift card!) who came to my rescue!

so i got this new bag...

i love giraffe prints! ($9.99 plus another 15% off!)

and (among other things) i got a pair of shoes.

well, sandals really. i got the ones on the left 2 1/2 years ago at kohls. they are my 'go to shoes' and even with a little heel, they are so comfy!

i got replacement 'go to shoes' on the right! same company (mootsies tootsies), same size, but a newer version.

im pretty happy with them for many reasons, but here is a big one...

that is right baby! $8.99 plus another 15% off!

and, yes all my shoes are in boxes (if they came in boxes)

the ones that aren't in boxes are only because they didn't come in boxes. i love my shoes boxes!

yes, i know im sick.

my halloween tree

i found this dead tree in an empty lot last fall. because as well all know, empty lots are free for anyone to dump on.

(i hate when people do that)

i might do things differently this year, but here is how it went down in 2009....

i spray painted the tree black, then filled an old bucket with styrofoam (we had a new tv, so it was perfect timing!) and then plaster of paris.

this was the problem...

one of many.

the tree was so brittle (it was DEAD! hello!) it broke easily.

then the bucket, even with much styrofoam, was freakin' heavy!

but...once chris got it inside, i made it look awesome!

(but still broke if you breathed near by)

some spiderwebs and black crows

(from the $1 store-not the group!)

it looked fantastic in the entry way until halloween night. then poor chris had to drag it outside...

you cant tell but i have orange halloween lights on the pillars. they look great at night.

my friend jen and i made this skeleton a few years ago. and one of the kids made the broom.

so there you have it-LAST years decorations.

 im hoping to figure out an easier way to make a spooky tree for this year.

oh. my. awesomeness!

sometimes i hit d.i. (stands for deseret industries). sometimes i hit savers.

sometimes i wish there were more options.

but these aren't too shabby!

this sweet find was $2.99 from williams sonoma

(they are usually $24.99!)

we always hold at least a superbowl party at our home ever year.

more depending who the utes are playing on an away game.

not all 3, just the brown one. i think i will leave it brown for now and put a pumpkin on it.

only 99 cents.

now if there were only MORE thrift store to visit....

just think of all the money i could save chris!

my (VERY) low tech kids homework organization.

please don't be disappointed in me.

here is how i organize my kids school work.

it isn't pretty.

but for the past 2 years, it has worked very well.

here is the door going from the mud room into the garage. it is a nice, heavy, ugly, boring, metal door.

perfect for magnets.

each kid has their own magnet with their first initial...

and whatever homework that cant be turned in until friday, whatever spelling test, whatever whatever that i need to keep and not return to school right away goes here.

the lunch menu gets its own magnet. the kids have to put their initial on the days that they want hot lunch at the beginning of the month. no initial, cold lunch that day.

and then for some reason. parker posted this on here and it has been there ever since.

yes, my kids are weird.

but at least they know where their homework is!