All Thanks to E-Mail

I just want to thank all of you for your educational e-mails over the past year. I am totally screwed up now and have little chance of recovery.

I no longer open a public bathroom door without using a paper towel.

I no longer have lemon slices in my ice water at a restaurant without worrying about the bacteria on the lemon peel.

I can't use the remote in a hotel room because I don't know what the last person was doing while flipping through the adult movie channels.

I can't sit down on the hotel bedspread because I can only imagine what has happened on it since it was last washed.

I have trouble shaking hands with someone who has been driving because the number one pastime while driving alone is picking one's nose (although cell phone usage may be overtaking the number one spot).

Eating a little snack sends me on a guilt trip because I can only imagine how many gallons of trans fats I have consumed over the years.

I can't touch any woman's purse for fear she has placed it on a public bathroom floor.

SPECIAL THANKS to whoever sent me the one about poop in the glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet sponge with every envelope that needs sealing.

ALSO, I have to scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason.

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl Penny Brown who is about to die in the hospital for the 1,387,258th time.

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their e-mail program.

I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me..

I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I forward an e-mail to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains.

I no longer can buy gasoline without taking someone along to watch the car so a serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas.

I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put 'Under God' on their cans.

I no longer use Saran Wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.

THANKS FOR LETTING ME KNOW I can't boil a cup of water in the microwave anymore because it will blow up in my face... disfiguring me for life.

I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS.

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.

I no longer receive packages from UPS or Fed Ex since they are actually Al Qaeda in disguise.

I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our American troops or the Salvation Army.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda , Singapore , and Uzbekistan .

I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.

THANKS TO YOU I can't use anyone's toilet but mine because a big brown African spider is lurking under the seat to cause me instant death when it bites my butt.

AND THANKS TO YOUR GREAT ADVICE I can't ever pick up $5.00 dropped in the parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting underneath my car to grab my leg.

I can no longer drive my car because I can't buy gas from certain gas companies!

I can't do any gardening because I'm afraid I'll get bitten by the brown recluse spider and my hand will fall off.

If you don't send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 70 minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon and the fleas from 12 camels will infest your backside, causing you to growa hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's second husband's cousin's beautician ....

Oh, by the way....A scientist from Argentina, after a lengthy study, has discovered that people with insufficient brain activity read their e-mail with their hand on the mouse.Don't bother taking it off now, it's too late.

Trying to Become One with My Sewing Machine

For some of you I'm sure this is pathetic. But, for me, it's a step in the "trying not to be afraid of the sewing machine" direction. I made this potholder for my sister - it was under the gun - before the party at her house last week. It started out a bit bigger, but I had a little issue with layers not being in the right order (ie: batting on the outside when I turned it inside out!). I had to trim off the first batch of stitching and start over.





The ribbon loop is a touch on the big side, but it matched the fabric. I do love these bright fabrics!!

On a different note, if you are in need of Halloween tags or any other paper goods, head on over to my Etsy Shop HERE. :)

Okay, that's all I had to share for now.

Happy Saturday!!!!!

:) Linda

Something to Think About

Quote courtesy of: Perfect Sentiment

I ran across this and thought I would share. Something to remember when I'm having a bad mom moment. :)

Happy Fall!

Hard to believe it's already here. Yesterday - when fall began - the weather was beautiful! I think we hit 93 degrees. I love fall, but am not sure I'm ready for summer to be over. Malia has mentioned several times that we didn't swim enough in Grandma's pool. Now I have that "mother's guilt" and I keep thinking we should swim one more time. I do love the cooler mornings and nights - and that we can start sneaking the kids to bed earlier & earlier.



We are starting to settle in to our new routine, but still not quite 100% adapted to it. Switching back to mornings is hard to get used to - hard for all 4 of us to be bright, shiny, clean & well fed by 8am. I'm not a big fan of throwing kids (or me) in the car without face washed, hair combed - or with breakfast in the car. But.....Ella has had a couple of rides to the Kindergarten drop off line freshly plucked from the crib.

Not too much has been happening here other than the day to day stuff. We had back to school night last week, and a fun family get together at my sister's house. It was one big celebration for birthdays, nephews off to college, one niece with a baby girl on the way, another niece's engagement, and a nephew's new career with the Vancouver Fire Dept. (did I forget anything?)LOTS to celebrate!

Here are a few pictures from the party, and a few backyard pictures of the kids before the summer is gone.

Picking pears:

Have a great day!

~Linda

Will the Real Rachel Zoe Please Stand Up?

Have you ever watched "The Rachel Zoe Project"? I think it's on Bravo............anyway, while Malia and I were shopping for school shoes she wanted to try on EVERYTHING! Not just the "school shoes" we were looking for, but all these crazy wedge-high-ish heel shoes that we were NOT buying. (and these were little girl shoes). As she tried on one pair in particular, she said in her 5, almost 6 year old voice "oh, these are SO RIDICULOUS" - but I swear she sounded like Rachel Zoe! I laughed to myself - and NO, she has never watched the show.

If she would have said "These are so bananas!" I would have keeled over. That's a Rachel-ism 110%.

Shopping Tote Makeover

I decided to try to jazz up a new "earth friendly" shopping tote that I picked up for 99 cents this week. My intention was to use it as Malia's soccer bag for toting the ball, water bottle, camera, snacks, etc. We were using one from IKEA, but it was super tall, my arm could barely reach the bottom, and it is made out of tarp-like plastic that is really noisy and crinkly. I felt like everyone could hear me each time I got something out of the bag!

So.......here is the before:

And here is the after:

I had an audience (Alex & Malia) while i was sewing - had a couple of little mishaps, but overall it came out pretty good and was easy (except for when I accidentally sewed the bottom into the side - then tore a little hole in the bag trying to get the super-tight-stitches out).

Here she is with her new bag. She picked out the fabric from some different ones I picked up. I actually bought 2 different ones with her in mind, but she chose this one. I was shocked - there is NO PINK!

Anyway, hope you all have a great weekend!

~Linda

Ready for a Giveaway??

So, I'm not hosting the giveaway, but you can easily try to win this set of 16 fabrics:



































just by leaving a commnet about your favorite color combinations on Donna Downey's Blog here:

or click here:


http://donnadowney.typepad.com/simply_me/2009/09/color-inspires-me.html#comment-6a00d83451929069e20120a560efe0970b





All fabrics are courtesy of:































So, give it a try!


:) Linda

09-09-09 - A Big Day Here!

Happy 09-09-09 day everyone!
Today Rourke & I have been married for 9 years!!! Kind of kooky with all those nines floating around today. I'm not sure if 9s are lucky, like 7s - but seems like it should be. :)


Here we are 9 years ago:





















But today I feel about 100 years old - I'm exhausted! Malia and Alex BOTH had their first day of school today. Malia started Kindergarten and Alex started Preschool. We switched back to mornings after going to afternoons last year. It's nice to be back, but we need to fine tune our morning routine! Here are a few first day pictures:


























On top of all the school excitement, Malia started her micro-soccer league games last night. As we were walking to the field she turned to me and said: "Mom, I'm so excited. I just know I'm going to love it!". It was so sweet. Such an exciting world for her right now.













Well, I'm so pooped, but I have a million things to catch up on. We don't have any big anniversary plans for tonight. I am barely able to pull myself together to make dinner - I've decided those jumbo stuffed pasta shells sound good. We are forgoing gifts this year - instead I ordered a new flatscreen tv - only out of dire need. Our 10 year old, 10,000 pound tv is dying a little each day. We have about 1/3 of a screen left. It's pretty much a "listen only" situation now. Crossing my fingers for a quick delivery from COSTCO. Stores were sold out. :(



Okay, I'm out of here. I am working on 1 cup of coffee today. I need to go catch up.



Happy 09-09-09 to you!

Another Day, Another Park

School is just around the corner, and I am just about on park overload. Thursday we went to a new park (for us) that has been nick-named "the Pirate Park". I have tried to find it before, but it's hidden in between neighborhoods, down a trail, next to blackberry bushes, etc. Once we found it - the kids LOVED it! We met up with 2 old college friends and their kids - so 7 kids in all.

Alex cried the next day because he wanted to go back. He had a great time in this sand pit. He could have played the entire day. Ella loved the swings, eating cheese and Malia just loved playing with Mia. Her BFF. ;)

I love this picture of the silly girls!

Yesterday we made the trip to the Oregon State Fair (the first time I had ever been in my life!!), and was so disappointed that somehow the camera got left at home. So.....no State Fair pictures. Snif snif. I am still a little bummed. Oh well.

Have a great weekend!!
:) Linda

Our Day in Pictures

Well, not the whole day, but a little snippet of it anyway! :)

Thanks to my Sister for having us over for lunch and a trip to the neighborhood park & pool. We had lots of fun! On the way home we scored 2 **free** bookcases from a preschool that was getting new ones. Then we went to Alex's preschool open house. He had fun meeting his new teachers, seeing old ones, and making a bracelet for Dad! :) No, not for Mom........DAD!

Still hoping we will find out about Kindergarten for Malia - we are less than 1 week away. Eeeks! Some info. would be handy.

Anyway, back to a few pictures from today.

Have a great night and enjoy the rest of Summer break...for those of you that still have some left!

~Linda

Let the Games Begin!

Happy September!

Can it really be here already? I am a little sad to see the Summer come to an end - feeling like we were crazy busy for awhile, while at the same time feeling like we didn't do enough "fun" things. You all know we've been to the zoo a few times (ha ha), but I feel like we need to go to a river for the day or something totally different for us. Hmmm. Maybe I need to plan something FAST! Thinking the Oregon State Fair would be fun this weekend. I have NEVER been to it. Is the weather going to cooperate?? Who knows.

Back to the subject of this post! How easily I get distracted. Geesh. Malia had her "jamboree" for soccer last week. She keeps calling it "Gymboree"........;) - She met her team and couldn't be more thrilled that they are called the "Spongebobs". Great. I'm hoping I can stay enthusiastic for 2 months of evening soccer games with 2 more little ones on the sidelines. I don't **really** enjoy being out in cold weather. I need to buck up and face the fact that this is the first of 18 or so years of practices that I will probably be going to. Okay, that is sounding grouchy. I think I need my afternoon cup of coffee.

Here are a few pictures from the jamboree practice. Hoping this shirt will shrink A TON.

Here's Ella enjoying the field...and the contents of my purse!

Off to locate my coffee cup.......................

Linda