101

just kidding.

Okay, fridge is still broke but we are getting into the grove of going to the cooler and not automatically opening the fridge. Hopefully the part will show today so I can call the service and schedule.

My work schedule has been cut back. This week I work on Wed. and Sat. on Friday is the Scrap social at Joanns. otherwise I'm free.

My calendar should be getting full soon as I prepare to go to...........

Yes, that's right. One of the team members had to drop out of the mission and they asked me to take her place.

breathe in.

breathe out.

I am leaving this in Gods hands.

If God wants me to go I will raise the money.

This was soooo unexpected and now I feel I have to rush to catch up.

Oh My Goodness. I might be going to PARIS!!!

breathe in.

Breathe out.

What's amazing is that this has been on my heart since last October. A month or so later I found out that a mission team is going to Paris. It stayed in my mind and I would dream, but I didn't express a need/want to go to anyone. Rob and I decided that we would take a year off. Now this has come up and I feel that I am being led here for a reason.

breathe in.

Breathe out.

Mom and I are no longer going to PHX in April cause of course all that money is to be my spending money.

I wonder if this is why I have finally felt ready to scrap my poland trip this last week??

So Miss Julie congrats on the house!! I want pictures and an address!

I'll scrap whenever I can. Just hand over a date.

(I still can't hear out of my left ear) uuuummmmm... any other news..........I can't think of anything so I'll catch you all later.

Yay God!! Love Carrie

P.s. the trip is june 1-11th AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH

Breathe in

Breathe out.

100!!!

My 100th post. whoo hooo

Who cares right. lets get down to business.

My left ear is completely plugged and i can't hear a damn thing out of it. I've tried flushing it out with water and no help. It's driving me nuts.

Rob and I are suppose to go on a date tonight. we are to go to metro resaurant and then see wild hogs with travolta. I'm just waiting on confirmation from the sitter.

Okay big news. Our fridge went out. To the point where all the food is in coolers. The sears guy was supposed to be out yesterday and his truck broke down so was rescheduled for today. got it hard started and it should be okay until the compressor comes in. So now i'm waiting for it to cool enough to put the milk back in. Just my luck I buy six gallons of milk and the fridge goes. But thankfully our warranty doesn't expire until oct of this year and they will cover the cost of any lost food.

Called and left another message for Kim on Wednesday and still have not gotten a call back. This has now been 3 weeks. I'm done.

Put up and new mailbox since ours got bashed in a couple months ago. It's bigger and white and I like it. Now my stuff won't get ripped up when he puts it in. I didn't realize how inexpensive mail boxes are. A basic one is less than $10.

Oh yeah, I'm going to try and enroll Kelly into school for this coming fall. I need to call TAG elementary. I also need to get copies of her birth certificate. I'm excited and nervous. After talking to my friend Michelle we both agree that Kelly is ready and her son who is a month younger will be starting school this coming year too.

What's a post without a picture?

Have a great weekend!

Here's to 100 more posts.

Carrie

Guess what we did?/

Can you guess? huh? huh?

The kids spent the night at Grandmom's and this morning I got a calling inviting me to go somewhere with them. I said yes because I wanted to practice a couple of photo tips I had read about. I had a good time. It would have been nice to spend more time but the kids were getting grouchy. Have you figured it out yet?? Good if you haven't. Once Wyatt settled down it was easier for me to get the shots, but we will have the chance later this month when Wyatt and I get to go back with the mommy group and Kelly will be in class.

Not much really going on here. I did 3 pages for Joanns to display for the scrap class. I really liked the way they turned out. (I just realized I am repeating myself)

Kim is still not answering my calls or returning the messages I have left. I don't know if I have done anything for her to be ignoring me, so for right now I will leave her alone. She can call me if she chooses. I'm not into rehashing how odd our friendship sometimes is. I will leave it to say that I went from talking almost everyday to her not answering or calling me back. Done...

Work is fine. The DM isn't as bad as I was told she was. I don't mind working with her.

Are you still wondering what we did today?? Turn your head at the second one. Yep we went to the zoo and we even got to feed the giraffe. That was so fun. Both Kelly and Wyatt fed the giraffe and wyatt enjoyed it more than Kelly. The monkeys were howling and swinging, the polar bear was very playful and the tiger was prowling. Heck even the Lion and otters were cool to shoot. I really liked how some of my shots came out. I want to try again because with the Tiger I was rushed in the shots so I have bars in the way. The color is great though. These are going to make a cool scrap page.

So enjoy.

Happy Tuesday. I gotta go cook because tonight is home group and tacos.

C.

98 posts

I'm closing in on 100!!

Wow.. Seriously thats cool.

Been working very hard on scrapbook layouts for this coming Saturday. This saturday is class preview day at joanns. I won't be able to do it because I will be at Tres Amigos but I needed to have a few layouts for display. They totally rock. I just love the pictures I have of each kid. I had them sent to walmart and had some 5x7 and wallets done besides the 4x6's. I need to work on getting some shots of them together. I really love how the layouts turned out. If you want to see them you'll either have to go to J's or maybe I can get a good picture to post.

I think I have done about six layouts this week. That's awesome for me. Plus I made pj pants for Kelly and myself. I have been very busy this week. This might explain why I have had to start taking my back medicine again. I haven't worked except on Monday and all the pain and pinching started on Tues. night/wed morning. Not good with the District Manager now running the store.

Whats a post without a picture. Happy weekend. love carrie

Wednesday aka hump day

You could actually look at that 2 ways. really.

I have spent this morning washing off Wyatts graffiti around the house. I did not know that boy had tagged some many walls in this house. Thank goodness for the magic eraser. I have used 1 complete eraser and still have more to do.

This week I made Kelly a pair of pj pants (tue) and I have gotten done two layouts (mon) I have discovered that I need to take some layouts out of the main binder and put them in their baby books. This accomplishment feels good. I just realized that I need to take a picture of Kellys pants. It's the first thing I have made and that she can really wear.

Also today I saved all of last years photos to disc to protect and save for the future. That is one thing i can cross off the worry list. So miss Kelly went to the Renaissance festival with my mom last saturday. she had a great time. Mom and Marie bought Kelly a circlet of flowers and these jeweled encrusted wings. I'm glad she had a good time. Mom didn't like the fact that there were so many people that they wouldn't move so she could take a picture. One lady flatly said no. You can see in the picture that mom didn't get the shot she wanted because this lady refused to move. I think with some photo shop I can clone out her head and make it look like part of the tree.

Okay need to go and have lunch with Rob and his mom just came over too. soo have a good Hump day. maybe rob will get lucky tonight. heheheh

hugs Carrie

Hanging by a thread.

Okay so I totally got ditched tonight by a certain friend who said, "I'll call you this evening". I see how you are leave me hanging. uh huh.
Course that's the way my friends treat me. Even Kim's "I'll call you right back", ends up being the next day or five hours later. Which by the way we have not had the gabfest because she didn't answer her phone and still hasn't answered her phone.
But life goes on and I still have my Grey's Anatomy. I didn't cry. I mean come on they are NOT going to kill off their main star, but I'm sure it got a big ratings boost. It was a good episode though.
Cleaned up Kelly's room and moved it around. Now she has more space to make a bigger mess. Actually let me clarify; it's not so much Kelly as it is Wyatt the Destructor. If only I could get that boy to pick up his messes. AAAkkkk. His room is still on the verge of chaos since we changed beds and moved it around. (side note) I should take pictures because I have some scrapbook stickers that would fit perfectly. Now I won't have till wait till they are older to use them.
Shoot I changed font colors and now I have screwed up the color on the blog. Sorry if you have any trouble reading this.
So on Saturday, rain or shine my hubby and brother are headed up to PHX to the checker,schucks, kragen nationals to see top fuel dragsters and funny cars. Now I could make a red neck joke but unless you have been there you cannot make a joke about watching a car go from zero to 300 in less than 6 seconds and feel the ground vibrate from the thrust of the engine. It is addicting and ear popping but sooo awesome to see these guys and gals thunder down the straightaway. Forget the beer and chicks in short tops, just think about all the power and and ....... it's just so cool to watch the big guys you only get to see on tv live and in person. Granted the crowds suck and I always got sunburned the 2 times we went but just the cars are cool.
SOOOO, the kiddos and I are hanging together on Saturday and as of right now we have no plans. hhuuummm, I'll have to get us out of the house. I'll think about this.
Have a good friday.
Carrie P.S. Aunt "flo" came to visit and that explains ALOT!!

Busy weekend.

Wyatt got moved into his own twin bed. thankfully he is sleeping in his own room instead of joining us most nights. We hope it continues this way.

typical stuff though with work and church. Had a pretty good family day on Monday with Rob home. Got lots accomplished.

Kim came home monday night and so far seems to be doing good. I plan on having a good ol gab session tomorrow.

I really don't know what to talk about tonight.

I had a minor meltdown before homegroup tonight. I went to pay a bill and was surprised on how much of our tax return is gone. Yes we did things on our list but I guess in part of my mind I still expect to see almost all of it still there. I mean we are okay, but the funds are dwindling down as we do the things we planned to do.

So after i saw that I had to run to the grocery store to get butter and fill the truck up with gas. That just compounded my freakout. more money gone. When I came home Rob asked me if I was all right and I just lost it. It was a good cry and I needed it. It's okay, I just had alot stored up and it hit the surface. To put it into some perspective; I started to tear up when the springer spaniel James won wesminster dog show last week. (no I'm not pregnant, maybe PMS)

So tomorrow people are coming into work to shoot a commercial. THANK GOD! I won't be in until the evening. It looks to be soooo stressful.

Our homegroup is going to start a new course for childrearing next week. Rob and I so need this. We actually started something to try out. I have a frame that we put the house rules and disciplinary action in. Once I get done I should take a picture for posterity. Rules: 1. no yelling, 2. no dirty or mean faces, 3. no back talk, 4. no throwing toys. Discipline 1. Warning 2. time out- nose to the wall (k-5 min. w-3min) 3. spanking. we are firm in our belief that as long as we follow these rules our kids will start to behave better. The course that we are starting in called, Making children mind without losing your by Dr. Kevin Leman.

I guess I had something to talk about afterall huh?

Friday news WARNING epic post

Sorry I've been MIA. I have been kinda depressed and otherwise in a planning stage. I haven't been worked since Monday and though it's been nice and I wish it would continue we need to have money to pay bills. Which sparked the whole baby debate.
This week we got Wyatt a twin bed. yes he is 2 1/2 but since we got the bed he has stayed in his all night. way cool. But i had to put the toddler bed into storage. I didn't feel the need to cry. You would think I would be emotional, my baby growing up and passing into another stage. but I didn't. I didn't feel that would be the last time I would use the toddler bed. Are you getting my meaning. (I know I'm somewhat rambling).
Rob says that if I want another child that is alright with him. So the projected start date for "operation baby 3" is on our 10th anniversary in April.
So this is the depressed and planning stage, but also planning on how to spend tax return money. We hope to do some renovations on our bathroom and replace windows and now we need a new water heater. More planning. I can't find shoes that are cute and fit my big feet, depressed.
A happy thing is Kim just called and gave me the report on her CT scan. All the cancer is either shrunk or gone and though she still has 2 more treatments to go through her cervical tumor is almost completely gone. Now after the next 2 chemo treatments they (dr) want to do a bone marrow scan to see if there are any cancer cells in her body and then she may be in remission!! If she goes into remission she said they usually only do a check once a year. I asked if they could do it every three months. she laughed. I'm serious. I want to stay on top of this.
They are still talking about a GI scope but Kim is afraid because of the gastric that they might hurt her. so right now she is refusing unless it is an emergency.
Actually back to the planning stage. Mom and I are going to PHX in April. So I have been typing out all the products that we are looking for. Lots of paper and clear stamps. we are going with goals in mind and shopping like its hot!
Have a great weekend. I'm gonna go tax refund shopping!! hugs carrie

Just stopping by to say Hi and that I'm going to visit Kim this morning. My MIL has the kids so once I'm finished prepping things for homegroup dinner tonight I'll take a fast shower and go up to see her.

How is that for a run on sentence??
I'll update before the day is done.
Love cArrIe

Hello? is this thing on?

I know I have been alittle off on the posting but no comments on Mikes pictures? not even from Mom??

Not much going on.

*Got our taxes done and sent in. Now we are price shopping to get the bathroom redone. We have a list of things to fix in the house. We shall see what we can accomplish. We hope we both can have alittle spending money on account that Rob wants golf clubs and I'm wanna go scap shopping in Phx in april for CKC with my momma. Selfish I know but pray that it all works out.

The cold is now fading but the new cough is coming on. what a pain in the ass.

*Rob went in to see Kim on Tuesday and she is doing okay. She had to get a transfusion because her count got low and they (doctors) are talking about putting her on dialysis because her kidneys started to shut down. I really don't understand what all this means but I do know it's serious.

*On to brighter news. It's so nice here right now(70's) that I have the door open. I might even get out the flip flops.

*Did anyone see that those plastic shoes Croc's are coming out with flip flops? they are cute. I might have to buy a pair. The original Croc's are so ugly I refused to let anyone in the house own a pair and Rob's mom went and bought both the kids a pair. sigh. at least they will be at her house.

*I have been editing all my photos for the past year and have deleted a bunch but the cost is still around $200 for 1000 photos.

My goal today is to do the kids laundry and scrapbook. My friend Michelle is coming over to work on a project so I'm hoping to get a few pages done.

SO IF YOU STOP BY LEAVE A COMMENT!!!

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU (yes I am shouting!!)

hugs and kisses Carrie

ode to Kim part 2

So Mikey took the plunge and had Rob shave his head down. Now he didn't go as short as Rob but its shorter than he's had it in a long time. Just for the record he does look handsome with the longer hair.

I have quite a few pictures of Mikey getting shaved so no you are not going to see the reverse mohawk or the lopsided mohawk pictures. I'm trying to spare him his dignity.

So while the menfolk were shearing I was trying to get some cool shots of Mr. Wyatt in his uber cool t-shirt.

Dang that boy can move fast. Out of 5+ shots this is the only one in focus. He looks so innocent in this picture but we all know what a hellion he can be.

Haven't been in to see Kim since Tuesday because........I caught a COLD!!!!

Of course she won't answer her phone. dammit. So she doesn't know why I haven't been up there. I even tried calling her Dad but his number was on the fritz.

So I'm blowing green snot and feeling guilty because I can't see my friend and she is probably mad at me because I haven't been up to see her. what a pickle.

It will resolve.

Happy Superbowl!!

GO COLTS!!!

Got in a couple of new scrappin things and I got in a couple of new mags so I'm feeling inspired. Maybe I'll get a couple of pages done.

Have started making a list of ALL the things I want to buy when Mom and I go to Mesa in April. If I can wait that long. new stuff starts arriving mid February. And I have seen some cool new products coming out.

Okay I'm gonna go chill and get ready for the game. Have a Happy Sunday!

Oh, by the way,

screw my brothers dignity. Ya gotta see this. I love you Mikey. And Thank you. Sis

Happy Hump Day!

Kim was admitted last night for round two of chemo. She should be there for about two weeks.

Her hair is a massive dredlock and is super thin in front from her pulling on it.We were supposed to get our cuts together but she hasn't felt well all weekend. She loves my hair though. She still wasn't feeling well Monday night and seemed depressed. I hate seeing her when she is down.

Rob and I went up to see Kim. She is in room 115 and they started her chemo today. She is having a great day. It was the old Kim again. We brought up Robs clippers and right after we walk in she hands me a pair of scissors. I told her we brought the electric shaver. rob did the honors and she now has hair about 1/4in. Boy does she look like her mom. She did a great job handling the cut. no tears. We all agreed it was because she knew it needed to come off and that it was just us in the room and not at a salon with people staring. She loved it when i rubbed her head and said she felt so free. It looked pretty cool. We are looking to get some of that colored gel to spike up whats left and maybe tomorrow I will go looking for a cap to wear when she gets cold. She is starting to go thru menopause and was having hot flashes. Kim will be 33 in March. Her mother went through menopause at 29.

**Can you believe a week ago we had snow? Today was great with the rain.

I went through the kids' rooms and got rid of two lawn bags of toys. It felt great to get rid of stuff and to have room to roam around. Washed all the bedding and did a great job vacuuming all the nooks and crannies. I think in a couple of months I will do round two of the great spring clean out.

I'm gonna sign off for now. I'm really tired and I'm making stupid typing errors. You'll see one night I'm gonna just keep typing and you will see all my typos.

Lotta love Carrie

ode to Kim

Well we did it. we cut off our hair.

Now I wasn't willing to go as drastic as Rob but i did take it very short. We like it. Actually Rob had been itching to cut his hair off. this is just clippers no blade. I don't want him to really shave it but this is close. Rob and the kids came with me to get mine done. At first they were surprised. then all Rob would say is I like it, I like it. so who knows, maybe it will stay this way for awhile.

I was suppose to do this with Kim but she hasn't returned my calls all weekend. I hope all is fine. And I want to be there for her when she gets hers cut.

Kim is suppose to start round 2 of chemo this week. hopefully she will have a slightly better go of it and can come home sooner than last time.

Otherwise not much new is going on. I made a pair of pajama pants from start to finish yesterday before work and wore them to bed last night. oh so comfy. amd cute. I plan to make another this week.

really cool... the girls at Tres Amigos want me to teach them how to scrapbook!! So next sunday night i will teach them here at my house. I'm so looking forward to it. One of the girls, Jade, bought me the necklace that you see in the photo. She has one just like it and i adored it on her so she went next door and got me one. How cool is that??

It has been a gorgeous weekend here in Tucson, hope you are freezing your butt off where you are. HAHAHHa.

Oh guess what. I was looking at our fish tank thinking, "boy we need to clean it bad", when i found 9 baby fish swimming around. now we can't clean it till they get a bit bigger. The fish are mostly black and with all the muck they were hard to see. I might try to take a picture later.

Happy sunday. Carrie

Good News

Kim has come home!! She came home yesterday afternoon and is so grateful to be in her own space again. the downside is that she will need to go back, I believe, on Monday to start round two of chemo. I'm very excited for her and probably when i get done bloggin i'll give her a call and see how her night went.

Just dropped Kelly off to school. She didn't do her homework, which was practicing her "K's". one of the words she was suppose to write on the worksheet was her name. I thought that was cool. Ask my mom, she refuses to write her letters. "I don't wanna", and "I'm tired", are her favorite excuses. It's so frustrating. I do know that if i force her it makes things worse so I'll just let her struggle. We give her tons of encouragement but she doesn't care.

Working on my Wyatt photo library. Caught him in the laundry basket looking at a book. this tends tobe a favorite place for him to sit. He'll even sit on tons of toys in a basket. this kid is strange but so cute a cuddly.

Hugs. carrie

oh beautiful Tucson

oh how amazing. it is so beautiful this morning. and it was so quiet. I even heard the base play their morning bugle.

I got kinda nervous driving in it but it was so cool to see. Boy I have missed this.

Why couldn't we have a White Christmas?? That is my dream every year. Kelly kept asking if santa was coming again. uh no.

The kids sure liked it more this morning than they did last night. I let them run the yard while i warmed up the van.

this is just so cool. no one can remember how long its been since we've had snow that stuck and lasted overnight. It was cool that after we dropped Kelly off we drove around and took some more shots of Tucson and the mountains.

Forecast says we still could get some more but right now the sun is shining and the snow is falling off the streetlights and trees.

Have a great day. this is almost as good as getting rain!! :)

Love Carrie

its SNOWING!!!!

Yes, it's snowing in Tucson!! And it has been for a few hours, but the snow wasn't sticking so we didn't go out to take photos till we saw it staying on the ground.
This was Wyatts first time in snow and he wasn't really happy about it. he kept whining so we were only outside for about 5 minutes.
Kelly on the other hand was all over it. She would have stayed out there if i had let her.
But instead we snapped off these fast shots and headed back inside to take a nice hot bath.
So now the kids are clean and warm in their jammies playing nicely.






Rob put the red and blue tables out in the yard so that we could see how fluffy the snowflakes are and how thick it was coming down.
I still can't believe it is snowing in Tucson. it hasn't snowed since 1999? and it was in April.
So please enjoy your Sunday evening:)
love carrie
*** its about an hour later and there is like two inches on the truck and van!! All the pictures are kinda orange because of the street lights but i'm gonna take some more pics tomorrow. (if it's still here)

danger will robinson, DANGER!!!! Wyatt has learned to open the refridgerator. God help us all.
i'll keep you posted on what he gets into.
;) carrie

lots to say

where to start....... I will start with last night. I taught the scrapbook basics at Joanns and i had 5 students!! I have never had that many. It went okay, i wish they would have been a bit more lively. one girl looked bored or mad but she said she was seeing new products that interest her. We did have a creative memories "fan" who was not part of the group that kept interupting. otherwise the lady that looked bored did some shopping and she was the only one to get a page done. they all seemed to enjoy themselves and some tools and products were demystified. Tonight is the social from 6-9

After the class i got the low down on whats up with the store. seems ms. lupe kept some of the girls or had a team that stayed until 3:30am to get the store ready for a visit. of course the visit went great. the associate i talked to said she left at midnight (still in high school) and her mom was pissed and called lupe and chewed her out. one of the new girls they hired to replace me is so hated by all the associates i'm suprised they haven't strung her up. I'm told she is even rude to customers. I guess after her second week she was bossy people around, refuses to do carts or bathrooms and usually will not help recover the store because she can't get guest services closed. how pathetic. I got comments from 4 team member about how "less tired" and happy i look. I just gave them a shit eating grin cause i love it.

**went up to see Kim after joanns last night. she has begun losing her hair. at first she wanted me to help her wash her hair because she wants me to take pictures but she was too cold when i got there and is afraid of getting sick. so we decided to hold off til today. her spirits are on the rise and she is hoping to come home for a short time. the reason they haven't let her out is because her potassium and magnesium are very low. they have her on Zofran for the pain but its still the one they put in her port. she going nuts because they won't let her take a shower only spit baths and she really needs her hair washed. she has started answering her calls and she even called me before i went to joanns. warmed the cockles of my heart.

** around the ross house. the kids slept in their own beds last night. YEAH!!!! and they have been really good this morning.

my damn direct deposit still hasn't gone through so now i have to go pickup my check to be deposited. how inconvienent.

but hey at least its raining.

the van is offically fixed from my break in a couple weeks ago. i was hoping we would make the zoo yesterday but the guy didn't get done fixing it till after 11 so it didn't work out. maybe next time.

what other random stuff can i tell you?? oh yeah this is rob with hair, we are buzzing it off tonight and then i will take new pictures to post. and seriously he can't wait for me to shave it. now him and kim are trying to get me to buzz my hair off. sorry don't think so. i'll do short but no buzzing.

so have a good day and i'll post if anything new comes out.

Peace out dudes

carrie

home group night

tonight we begin to host home group and have dinner starting at 6pm. It was asked if we could switch nights and thanks to my great management team at Tres Amigos it was quick and painless. SOoo now my days of are sunday, tuesday, thursday.

Today i'm doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen and getting ready for the scrap social at Joanns on friday.

Moms client gave me her old photoshop elements 2 so now i can play. i tried using it on a couple of photos last night but they turned out odd so i didn't save the changes. and yes i did read the manual about the technique i was using.

So I just uploaded my most recent pictures so i can show you that i do take pictures of wyatt. This is the species known as "wyattus maximus boogerus". Always has his finger up his nose digging for gold. If you tell him how yucky that is he just smiles and goes back for more.

I did take some shots of him at the park mall play area that i will show later. And i'm thinking i might take the kids to the zoo on thursday with lindsey and the mommy group.

this is Lindsey and Annika or Nika for short. I met lindsey at joann for the social. pretty cool gal and lets me ask tons of questions. She does the stuff i'm to chicken or unsure of doing.

So enjoy your day and this cold weather. lots of hugs Carrie

friday! friday! friday!

of course i know longer work the 9-5 route but gotta love fridays. I'm off today! yipee....
cleaned up almost all of the scrap room. i have a lot of projects in my head that i need to get off the computer to go do. except... almost all my ideas come from the computer!!
so i'm just piddling around today. i need to grocery plan and walmart plan but except for us working on wyatts room tonight i don't think we have anything going on.
i kinda want to go downtown and do some shooting but i have no one to go with me and i would need help if i brought the kids. sigh..... maybe rob would be up with that. the kids in the wagon, plenty of snacks, strolling through downtown on a sunday late afternoon. there are a lot of cool things to photograph downtown. huuummmmmm. something to consider.
**Kelly just told me i need a timeout. Ha ha ..please can i have a time out? no talking or dealing with anybody for 31minutes. (time out is one minute for your age) please can i have a timeout!!!
no really they have been good today. last night was another story. Kelly wanting to sleep with us at 12:30 and then starting to cry when we put her back to bed. then it was wyatts turn and his crying woke kelly back up and she started crying again. eventually we put wyatt in the same bed as kelly to get him to calm down and go back to sleep. but of course they were both back up and raring to go at 6:30am. As long as we can keep them out of our bed the better we will sleep.
We are still trying to decide if we want them in the same room. i think we will come to a decision tonight.
Well we need lunch and rob should be home soon so enjoy your weekend. Carrie

nothing new

seriously. Kim has not gone home, in fact i sat with her for 15 minutes before i left because she was so tired that she couldn't keep her eyes open and started mumbling in her sleep. it was kinda funny.

I'm meal planning for the rest of the month and getting ready to do some grocery shopping this weekend.

I have tomorrow off and work 5 to close on Saturday. hope to get the rooms switched. Did i forget to mention we are moving the kids into the same room and making Kellys room the playroom. well we are. All their crap in one room and also punishments will be easier because there will be no toys in with the beds.

But first i need to pick up and get rid of some toys and then i need to clean out wyatts closet. ya know the stuff you really don't want to do?

Any whoo, i'm into my new year thing of trying to get organized and get things done. Maybe if i actually got up and did it instead of writing about it i would get more done.

But i must say i have been feeling very inspired lately by different blogs and websites. i think this year i will try new things in scrapbooking and photography.

There is a small hope that one of moms clients will let me download photoshop to my computer for my pictures. i am uber excited if i get to do this. Plus one of my new things to try is to shoot in RAW. lots more detail to work with. Also my friend Lindsey wants me to help her with a photo shoot with triplets. this way i can learn lighting and other techniques.

Are you snoring yet?????

I know it's only exciting to me. but otherwise there is really nothing new to update.

So I will sign off for now

hugs carrie

"Life itself is a most wonderful fairytale", Hans Christian Andersen
Yeah well there is always a wicked witch somewhere.
Love the quote but had to add that last part. I was on the Ali Edwards site and she typed up over a 130 words that people were going to focus on this year. I retyped them in excel and saved them for me to use throughout this year. Most of the words offered touched me in some way. So who knows, maybe if i get creative i can make some layouts featuring more of the words that i felt pulled to use.
** This just in ...... .... ... Kim may be coming home tomorrow. it's still tenative but it is a big hope. She gets really tired from the chemo and nauseous but otherwise so far so good. the nodes in her neck have shrunk and that is a good sign but in all reality this cancer is fatal.
* So just another ramble and i know i complain way too much about this but I sincerely wish i didn't have to work. I know, I know, it's a fact of life but i keep thinking of all the stuff that we could do as a family, me as a photographer and me as a friend. This is something i will continue to pray but right now it's not in the cards.
There is a saying, that a year that starts off bad ends good. i really hope that this is the case for 2007. I took the truck in for an oil change and they gave me a list of recomendations that the pickup needs. add that to new tires and my expense for the truck in the next few months is about a grand. Thank god for tax returns.
Okay gotta go! Have a great day. hugs Carrie

oh yeah shes back!! *** Kim update at end****

okay i know it's scrapbook cheesy but CATHY Z is back to blogging!! this lady is such a riot to me. she lives in minnesota takes pretty good pictures and i love her scrapbook pages. so glad to see she is back.

yall can check her out by the link on the side.

There was a word challenge that Ali Edwards offered. this is word or maybe phrase that you will work on all year. last year she chose "play" and this year it is "peace". I'm still struggling to find my word. do i go for "hope", "relax", "patience"? i'm about to head off to the shower and of course you know thats where i get my best ideas.

The van window is getting fixed this morning and then the kids and i are heading up to see kim. The results have come back but she is waiting till this morning to get them. she wanted one more night of good sleep before getting "the news". me, I would need to know now. that way i could plan my mental attack. lets hope the news is not as bad as i'm thinking.

So i finished my second and third photo books i got for christmas and new years.now i just need patience to go out and do a lot of shooting to get the understanding. i have book learning i just need experience learning. See i really want to take my pictures and make my own art. see photo. i want to take photos of food to frame for kitchen decor. i was practicing on these ginger snap cookies.

Okay seriously i need to get in the shower. i'll update when i find out kims diagnosis.
Hugs, Carrie
'kay just got a call from Kims dad. kim has small cell cervical cancer, an extremely rare cancer. they are doing a ct scan on the brain to make sure it hasn't gone that far and they will also be starting chemo today. the prognosis is not good is what the doctor told kims dad. no stage info, no percentages, just that it doesn't look good. tried to call kim but no answer, wyatt crashed out on me so it will be awhile before i can head up. i know they gave her something to calm her down but then i don't know if she is out of the room either. just pray for her okay? C

impotent anger

oh am i pissed off!!!

last night when i got off work someone had smashed the passenger side window of the van and all they took was a bag of nightgowns for and pants that i washed for kim and the stuffed animals that people have given her while she has been in the hospital. these j-holes also took a comforter set out of my friend michelles camper shell but didn't break anything and the car next to that got hit and those fuck nuts took the guys coat and cell phone. This just so sucks. because they had broken into two vehicles they sent out a cop, so we had to wait in the cold for them to show up. obviously the security in this parking lot sucks. we are told to park on the side of the building but this is the second time a vehicle has been broken into in the month i have worked here. screw that, i'm now parking in front of the building and in sight of our cash register.
So today i have the fun of calling the insurance and my brother (glass man) to come hopefully fix the window. i say hopefully because they messed up the window frame alittle.
In other news Kim is suppose to get her results today so if i hear anything i'll check back in.
Carrie

NEW YEAR 2007

nothing new to report, just thought i would drop in and say hi.
HI!!!
mother in law took the kids on new years night and we watched pirates of the Caribbean2 and went to bed at 12:15a. got woken up at 3:30 by the back neighbors laughing and yelling OOOOOOO! thats all you could hear. so i went outside to ask them just to keep their voices down just a tad. keep partying no prob just lower the volume. yeah no, i yelled but they couldn't hear me and after 45 minutes we just called the cops and they sent the fire dept cause of this big bonfire they had going. within 20 minutes of the TFD being there they put water on the fire and went to bed. not me, i didn't fall back to sleep till almost five and then didn't get up till nine. ugghhh.

got all the christmas decor down and put away today. thats a relief and now my living room is back to normal. Yeah!
got all my pictures printed from the month of december. now i just have to finish the rest of the year.
i have finished both of the photo books i got for christmas. now i just need to right down all the notes that i want to remember when i'm out shooting.
but i've been playing around.
monday night therob, kids and i went to a church familys house and did some karaoke. and yes i actually sang a couple of songs. it was loud but alot of fun. i really like the layout of their house and the backyard is set for kids and there was 13+ kids running around. it was very fun.
i haven't downloaded the pictures that i took but they look pretty good.
have a good wednesday. carrie

funky friday

no news today on Kim. we have worked it out that i will visit in the evenings after work. this is kinda nice. now i don't feel guilty trying to find a sitter or being to busy during the day. we talk on the phone but at least i can visit more often. Kim is really looking better. we sort of discussed when she gets out about getting some things like will and funeral arrangements ready for the "just in case". I want her wishes honored and i need to know what they are.

I have also discussed her having a journal to get out all her feelings out on paper about anything. this will be a great reminder for when she beats the cancer to look back and to see her struggles and her triumphs.

*so this is one of my favorite shirts that my brother got for wyatt. recognize the colors?? it's a John Deere "Got Dirt" tee. I almost don't want it to get dirty its so cute.

So I'm not into making new years resolutions but i'm totally into making new years discoveries. case in point. Rob was asked to lead this sundays church service. after prayer and talking to me he found that he had nothing convicting that he could discuss for 20 minutes. no matter how many ideas i threw at him. his response became for me to lead the service. um... no. But now i wonder if i really could do it. lets rephrase that. i know i can do it, it's the sick to my stomach feeling that i don't want to deal with. even now just typing this my heart starts to beat fast and my hands shake. earlier today i called rob with an idea i had about our life in a kinda of "It's a wonderful Life" way. Now i don't remember the whole movie but i got a brief synopsis on it and that its about how one life affects those around us wether we know it our not. and that in the grand scheme of things we need each other more than we can even begin to understand. it was also about how you treat others and i think this is where i will base my discoveries for this coming year. i want to make this year more friend and family driven. these are promises I have made to myself before but now feel more convicted than ever to act upon. Oh and Rob turned down leading the service so pastor Rod is coming over from his church to lead.

so here is one of the only picture of me on christmas with the spidy that i need to exchange. I must give a big shout out to my hubby, my 5 in1 reflector showed up today and i have already tried playing with. combine that with the cool photog books my bro got me i'm a happy camper.

So have a happy new year and be safe. I plan to take the tree down and put christmas away till next year. Cheers everyone. lots of hugs and kisses. carrie

christmas update

okay so i finally uploaded my photos from christmas day. this one though blurry is christmas morning. we are still at the stage where we had to wake at least one child (wyatt). my house was packed with presents. ya know, when your shopping it doesn't seem like very much but then you multiply it by us, 2 grandmoms and a honorary grandpa and an uncle and you get a small living room with no place to sit and no more room under the tree. please understand i'm not bragging just trying to give a visual about what it was like. present wise it was a great christmas. everyone seemed very happy with what they received.

as a fun gift i bought both of the guys these marshmallow shooters that have a pump action. the guys loved them and of course mini marshmallows were flying. the kids loved eating the mallows and somehow i ended up sitting on some and getting my jeans sticky.

After the presents we started getting dinner ready and wouldn't ya know it i dumped the potatoes in the sink when i was trying to strain them. wyatt was climbing onto any boxes he could and getting into trouble left and right. kelly was just being plain bossy and you know how inlaws can be. so to combine all this i was in foul mood by the end of the day. so the kids got a few bulky gifts and this last picture is one of them. he so acts like rob when he bangs his drums. but that boy loves to play the drums. now with his own set maybe he will leave robs alone. as i was taking pictures i have one that has his arms raised above his head but he would bang so fast that all the pictures are a little blurry in the arm area. ohhhh well, my brother bought me a couple of photo books that i have been asking for so i'm gonna start working with those. so far i really like the author and the way he writes. i have heard nothing but great things about Bryan Peterson and so far so good.

***Kim update****

they are going to let kim go home because her kidneys are back to normal and before they start the chemo. her slides have been sent from tucson to phoenix now to houston to be gone over to find out what type of cancer and what stage. all tests done in tucson have confounded the lab so they are sending it to a cancer institute for more testing. so far they do know that she has uterian, cervical and stomach node cancer and lymphoma in her neck. they have found four lumps the size of almonds in her neck. so it doesn't look great right this minute and hopefully we will have more results soon. i'll try to keep posting.

Carrie

not so merry christmas eve

What a weekend so far. finally got a call and some news from Kim. they still don't have the stage results in but they have found another lump in her neck about the size of an almond. to top it all off her father is now in the same hospital for heart problems (go figure?)

So the plan is for us to go up tomorrow afternoon and take up their presents. we will bring christmas to them.

this just so sucks. thankfully they have neighbors who will look after the dogs so i won't be running back and forth from that. sorry don't want that to seem heartless but i know it sounds that way.

i'm just asking for prayers that we can stay upbeat and have a nice christmas.

love you all and please take care of yourselves. love Carrie

update

Happy Friday all. This has been a rough week. Kim has been diagnosed with cervical cancer that has attached itself to her bladder and as of this morning we still don't know what stage she is at. to top it off i was spewing my guts yesterday morning. when asked if i was pregnant i say i doubt it but it could be possible. i'll let you know when the flow hits. i think i just ate some bad food. anyway i off to wrap some gifts that i can and when i get home from work tonight i will try to wrap the kids'. ugh. i still need to make two dozen sugar cookies for tomorrow. i really need to get busy. plus i need to wash kids clothes.
SO i'll keep you posted and i will post over the weekend.
lots a love Carrie

not good news

I don't know where to start. I've been working and really like it. I've been baking for some of mom clients and that is bringing me some scrappin money. Did all my christmas shopping on sunday. went to tucson mall (they opened at 7am) and nobody was there. was in and out in about an hour.
now for the bad news. Kim has been in the hospital since sat morning with severe stomach pains. well the results just came in. she had surgery this morning because she had stints put in her kidneys because they weren't functioning properly. they found cervical cancer. we have to wait for the biopsy results to see what stage she is at and the cancer has grown into her bladder wall. this is all i know so far. i'm not going into work tonight, instead i'm going up to the hospital to be with Kim. If your are the praying type please pray for her.
I'll post more as i know it.

i so suck i know. but i think i have been kinda busy. i said i think because i really can't remember much of this week. i know today was a full day and i'm about to head out to the scrap social. we will see how it goes. i'm thinking about stopping that and going to making memories once a month. this way i think i can get more friends together and have more fun.
i don't have much time otherwise i would post a picture. i have been trying to take more of wyatt. well i took a couple of him earlier this week and i took some of both kids while i was making apple bread this afternoon.
I have been going through a LOT of photos this week trying to find more to scrap. granted i still haven't printed out much of this year. i am actually on the hunt for some pictures of kelly when she got her big girl bed. i thought i had like three sets of photos that i still need to process but i *gasp* can't find them, thus the manhunt.
*weekend to go as follows: social
Sat. work 1-930. Sun. go christmas shopping mon. bake 6 doz choc chip cookies and 6 doz dec. pretzels and have home group christmas party. kinda a full weekend :O!! hugs all C
P>S> i am NOT sending out christmas cards this year.

weekend update

ugh! sorry i got kinda sick on sunday and just started to feel better half way through monday.

was supposed to meet my friend michelle and her kiddos at reid park playground but something funny happened and we had to postpone it for tomorrow. *she decorated her christmas tree with a TON of lights and when they went to use the microwave the blew something. not even flicking the circut box switch helped, so michelle has to wait for the electrician to come. i couldn't stop laughing when she told me. she said she has a least six strands of 300+ lights on a six foot tree plus whatever she found in the box so only God knows how many lights are on that tree.

so today i plan to do at least 15min of cleaning in each kids room and get the dishes done plus pick up the living room. so i have one hour to get all this done so i can SCRAPBOOK!! whoo hoo. i had planned to do it on sunday but that was a big no go. so it fits just fine for today.

speakn' of scrapbooking. i went through on saturday and counted that i have roughly jan-nov of '06 to print and that is 1500+ photos. Yes thats one thousand five hundred. to have them all printed and shipped will cost $285.00. thats $.18 per photo and flat $2.00 shipping. yowsers. but i was smart and broke it down by months so that i can plan my course of attack and hopefully when tax return comes in i can print the rest. Rob was like can't you delete some of those? Do you need all of them? This is my philosophy, I want to print them all to 1. see my mistakes and learn 2. not have just the perfect photos printed. someone once said and i hold it true that with the new digital era that our kids are gonna have a complex because only the perfect photos are printed and anything not perfect is deleted. they will think they have to always be perfect. what are some of your favorite photos as a kid? i bet they werent the olan mills perfect setup. they were the slightly blurry, funny faces or christmas/ birthday shots that show the love and fun that you were in. this is what i want for my kids, that all shots (well almost all) are important. there are some that were just too blurry to keep, or the back of someones head. yes you can delete those.

okay enough i need to get busy. have a great day.

Just for Julie***

went to Joanns when i got off work at 9:30p on saturday. said hi to a couple of girls and did some fast shopping since they were closing in 20 min. Lupe was closing with 4 girls in the front and 1 in framing. okay... go backs were not done. garbage was not done. the store was trashed and when i walked out at 10p they had not done carts, pulled in the baskets from outside, guest service was trashed. this was crazy nasty. and of course lupe was nowhere to be found. The girls really missed me and megan told me that frannie was really pissed that i left early that last night. i guess she even made a comment that i shouldn't be allowed to teach since i walked out. go for it. i could care less at this point. so when i do the social on friday i will mention it. just thought you would get a kick out of it.

Hugs carrie

kelly-ism's

this one was said to us this morning when told to go to her room and put her slippers on, she huffed and said "I'm in charge".
lately, "good grief" watching way to much charlie brown
"Come check it out"
or not so much anymore was "mommy chill out"
gotta love it! and don't want to forget it either.

of course now that we have the van it's me saying, "all aboard the mommy train". they like that one

so today has been a nice relaxing day except that rob is not feeling well. I'm sure he will be fine tomorrow but it's 8:30p and he is already asleep.
So mom and i had an appointment with santa claus today. this is what i tell the kids whenever i have to go christmas shopping. we had to go to wally world and manuever around the crazies to pick up some of the kids' gifts. pretty sad when your mom buys your kids more presents than you do.
i say this every year but after christmas my kids are set for several months. they don't need anything. which is a blessing but such chaos on x-mas day when you see the sea of gifts for those two kids.
I've been on a hunt for a couple of gifts today for the adults myself, just trying to find them is hard enough let alone a decent price. found a couple of sites that search for you that have helped. whats funny is i found this one product from the same manufactuer with 2 different names and several different prices. haha i know how to shop around and read. i'm no dummy.
plus today i made a list of what i'm gonna pick up and roughly the price so i know how much i'm spending. this way i can stay in my budget and get something for everyone.
I'm looking for some cheap funky gifts for our home group to give out. anyone know a off the wall website that can help?
oh well i will keep searching. hugs c

Part 2

Okay so i know i said i would tell you about tres amigos. here goes

I like it. i mean it is very easy and the only pain is the computer, which i'm starting to get the hang of. last night for instance i was to accessorize on tops of furniture that needed it. it was taking me forever because i kept changing my mind and it's not my style of stuff so it's harder for me to work with. they were so cool as i kept switching things. i mean this job is like having fun and doing work at the same time. everyone so far is just nice. i know this sounds trite but it's true. if you can't get something done it's okay someone else will finish tomorrow and no one is bitter about it. no rushing or stressing it's cool.

we had the company christmas party on sunday and it was held at El Charro. cool. free food and at least one free drink, if you answered questions you won more drink cards. so after dinner the owners gave a little speech and then on a table are all these gifts. yes there were some cheesy gifts baskets but there was also some pretty cool stuff. this year they did it according to seniority. i guess last year they drew numbers and it corresponded with the number on the gift and all the new people got the good gifts so they cahnged it. Okay the gifts were..... 2 different tools sets, dvd's, coffee grinder, wine openers (good ones), movie tickets, gift cards to see's candy. dvd players, clock radios, dvd/vcr combos, 2 different tabletop steros, play station 2 and an ipod. how cool is that?? and what did Carrie end up with???? a chocolate gift basket. rob said i got screwed but i'm enjoying it. not much in there but its good. we will see next year, maybe i'll get something better.

So on monday the kids got sick and rob and i didn't get much sleep because we kept getting up to change twels and pajamas. yep they had gotten food poisoning. so i spent most of yesterday doing laundry and trying to chill before work. but today the kids are much better and full of pure energy. since it is such a nice day out i tried to set up a christmas photo shoot. yeah, this lasted about 5 minutes. and i had to bribe kelly for the single shots i took. For the life of me i cannot get a good shot of them together. one or the other is always funky. this is the best of the 3 i could get before wyatt ripped off the hat and went back to playing. I told kelly if she would let me take pictures she could watch a movie. that got an instant okay. the very first picture she had the hat over her face then it was the partial looking up and then her telling me to shush. then just a nice smile.

Okay enough updating. i need to feed the kids and myself. I'll do better in keeping up with this thing for the rest of the month. cheers. carrie

Part 1

I'm so sorry. i didn't realize how bad i have been. so this is what i did on the 30th. the kids (pretty much kelly) helped me to put on the lights and decorate the tree. if you can see it, you can tell kids helped because all the decorations are in one area and I put all the breakables near the top.

*our big tv is still on the fritz but now it's worse. you have to hold down the menu button and either the volume or channel buttons to change anything. the input button does not work at all. EXCEPT once and it switched to a different antenna and now we have NO picture. so now we watch tv on our computer. so the only times i am on is either late at night or not. so i have put blogging to the side.

But i have been taking some photos. typical toddler and a boy at that, Wyatt won't sit still for 10 seconds let alone a photo shoot. so miss Kelly has been my muse. she is just so gorgeous. and i like that she is starting to have fun with the camera and not just those cheesy grins (which I still get plenty).

Otherwise life had been pretty normal. gearing up for the holiday season. I am not doing christmas cards this year. as of right now i'm just not in the mood but that could change. hell i haven't scrapbooked in a couple of weeks either. I have been cleaning and cooking and chasing kids.

getting ready to go christmas shopping with Kim in a couple of weeks. we are gonna head up to Tucson mall on the 17th to get it all done. i need to hit disney and old navy and a few others. i know what to finally get my mom and rob that they aren't expecting and will both enjoy. i have a list for the kids, now i just have to find something for robs mom. i will find something to inspire me. so look for part two in just a few minutes as i finish catching you up.

Tres Amigos

is different. they have so many steps for the computer that my mind is boggling. The people are great and sooo laid back but it's gonna take me a few days to adjust but overall it is very easy. it's also nice to be on my way home at 9:30 at night. but oh so different from what i know. i think i'm gonna like it once i get more comfortable.
the one sticky point is that i get paid opposite weeks than rob. where this will work nice later, right now it's gonna take some adjusting.
* okay the yahoos over at two peas have gotten me hooked on this live camera that overlooks a watering hole in africa. yeah i haven't seen any animals yet but it's kinda cool to hear all the noises. hit this link www.wavelit.com/popup/playerAfricam.asp#
i swear i keep checking back in every time i hear a different noise. the two peas ladies are always starting topics about what they have seen so now i'm hooked. i want to show the kids a zebra or something. rob came home from work yesterday and asked what that noise was. when i told him the back story he just shook his head at me.
* finished up the christmas tree yesterday and kelly helped. i'll post pictures later. you can tell because lots of the ornaments are grouped together. kinda cute and i'm not gonna change it.
Okay i'm sitting here in my pj's and robe typing this out and listening to the sounds of the african savannah. do ya have a good visual? how pathetic am i? I JUST SAW A COUPLE OF GAZZELLE DRINKING WATER AND WALKING AROUND. THIS IS SOO COOL ! i called kelly over and she got a kick out of it. it's getting close to their busy time so hopefully we'll see more.
Seriously i need to shower and get dressed. i'll post tree/ kelly pict later today. hugs C

just two more hours before i start my first day at Tres Amigos. a little nervous but kinda excited. was told we get out anywhere from 9:15 to 10pm. this i can handle plus i can wear jeans and tee shirts. ooohhh yeah!

Had some fun taking pictures of miss Kelly today while Wyatt napped would post them but i don't have much time. i need to do a quick clean on the living room and then we are heading to Grandmom Ross' for dinner before work.

Got the christmas tree up yesterday afternoon, now i just have to do lights and ornaments. kinda hoping that Rob will do that while i'm at work. if not i'll get it done tomorrow.

Enjoy your evening, i'll give the scoop later. C