Spring Swaperoo package to Lyndsey

Here is the complete package I put together for the Spring Swaperoo. I had so much fun putting this one together.

Last year I was with Jessica when she went to pick up some kits from Tracy at the Idea Closet. I was so jealous because they were so cute. Tracy had one extra kit and offered to let me buy it. It was a door sign and even though I really don't care for those, I got it anyways. But then I never put it together. I thought this Swaperoo was the perfect excuse to finish it. I hope it mails okay. (It didn't. She'll have to reglue it. Sorry.) The wood glue did I were NOT get along. After holding one piece on for half an hour (and it still not setting in place), I decided to use a hot glue gun instead. Then I also tried tacky glue on one of the feet that wouldn't stay on.

 The name I drew for the swap has some young children and I thought this stuff would be fun to include for them. Great minds must think alike, because I got the same candies in my swap gift.

Since scrapbooking has been my obsession lately, I decided to include a few pages. I went through all the layout I've done with Janel's Close to My Heart group and tried to copy a few of my favorites. 

8. 15 Facts about you

1. I'm deeply in love with my husband.

2. I have OCD. One thing I notice with it is I can't stand open drawers. I'm always closing the ones in the supply room at work, even though I didn't open them.

3. My favorite thing to do is to spend time with the hubs.

4. My second favorite thing to do is to hang with my best friends.

5. I'm finally scrapbooking pictures from the family reunion in 2009.

6. My recent favorite shows are "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives." I love Netflix!

7. Even if its hot, I can't sleep at night unless a blanket is over my toes.

8. I'd like to brag I'm completely off of soda pop, but I caved a few days ago. But I am still proud of the fact that's I've only had like 3 soda pop's all month long. I used to have one or two a day.

9. I didn't think I'd like it, but I now but frozen spinach in my breakfast smoothie.

10. I wanted to get new family pictures for our 10th anniversary, but we couldn't coordinate a date. Now that I have time to do it, I don't want to because its so ugly with now snow and just mud.

11. I already miss winter. The wind blows every day and I hate it. That will be followed by the heat of summer.

12. I just took a photography class and I'm falling back in love with my DSLR. I can't wait until I can get my new lens.

13. I don't make my bed in the morning. Actually, I only make it when I expect company and the same day I wash the bedding.

14. Josh and I are talking about taking a mini vacation in May, but we're not sure where we want to go.

15. I don't think you can ever have enough cats. Case in point, even with them all lined up on the couch, I think there is enough room for one more. ;) But Josh told me no.

7. Last item you purchased

Those of you who know me well should be able to guess on my last purchase. It involved Amazon.com and books. ;) I love Love LOVE that website!

I bought:
"Mrs. Mike" by Benedict & Nancy Freedman (for next month's bookclub)
"Stardust" by Neil Gaiman (I hope I love it just as much as I love the movie)
"The Guise of a Gentleman" by Donna Hatch



I always have stuff in my basket at Amazon.com. Right now, the things I want are pretty pricey so I'm waiting for our tax return, or payday, or Easter, or until I can't control myself anymore. ;)

That list includes:
Adobe Photoshop
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens
and other various books including more fictional books and also photography books.

I can't wait until I can place that order!

Spring Swaperoo Sneak Peek

I decided to get in on the spring Swaperoo. I'm sending my package today. I absolutely love it and hope the person who gets it loves it too. I want to post pictures of everything, but until she gets her package in the mail, here is a sneak peek. 

6. Talent you wish you had.

I wish I was a better crafter. I think I do well enough, but I feel like I'm always copying someone else's idea. Just once, I'd like to think something up on my own. But a friend told me that I copy those ideas very well which is a talent in of itself and I'm grateful I can at least do that.

I wish I could sing. Not like a movie star, but better then I sing now. I'm in charge of picking the songs to sing in Relief Society and last week I decided I need to just choose songs with lower notes because I can't hit those high notes.

I know it sound odd, but a talent I wish I had would be to add numbers in my head really fast. I saw it on a show once were a guy could see like a jar of pennies and know excatly how many were in the jar. I think that would be awesome to be able to do stuff like that.

I also wish I was a better writer. I love the blogs that post something every day. Its just usally updates about their life or sharing a story, and I love it! I don't feel like I'm a very good writer and I wish I was.

5. Say something to your 15-year-old self

This is a tough one because I think the title implies I should tell myself something to keep me out of trouble in the future, or something like that. At 15, I was in high school and I hated just about every second of it until my Junior year so maybe I could just tell myself to get out of there as quick as I can because life gets better after that.

Oh wait, I did do that. My junior year was my LAST year in the horrible place. :)

A while back one of my besties had to give the lesson in YW's and she had to choose the subject herself. In a moment of bitterness, I told her to tell the girls how one out of eight of them wouldn't become a mother in their life. Mean? Yes? Uncalled for? Probably. But I just feel cheated that I didn't know about that until I was in the middle of it. You spend your young life dreaming about becoming a mother, and it was devastating when I learned we may never become parents. Had I known at a younger age, I really don't know what I would have done differently, but still I like to think that knowing it was a possibility might have helped the blow not be so hard when it did come. And also, maybe if I had know some of the causes, like PCOS, I could have gotten a better handle on it when I was younger. I thought no one could predict their next period, I thought they just came when they felt like it, be it 20 days apart or 48 days apart. I thought they were supposed to be so painful you would wish for death.

Well, it looks like we have found one of my many soapboxes....

So here is the letter I would write to my 15 year old self.

You may be miserable right now, but don't worry. In about 18 months you are going to meet your future husband, so just hang on a little bit longer. Also, go ahead and marry him the day you turn 18. You love being married. ;)

You have friends that are a good influence, but you need a more social life. Don't worry, you will find that in about a year. When you do, your friends become your life line and probably end up keeping you in line. Besides, through them you will meet Mr. Wonderful.

You will question whether you want to do school actives or just work. Go ahead and work, you like having the money. And because you work you are able to buy your dream truck during your Junior Year. (It was a Dodge Dakota :) )

Do your wedding your way. Later in life you will joke that you should have just gone to Vegas.

Building your family is going to be HARD. You should learn about infertility. It will be a struggle you share equally with your husband, so you will somehow survive. But while you are going through this struggle, don't stop living life just because you are waiting for something to happen. Also, be nice to pregnant people.

Also, be better friends with your cousins because their wives will end up being your very best friends. Try to find them sooner so they can help you through your struggles.

Love me

4. Last book you read

Just the last one? How about the books I read in the last week. ;)

Last Monday I finished "Adam's Story" by Jack Weyland. He's not my favorite author, but I figured since we read "Charly" for book club I might as well read the other two books that followed that one.

Then I started "Kissing Cousins" by Marcia Lynn McClure and had that one finished by Thursday. Once again, Marcia outdid herself and wrote a book that makes me swoon. If my house was on fire, I would go back in to save her books.

When we first started our book club, Kim introduced us to Dorothy Keddington and I have loved her books. I had just about read them all (but two I think) so Kim lent me "Flower of the Winds." Now I think I have one more of her books to read, but I need to look it up to remember which one. Rumor is Dorothy might be in our are in the future and I can't wait to meet her.

Sunday night I started Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I've only seen the first movie. Now that the last movie is about to come out, I want to see them all. But first, I want to reread all of the books so I can remember everything. I think after I finish each book, Josh and I will watch the movie. Hopefully I'll finish the last book about the time the movie comes out.

Blog Book 2010

Last year I decided to make "year books" out of my blog using Blog 2 Print. I had to wait until we had some money because my 2009 book was so big. Then I also waited until they ran a 15% off sale.

This year I wanted to do it again. I knew they run their sales every few months, so I just waited until another sale was ran and then uploaded my blog to their website. I was so excited that I didn't have to wait to far into the new year.

Here is my blog book for 2010. I decided to put my favorite family picture on the front cover and then since the kittens were such a big part of our lives last year, I choose my favorite picture of them for the back cover.

3. Something you never leave home without

I'm not sure on this. I have a few things I like to always have with me, but sometimes I still get in a rush to get out the door and I forget them. For the most part, each morning when I head out the door, I have the following items with me.

* My purse (oh, I just got a new one and it is so pretty!)

* My cell phone (I really want a new one)
* My iPod (just downloaded Angry Birds. Both Josh and I are hooked.)
* A smoothie for my breakfast
* A book (I like to read on my break and during lunch)
* My camera

Of course, I feel that each item is very important, but I get the must upset if I forget a book to read or my camera. I've learned to take a book everywhere, because I HATE having to sit and wait for something with nothing to do. Drives me nuts! So I just try to have a book when I go to dr. appointments, hair appointments, etc.

I also hate when something cool happens, or I see something pretty, and I don't have my camera with me. I now have enough cameras, that I really should just leave one in my car at all times. But I haven't done that yet because I didn't want the screen to crack in our frigid winter temperatures.

It does bother me when I forget my cell, but I hate that it bothers me. I think society has become overly attached to their cell phones and I don't want to be like that. So if I forget my phone, I usually call and tell Josh so he doesn't try to call me, but then I spend the rest of the day not stressing over it.

St. Patrick's Day Kits

Here are the kits I got from the Idea Closet for St. Patrick's Day. I didn't have any decorations before now, so I'm excited to have these done. 

 Just like the hearts I made last month, I was nervous to sew these clovers. I actually didn't get them finished until today, but now they are ready for next year. Maybe someday I will learn to not be so nervous about sewing. 

St. Patrick's Day

For St. Patrick's Day we went to Jessica & Andrew's for dinner. Josh was excited because he hasn't had Corned Beef & Cabbage in years. I on the other hand was glad Jessica had a potato bar because I don't like to try to new things and was worried I wouldn't like it. Josh talked me into trying a bite and I wasn't sure what I thought, so I just ate some cabbage and a potato. We also had green lemonade, green jello and pistachio pudding dessert that Jessica's mom made. It was such a fun dinner party. It seemed to get me back in the mood for party dinners because I'm thinking of starting my Halloween dinner back up this year. 

Jessica made these cute gifts and put them on each of our plates. 

We had such a FUN time!

2. The best part of your day

First I'll start off with my least favorite part of the day....morning. I am not a morning person. I hit snooze at least 3 times on my clock before rolling out of bed. I feel like a sleepy slug as I do my hair. Then I notice I have 10 minutes left before I need to leave, so its a mad dash to find some clothes and something to pack for my lunch.

My favorite part of the day is the evenings. I love it when I get home from work. I like my job, but really, I would rather spend my time with my sweet husband. Most night we don't do anything special, just eat some dinner and watch some tv. But its still my favorite part of the day. Especially when I come home to find dinner is already cooked, that makes it even better. (Partly because, yay, I don't have to cook, but also because Josh is such an amazing cook.)

I also love bedtime. We have already talked about our day and other things, but there is something about our heads hitting pillows that makes us think of other things to discuss. I like to think its because, even though we are tired, we still want to spend as much time together as we can before falling asleep, so we visit.

On weekends, all day long is my favorite time of the day. ;) After the house work is done, we usually just veg around the house watching movies or playing games and I love it.

One more favorite part of the day is when Zipper cuddles up to me. When Josh and I are sitting on the couch watching tv, Zipper will worm his way between us and cuddle up against me. I love that he is such a mamma's boy. He usually cuddles up with me in bed too, and that is when he sucks his toes. :)

1. Your Work Space

My work space at work is pretty boring. I run the front desk and some days it takes all three of my computers to stay caught up. I have one family picture of me & Josh and then some pictures of Josh from the year he shot his antelope, deer and elk. I try to keep my desk pretty simple since the public sees it every day. My only splurge at my desk, is my ilive for my ipod.

The work space that I get excited about is my craft room. I try to spend a few hours in there every weekend. Now that we have Friday's off, I use it as my reward: after the house is cleaned, then I can go craft. I have to do that because if I started crafting before I cleaned, my house would never get clean.

I have noticed one thing about my craft room, it takes such a short time to get messy. I am horrible at getting something out, but then not putting it away when I'm done with it. I moved into the pink room so I could have more room to organize, but instead I just have more room to make a mess.

That wouldn't be so bad, if I cleaned up before leaving the room each time, but most of the time I don't. When I go in to craft the next weekend, I just push stuff to the side and then get more stuff out. This pattern continues until my table is so buried, I can't find anything.

I think one of the reasons is because I tend to work on one project for an extended period of time. When I was making Christmas Cards in January, I had Christmas stamps and papers strung out everywhere. Currently, I am working on getting the pictures from the Hanke Family Reunion 2009 into a scrapbook. I have a TON of pictures sorted into dozens of different piles.

Here is where the layers of piles come into play. Last weekend I took a small break from working on the family reunion pictures to finish some other pages I had started at scrapbook group, but didn't get the chance to finish. Instead of putting the other stuff away, I just piled on top of it.

Here are a few pictures:

One of the things I don't like in my craft room, is how I organize all of my papers. I stack it on my shelf that is across the room from my table. So each time I need paper and I have to walk across the room and dig through it all until I find what I want. When I'm done with it, I just toss the package on the floor next to me. The stack in this picture is actually smaller then normal.

The lamp shade is on the floor, because the lighting in the room sucks, so I took the shade off the lamp to hopefully improve things. I did close all of the drawers in the filing cabinet before taking the picture, but I didn't close the drawers in the stand next to it.

Here is a picture of my table, before I cleaned of the top layer of projects.

Under all of this was a layer of papers and stamps for the camping pictures, but I didn't get a picture, because then I moved on to the next layer of mess.

My various assorted piles of pictures. Sometimes I am lucky and they don't get mixed up.

I keep my stamps and ink pads to my right. I got tired of opening the drawer to go through my stamps, so I finally just set it on the floor. I don't get in the bottom drawer often, so this set up works for now. Usually I don't let the cats in the room with me, but when I do, they like to go through the opening the middle drawer left and sit in the bottom drawer. That is one of the reasons I don't let them in the room.

Here is my table when it is clean. It amazes me how much room I have to work!

I should have took another picture, because once the room was all cleaned up, I went right back to scrapbooking and now my table is chaos again.

"Just for Fun" Posts

I've seen this idea on a few blogs and thought it would be fun to do. A few of the blogs I follow did a series of posts that helped you get to know them a little bit better. Each blog seemed to do a little bit different version, so I thought I would combine them all into one list and then do my favorites. I'll try to do a post a day.

1.Your work space.

2. The best part of your day.

3. Something you never leave home without.

4.Last book you read.

5. Say something to your 15-year-old self

6. Talent you wish you had.

7. Last item you purchased

8. 15 Facts about you.

9. Your favorite thing(s) right now

10. Something you’re thankful for

11. Something you crave

12. Last time you cried

13. Last time you had to apologize to someone

14. Something that really bugs you

15. Post a bit of your last AIM conversation

16. What turns you off?

17. The story behind one of your scars

18.  Self Portrait picture

19. Something that stresses you out.

20. Something you are looking forward to.

21. Pictures of things that make you happy.

22. A song that makes you cry (or nearly and why).

23. Favorite Movies

24. A place you have traveled to.

25. Put your ipod on shuffle – first 10 songs.

26. Something you’re afraid of.

27. Favorite TV shows.

28. What you believe.

29. Goals

30. Describe your dream house.

Book Club - "Charly" by Jack Weyland

This month it was Tina's turn to choose the book. She choose "Charly" by Jack Weyland. I've read this book before, but had been a while, so I was excited to read it again. After that I read "Sam" and now I'm reading "Adam's Story." I figure you can't read a book in a series, without reading the entire series. ;)

We've all taken a turn now choosing the book, so we get to start over. I'm already nervous what book I'll choose next, and its a few months before it will even be my turn. 

Cats get cabin fever too

I think we are all ready for winter to be over. Even the cat have a case of cabin fever. So to help them get out of their rut, I gave them some catnip the other day. It makes a mess in my kitchen, but it makes them happy. They love them some 'Nip. 

They also love being just plain lazy. 

From Kim

Last weekend when we got to the Wii party, Kim had a present for me and Jessica. She made us each aprons to match our kitchen and our personalities. They turned out so CUTE and I think Jessica and I could both argue that we think we got the best one.

I love the sunflower print and the polka dot print. LOVE! And I love the little wire whisk and spatula. LOVE! And I LOVE the little book, "The Highwayman of Tanglewood". LOVE!!!!

Thanks for the gift Kim, and more importantly the gift of your friendship.