{slip 'n slide}

So, Tom & I agreed a few months ago that while the cheapo pools are fun for the kiddos we just don't take care of it like we should. Besides we don't have any time to fix the grass that would inevitably die underneath. So, we agreed on a slip 'n slide for this summer. We finally went out to get it on Friday afternoon. Target only had 2 kinds and we weren't in the mood to go running around anymore so we bought the inflatable raft style with the little "lagoon" at the end. Jason and Tommy were a bit disappointed since they had hoped for the shark pool or something like that. Once we got it to the house and set up they all had so much fun.

Anthony is unsure of running & sliding down it, but he will crawl to the end under the shower of water. Alex doesn't have the balance or grace to run & slide, so I'm glad that he doesn't attempt it, he likes to crawl don the slide and dive into the pool. I took over 300 photos that afternoon, I deleted quite a few, I think I'm down to 270 now. There are still some more I need to go through. I did get a chance to edit some of them so I will try to post those in a minute.

On the digi side of things...I created my first layout as a team member for Amanda Heimann. I used the Tiki Tiki Boom Boom kit for it. I've been really good on not spending money on supplies too, only $1 since payday! lol I think that's a record for me, but I really do have more than I have used. So, until I get a bunch more layouts done, no more hefty spending on digi supplies; but who can resist the $1 days some shops have! lol :)

And, now onto the photos...I will post them as thumbnail size so that it won't take the page sooo long to load. Hopefully they will look good enough to click on and see the larger version. Once I get my new watermark/logo done up I will begin to post them on my photography blog too.

photography blog

So, I am *pretty sure* I have settled on my photography business name, of Kelly B Photography. Not sure exactly how the logo & print version of the name will look yet though. Holly at the Pink Ink forums gave me the suggestion after I posted with my ideas. I need to run it by the hubby first, but I like it. It doesn't require anyone to spell or pronounce our last name. lol So, I started up a blogger blog for it and I will hopefully be able to get my first post up there tomorrow.

We are still waiting for Tom's leave to be approved too. It's irritating that it's been sitting waiting to be approved for over 5 days since they've been back. Hopefully on Monday we'll have some sort of answer, it would be nice to know whether or not to start packing or not; and whether or not Jackie should plan on driving down to get Jason.

I've got quite a few pics from our new slip 'n slide adventure last night, it's just hard for me to do much right now since lil man is rolling all over on the couch next to me.

Tom and I also have tickets to go out to San Diego in August! Hopefully we'll be able to find a house to hopefully buy, or at the very least rent. I can't run a business out of a house on base, so I wouldn't be able to start up my photography business while living there without renting office space or something. The boys will be with Jackie and maybe grandma, but we'll see as the time gets closer.

Oh, and my tutorial find of the day, use of the clone tool from Taylor Made; I can't wait to have time to try it out. Well, I'm off for the night. It's time to relax & have a drink or two while I laugh at Tom & his friend in NC battle each other on Guitar Hero III.

happy hump day

So, it's Wednesday already...I don't know where the beginning of the week went. It has been slightly stressful with the additional child here, but not horrible. I think I feel like we must entertain him during his stay. Which wouldn't be so bad if we had money to do alot of stuff, besides a small fortune for gas money.

We did take them to the pool on base yesterday. It was half the cost of the other pool I was going to take them to, but someone complained because he had to stay in the kiddie pool with us. We've been watching some of the movies we've stashed; Jumper, Be Kind Rewind, Semi-Pro and The Bucket List. It's been nice to relax with the hubby for a change, but I feel really lazy.

While I was gone I was hoping to get some time to scrap & take a lot of photos, but that didn't happen either. I took a few photos, but did nothing on the scrapbook front. Speaking of scrapbooking...Amanda Heimann added me to her CT! I'm excited, I love her stuff. I also applied to Karah Fredricks CT, hoping that maybe this will help to curb my digi-spending. lmao

So, I should really go do something productive...I will leave you with a few of my favorite photos from our trip.

Back in action

...sort of...

So, upon arriving home something odd was happening with the internet connection. I ignored it Saturday night hoping that the problem would be resolved overnight and it would all be ok the next day. Unfortunately it wasn't. Tom spent alot of time on the phone with Verizon and they scheduled a service call for Thursday, between 8am and 10pm. I wanted to drop their service right then and get something else. Thankfully, a new router, reset of the modem and some patience and it seems to all be working. Well, everything except the desktop, we'll get that figured out though.

So, it was nice to see everyone in MI, but it's really nice to be home. I'll update more when I've had a chance to get my email cleared out and some things taken care of.

FYI going to be MIA

lol

I'm going to be headed out of town for a week. The boys and I are headed up to visit family in MI. When we leave to come home we'll be bringing my nephew back with us. The cost of the summer care is astonishing so we offered to have Jason come stay with us as often as he and Jackie wanted throughout the summer.

So, I've been busy making lists, cleaning, and stressing. This is the first trip I've taken with any of the kids by myself. It doesn't help that I also have to worry about driving through DC traffic. Ugh, just the thought of that makes me want to cry! lol So, I won't be on much over the next week or so. Wish me luck on my drive. I'm hoping to get lots of time to take pictures and maybe a bit of time to scrap. :)

What a party {animal}

lmao I am such a lame person. Here I sit with nothing to do on a Saturday night. Not that I would expect a hot date or anything (what would my husband think??? lol) seeing as we normally never do anything on a Saturday night. My kids are waiting in their beds for me to tuck them in. Alex is downstairs passed out on the couch (since 8!) waiting for me to bring him upstairs for the night. The boys started playing games around 8 or so and I took a quick nap! lmao I'm still tired, but I have a mess from dinner that needs to be picked up. There's an overflowing garbage can also, but it's pouring outside again so it'll wait until tomorrow.

The boys & I attempted to go through toys today. I just didn't have the motivation to do much though so we only conquered the basement. We have a box full of baby toys now and the big, plastic toy box is now waiting upstairs to be cleaned and listed on Craigs List. Although I'm half tempted to keep it for a while longer. Now I just have to go through the boxes strewn all over the basement to see whats what.

It was a bit warm here today. I never did remember to check the temperature at all during the day, but I ended up turning on the a/c. It was just unbearable upstairs and on the main level. The main level was pretty comfortable after a bit, but it's still horribly stuffy upstairs. Hopefully I can turn it off in a couple of days and not have to mess with it again until Tom comes home so we can turn the vents. I have no idea how to do it so I'll just leave it to him, I hope that it solves the problem.

I finished up a layout today that I started a few weeks ago. I started it for the SSD Cookie Decorating Challenge, but I couldn't get anything to work for me once I got all the photos in place. Now I'm glad I waited, the I Sea collab from Amanda & Eva is cute and I love how it looks now. I try not to buy many "cutesy" kits because I find that I don't scrap with cutesy stuff, but this one was adorable. I was hoping that it had more animal stickers, but oh well.

I upgraded the family blog to the newest version of Wordpress and uploaded a new theme. I hate that I haven't found one that I love. I know that a good part of that is because it's not personal, but I just haven't been able to make one up. I even started to try to make a new header today for the new theme and I couldn't do it.

Well, I suppose I should get my butt up off the bed and get the kiddos tucked in & the kitchen cleaned up. I have to start making my lists of things to get done before we leave. Tom will be home in 2 weeks, I can't believe that nearly a week has passed already, but I also can't believe it's only been a week. lol Ah, I love the thunder. :)

{headache}

Ugh, my boys give me such a headache sometimes. Other times, they make an existing dull headache into a full blown crippling headache. To top it off, it's hot & muggy here. I really should put the air on, but I'm trying to wait it out as long as possible. Besides, if we could get the air from the outside in, it's so nice and cool outside, in the mid 60's I think. I really can't wait for Tom to be home.

He called briefly tonight. While telling him about his buddy picking up his bike & explaining that I can't lock the garage and said buddy may have to come by and re-lock it for me I realized how lonely I am here. When Sam stopped by it was the first time I had seen one of my friends since we went down to visit them when Chris left at the beginning of April. A week or so prior to that Jackie & Jason were here for Easter, before that it was when we were in MI over the holidays. The realization of it all was a bit much for me. Thankfully Tom was ready to get off the phone and go to the movie they were going to see. Even though he is gone for work right now, I am pretty envious of him. When he went to Norfolk he got to go out nearly every night with friends. The time out at 29 Palms isn't as relaxed as their trips to Norfolk are, but when they get downtime they can go to a $1 movie, to the SNCO club, to the pool and I think there's a bowling alley there. It's still work and he's still there with quite a few people he doesn't really care for, but he is away and there is a bit of downtime, even if it's not everynight.

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound depressing or like I was having a pity-party for myself. It was a pretty major realization for me though.

So....onto fun things. I got to do some guilt-free shopping at The Digi Chick today! New stuff out today and 20% off! Plus, if you spend $10 you get the store-wide grab bag automatically added to your cart. I'm downloading it now :) Yesterday I managed to get a couple of layouts done. I have so many cute pictures that have stories to go along with them that I want to scrap but I sit here and stare at them and I can't start a page. Well, it seems as though Alex may finally be settling down for the night (3rd night in a row that he'll be asleep before midnight, is this a change in routine? I sure hope so!) so I want to get ready to pass out here shortly.

Oh, and I've been looking for someone to do me up a logo for my business. I can't believe how much logos cost. I mean I knew I wasn't going to be able to get one for $10 or anything, but $100+? Wow. So, I'm going to have to start saving up my pennies and decide on a business name. After discussing with Tom I have decided against Everyday Chaos, because he didn't think it came across well for a photography business. So, until yesterday I was pretty settled on Kelly B Photography. That is until I saw another website that made me think of In This Moment Photography. I'm sure it's been taken, but I like the sound of it. I still need to decide though if I want a snazzy business name or just use my name. I like the idea of using my own name so that people will remember it, but at the same time I don't want people to come to my home after finding my name in the phone book. Besides, I have a sneaking suspicion that the hubby may begin to mess with the cameras (not that he doesn't already) and I'm half hoping that we can make a joint venture out of this.

Anyway, that's my babbling allowance for the day ;)

Craftyness

I know, it's probably not a word, but it sounded good for what I need it for. :) I was wandering around online today and found this blog on Crafty Storage. I love the spaces they spotlight and I love seeing different solutions for the same problem. I wish I was a crafty person and seeing these spaces makes me wish even more that I was good at crafts.

Between kiddos, phone calls & thunderstorms this post has taken me about 3+ hours to write. lmao So, I'm out for the night. I will be back tomorrow.

I won!

lol The Digi Chick has been holding a monthly contest with prizes, each month different prizes. For May it was $150 worth of gift certificates to certain designers stores at The Digi Chick. Guess who won??? ME!!!! Yay!!! I've been trying to curb my spending on supplies, especially since I haven't been inspired to scrap at all lately. I've started quite a few pages only to trash them the following day, wondering to myself what the hell was I thinking.

Sam & the kids stopped by last night. The kids had fun seeing each other. It was nice to sit and talk to a friend in person for a change. I haven't seen any of my friends sine we went down to NC to see Chris off in the beginning of April. Tom's friends stop by to leave their stuff in our garage. So it was nice to sit and hang out with Sam for a bit.

Today I feel like crap though, I don't know if I ate too much Chinese last night (her treat) or if I'm feeling the effects of being so anxious about our impending trip to MI. I found out yesterday that the last day of school isn't the 16th, it is the 13th, so I think I am going to pull Tommy out at 11 and get on the road. I don't think a couple of hours will make much of a difference on the last day of school. I want to get on the road before traffic gets crazy and get there before it's too late. So, 9 days I think. It feels like I have a ton of stuff to do. Hopefully this weekend the boys will help me get things taken care of so that there isn't much to do next week. I'll need luck with that one, Tommy will be good about it, as always, but Anthony & I will come to blows over it, as always. lol

Giving it up...the desktop

Tom and I have been pondering the idea of getting rid of our desktop for a few months now. He sees that hardly anyone ever touches it sees as we both have a laptop. I do use it, occasionally. When the kids want to check on their webkins, we set them up on there so they can all see the monitor. We also have our older desktop out in the garage, well the tower anyway, the monitor is in a box in the basement. I would love to find someone I could sell it to, but I feel bad asking money for things that aren't the latest technology anymore. I don't know if I could get $50 for the old tower, it's probably 5 years old now.

I am just torn. I see the idealness of it, no need for the big, bulky desk we have, one less thing for Alex to screw up, etc. But I see it as too that our router goes through the desktop (we could get a new one, I know), the printer is set up to the desktop, and I like knowing that it's there available to use if I want. All things that are easy to get around. I love our new desktop though! lol This is how I argue with myself. :) It's so nice & compact, being everything is built into the monitor and we have no tower now. Though Tom did promise me that once we move we could get an iMac, which is compact too.

Anyone know anyone who might be interested in a less that year old Sony Vaio? lol

Just another Monday

So today was a better day for me. After thinking more about Tom leaving I think that I was so distressed because this is a preview of the inevitable when we move to CA. I know that when we get out there it is highly likely that he will be deployed. I've been through it before, but I think we grew too content with our lives here.

I realized this morning that we will be headed to MI in about 12 days. I can't believe that it crept up so suddenly! As long as Tommy's last day of school doesn't have anything too fun or important going on, he said he would rather go to MI the weekend before. His last day of school is a Monday, so I figured that we might be able to leave after he gets out of school on Friday. Though I'm extremely anxious about the drive as it is, add to it driving through DC on a Friday afternoon and I'm a wreck. lol

I tried to stay away from the internet today. Took some time to order my Tracy Joy bag, I really wanted 2, but thought better of it. I also read the new Digi-Dare and think I may try my hand at it. I have a few things that I want to list on Amazon or some other book site. Maybe a few things to list on ebay as well, we'll see.

Weight: I have to do something about my weight. I no longer need to lose 10 pounds or so, but more like 20 now. I am so disgusted with myself I almost don't want to ever leave the house. I know that this is all my fault, the point I'm at now, but I don't want it to be that way anymore. So yesterday I did 3/4 of my pilates workout and today I did 100 crunches. I am trying to keep Alex awake as long as possible so that I can get him to bed earlier tonight. If I am successful, I am going to get on the elliptical. 30 minutes is my ultimate goal, but I'd be happy if I can do 15-20, my legs are kind-of hurting me today from the stretching I did yesterday.

Ok, enough rambling for today, I know this is just mindless babble for most of you ;) Unfortunately I have no new layouts or pictures to post today. I need to get my camera out more.

Boring Sunday

So I sat in my room most of the day. Don't get me wrong, as much as I wanted I didn't crawl back under the covers and go to sleep. I read a little, I was able to get through 3/4 of my pilates dvd before the kids started fighting, I did more laundry and folded what was finished. I even put the folded stuff away.

It's 10pm, all the kids are asleep. Though I can't say much for Alex, he woke up crying around 8:45, I changed him and refilled his cup and brought him upstairs. Poor guys one eye was all swollen, thankfully he went back to sleep. The older two are passed out as well. I think I'm going to call it a night now also.

{sadness}

DH left this morning around 1:15am. I don't know why but we were both very distressed about the whole thing. We've been through worse, we've done this before, so it's not like it's a new thing for us. It is just completely bizarre how upset we were over the whole situation. I know that I can manage by myself for 3 weeks, I've managed longer and under worse conditions. I wish I knew why I was feeling this way. I have yet to hear from him though since he left on his excursion across the country. I hope everyone made it on time and that he made it to work ok, it was really foggy when he left.

So as I am making my way around this morning I feel like I'm in a fog. Alex woke up at 9:30 and I thought he wanted to go back to sleep, but instead he wanted to get up and see what mischief he could cause with his brothers. I really want to crawl back under the blankets and just sleep. I am really worried about the drive to MI, money and so many other things I can't think straight. I think it's my mind's way of trying to not dwell on the fact that Tom isn't just at work today.

I finished a layout during the week, I also finished a 2pg on Anthony's birthday, but it doesn't look right to me, so I will probably work on it some more. I want to get out and take some pictures but I keep forgetting to bring my camera, though it doesn't help that it's hard to focus on taking pictures when the kids are being obnoxious. lol Maybe we'll get out for a walk or something and I'll be able to take it with us.

Well, til another day, I think I am going to find my soft fleece blanket (although it's pretty warm already) and curl up with a new book. I've been a reading machine lately. Twilight, then 19 Minutes and yesterday I finished The Choice. I really liked them all, my favorites being Twilight and The Choice. I have two other Nicholas Sparks books I haven't read that I found in my book box that somehow hadn't made it into the house since we moved in here.