two more

I'm on a roll. God I've miss scrapbooking.

I DID A PAGE!

I actually scrapbooked a page. First one in way too long. A year it's been, I think. Been taking a couple digi classes over that http://www.jessicasprague.com/ and have learned a few things about photoshop. this page might prove that I've learned how to do grunge in excess LOL (not that she's teaching excess, she's all about subtlety, something I know nothing about teehee)



Pretty sure I like it. No, I do like it. I'm all about texture and this certainly has that! And I finally WROTE something. nothing deep or profound. Just what I've been thinking lately.


I also edited a few other pictures that I hope to scrap soon (today???)

m

my little big brother

Today is my brother's birthday! He's the best brother a girl could have! He's 13 months younger than me, but ever since I can remember, he's taken the role of my big brother. Looking out for me. Protecting me. Making me laugh till my tummy hurts. Loving me unconditionally.

YOU ROCK Michael!!!!

Happy (39th) birthday my brotha!

i love you man!!! can I have your bud light?

I'd post his blog addy, or facebook page, or twitter name, but he's like not into all that crap. And with all the time I spend (read: waste) at the above places, I can't blame him. But do me a favor, would ya? Leave a birthday wish for him here and I'll get them to him. SHOW HIM HOW KICK ASS THE INTERNET IS :)

m

iris with green dog

hard to say which is funnier. The clueless dog, of the laughing (equally clueless) dog owner.

yes, I really do crack myself up.

m

You say it's your birthday!

hello 40!!!

I've been thinking a lot about my not so minor freak out about leaving my 30's.

Here's the thing: My 30's rocked my socks off.

• I had Noah, the best boy in the entire world.
• I met, fell in love with, and married Peter.
• We added to our family with two beautiful, funny, adorable girls.
• I became a Catholic and strengthened by relationship with God.
• I started scrapbooking and taught classes with uber talented artists at my favorite store.
• I wrote a book! Thought of it, designed it, worked on it for 2 years, and even finished it!!!
• I met a group of women whose friendships mean more to me than I could possible explain.
• We found a great house that, even with the crazy small backyard, we totally love.
• We both have jobs/careers that we love.
• and most recently, we found Iris and added her to our family.

And that's just the big stuff. That doesn't count every laugh I've heard from my kids in the other room, every smile they've giving to me, every fight that got worked out. Every debt we've managed to pay off. Every baseball game, or karate tournament, or talent show. That doesn't count every funny exchange between peter and I or every time we make each other bust out in laughter.

My thirties kicked ass! Plain and Simple. How could my 40's possibly measure up to a list like that? I've wondered that all week, coming into today. I woke assuming I would feel exactly the same. Everyone said I would, and I saw no reason not to believe them. Here's the thing. I DON'T feel the same. I feel BETTER. If my thirties kicked my twenties stupid butt, my 40's are going to do the same, I just know it.

So bring it on new decade! Show me what you got. You're got big shoes to fill, and I know you're going to rock the house!

m

it's a miracle we

We have been doing our taxes, this is a conversation we continually have about getting all the necessary information to Lynn, the CPA. I started out confused and it only got worse.

Me: See attached for number. Please call to get the 08 number for CPA

P: Looking for interest – not taxes

Me: Duh. Where is the number?

P: Don’t know

Me: Well who is our lender? This is for 08

P: Accredited?

Me: Hahahahha I think so. You do pay it, don’t you?

P: ME????? I thought you paid it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me: Har har.

P: Don’t laugh – just looked at my bank acct and I did not pay May. They never pulled it out of my acct.

Me: Well now you have two reasons to call them.

P: STILL don’t know the #

me

This looked fun

And it was :)

take your answer for each of the following 12 questions and do a google image search of it:

•name
•favorite food
•hometown
•favorite colour
•favorite movie
•favorite drink
•dream vacation
•favorite dessert
•self description
•how you are feeling
•favorite thing in the world
•what you want to be when you grow up.


go here to make a mosiac

(idea from Stacey )

Iris and Noah

I really only have a few things to say about this:

1. That's is a dog, not a rabbit :)

2. Noah does not always walk on all 4's.

3. That is the cutest little Iris in all the land!

m

Iris rules, end of story

yeah, that's not the end of the story, y'all know me better than that. This Iris thing is too good not to delve right into, for like ever and ever. She's amazing, this little one, and we are all over-the-moon in love with her.

Here she is only minutes after landing in Sky Harbor International Airport. Freaked out, for sure, but we bonded instantly and she was peacefully sleeping on my lap within hours of meeting me.





Our first stop was my work. Had to say hello to the troops. It was the least I could do, seeing that they (especially Traci) was with me every step of the way in the puppy-selection process.

We didn't even go inside, that will happen soon enough. We hung out outside, she pooped, peed, pooped again and took a drink. I even managed to refrain from taking a pooping picture, that's how much I love you people. Cuz, if I had taken that picture, you can be damn sure I would have posted it. You can thank me later.





Here we are, still at the office, chilling in the niche of the windows. Check out the hose, which I wanted to photoshop out of picture, but decided against it as it does give some frame of reference on her size.





Here's our happy girl. Gotta love the smile of a Frenchie!

Tuckered out after a day of travel. Uncle Mike has 'the touch' and she instantly fell asleep in her lap. I can't wait for Iris to meet his dog, Harley.

It's kinda late now and everyone has left. The kids are asleep, and it's only the three of us now. Me, Peter and Iris. I think she's done with the jet lag thing and is running around the house, exploring the plethora of things she can either chew up, pee on, or if she's really feeling bold, BOTH. We are following her around with "appropriate" chew toys, which, amazingly enough, she's taking. I know this because I can hear the clicking of the bone against the tile floor as I type.

I have to give a quick shout out to her breeder, the 3 sisters at Green Acre Pets. Persis, my breeder, was a joy to work with. It's already clear that Iris has been well loved, well trained, and well bred. I am so thankful for their dedication to this breed, and this little doll face. If you should find yourself wanted a pure bred dog, look them up. They pretty much rock!

With that, I'm outtie, I'm going to lay on the floor and watch our little Iris play with her bone under the big chairs in the family room. I'd do a play by play but that would be exciting only to me, and I find it hard to type while laying on my stomach.

m

I am so in love!

For nearly two months I've been consumed with finding the perfect dog for our family. We decided that a French Bulldog would be a good fit for us, and so the search began. I can't begin to tell you how many websites I've viewed. How many google searches I did. How many phone calls and emails I made to breeders. Or how with each email my longing for a dog increased.

I've found many I liked, only to forward to Peter where he voted her off the island. At times I thought I would kill him. But his desire for the right dog balanced out my weakness for a cute face. Yesterday, I found another beauty. I emailed her to Peter, and he agreed, she's perfect. He even let sarah look take a peek (the kids have no idea! they are going to die!) and she loved "uncle Rick's new puppy"

It's been a long time coming, a new dog. I haven't had a dog since 2000. We are thrilled to finally be at a place were we feel we will be good dog parents. We had many opportunities to be home to some amazing dogs, but we knew it wouldn't be fair to the dog. We weren't ready. Now we are, though, and if feels great!

To say I'm not terrified would be a lie. I'm as scared as I was bringing home Noah. "do I know how to do this?", "how do you potty train again?", "will the pee and poo gross me out?", "will I ever want to leave the house again!!"

Okay, okay, I've rambled enough. Here's our new baby. We get her Friday - 6 days from today. I can hardly breathe thinking about it.

she's so small!

m

break

I've been MIA for a while. This is what I've been up to.

www.michellesnotetoself.blogspot.com

Trying to make some changes. Be healthier. Be happier. Be a better me.

The Note To Self blog is really what's in my brain, put to paper. It's intended to be for me, for when I fall off the wagon. Something I can come back to and remember how I feel now. How good I feel now. With the hope that I'll get back on that wagon and continue to stay on track. I'd love to hear your comments/struggles/tricks!

Anyway, I might continue to be away from here for a bit. I'm still in the getting-all-fired-up-trying-to-figure-out-how-to-make-this-a-part-of-my-life phase. So I'm thinking blogging (here)will take a back seat until I get that figured out.

I'll leave with this little convo between Peter and I. It should make sense now, with the above information.

Peter and I after work, on cell phones trying to figure out the evening plans.

Peter: "you sound cranky"
Me: "Yah, I kinda am, I guess. I don't feel cranky, but Michael said that too. I think I'm just hungry"
Peter: "well you knew it would happen"
Me: "I know. it's just weird. I shouldn't be hungry. I ate a good snack like an hour and a half ago. it's hard to te---"
Peter: "tell if it's hungry or habit?!"
Me: "YES!"
Peter: "trust me babe, I understand. I'm fat, too"
Me: dead silence
Me: "did you just say you understand cuz you're fat TOO?"
Peter: "no. oh no! I said, "*I* understand cuz I'm fat....too" "
Me: dead silence
Peter: "Yes, I know that I just stuck my food in my mouth!"

well, it cracked me up!

3 things

thing one:

sarah has twenty teeth. She told me this today, out of the blue. I've no idea how many teeth she has, or should have, or shouldn't have. I also have no idea if I believe her, but if I've learned anything from the #1 child, these kids do not lie. Since she went to the dentist the other day I'm really thinking she knows wants she's talking about. So there you have it. Sarah has 20 teeth, and she knows it.



thing two:

Noah lets me go to my standing Thursday night dinner date with Lori. You didn't know that? yah, neither did I! We were talking about schedules and the alternating weekends, and sleep overs when I said something like, I'm not sure about staying overnight on friday night since you'll be gone at that school camping trip saturday night. ya know. I do like to see you on weekends. His reply? I like to see you too, but think about my dad. He only sees me every other weekend. and besides, I let you go out to dinner with Lori on Thursdays. Yah, okay son. Thanks for letting me do that. So very kind of you.



thing three:
Kate's crazy adorable, but she farts. Like kinda a lot. And ya know what, it kinda cracks me up. Is it wrong of me to put that here?

m

follow up

Noah's school, and his teachers, and his classmates ROCKED that science fair! I know, sounds crazy huh? Aren't the required by law to be boring? Well this one wasn't.

The fourth grade projects were wonderful. Noah's was (is) really cool, for sure, but check out what some of these other kids did. This is only a handful of the projects. They were crazy good. Even Noah was excited to check out each and every display. (forgive the bad pics, fluorescent lights and my camera phone)

Prickly Pear Cactus. The quills are toothpicks, the flowers were beautifully constructed from tissue paper. I wish I could remember what the fruit was made of.

Palo Verde. Made of paper limbs and perfectly arranged fake flowers.

Mormon Tea. This one was exquisite. Super simple plant that could have been boring, but she presented it in its different regions. BRILLIANT!! I could hardly stand how amazing this one was.

Fairy Duster. This one was GORGEOUS. Bright and fun and well constructed.

Grey Wolf. wow! WOOOOW people. You probably can't tell, but the rock cliff jutted from the board like 8 inches with different levels and shelves. It looked exactly like the high rock formations here.

And finally, Noah in front of his display. He was over me by the end, I won't lie, so gone is his camera smile. I'll forgive him though, he's still not 100% (today was first day back at school this week) He actually fell asleep on the way home...at 6pm.

m

Science Night

Those of us with kids, or know people with kids, or ever go to a craft store this time of year, know about Science Night. Happens every year. Elementary school kids buy up all the display boards and craft paint in town for their project. As I write this, I feel like I want to complain about this annual event. But I can't. I love it and have every year since Noah's first fair, 5 years ago.

This year's project involved a full on report with references and everything. I didn't have too much to do with that. It was mostly an in-class thing. But, after asking his teacher FACE TO FACE if it was okay, to which she assured me it was, I was thrilled I could type it all up for him. You see, this was not a typing project, but a science report. Super cool. I'm a little controlling when it comes to our computers. I realize I shouldn't be, but I can't help it. These children of mine get near a computer and Control Alt Delete just HAPPENS. suddenly - BOOM. reboot. I'm not a fan of rebooting. It's right up there with plunging the toilet. sometimes necessary, but NEVER fun.

I did, however, revil in the idea of working on 'the board'. Noah and I brainstormed for a couple evenings before heading out to Michael's for all the necessities. Fifty Five dollars later (okay 75, but I bought a couple things for me) We came home with everything we need (and then some) to make this:









The Pinyon Pine Tree. A tree that, unknown to either of us, grows in (among other places) Northern parts of Arizona. The coolest thing Noah learned about was the relationship between the tree and the Pinyon jay.





A small blue bird that depends on the pine tree for survival. The cool part, the tree depends on the bird just as much. Kinda like the Hippo and those little birds that cleans their backs. Or Pretty Woman. One needs the other.

We found a cute bird stamp (for 6 bucks that I will never use again. Anyone want/need a bird stamp? it's yours!) that worked perfectly. He was adamant about only making one bird. He was over me asking, "are you sure you don't want to add more than one bird???" Poor kid, has a mommy who so often forgets this is not her project!

the needles were fun. I cut them out a thousand slits in paper for him one evening while hanging with my gf (thanks for the company Lolly) Then, together, the stems got colored, trimmed and attached to the board. We rolled little strips of paper to form Pine Cones, which we both loved.






And Noah's favorite, and brain child, THE ROCKS! This is crucial for him because his tree requires rocky soil to grow. I've never seen him so excited to get a project going, all due to these rocks. I (still) suck with pictures, so you can't tell that the dark grey rock is rounded and projects quite a bit from the board. It, along with the needles, provide a huge 3D effect that Noah had to have (yah, like I didn't)

Working with Noah on a Project like this is so much fun. I love the brainstorming, storyboarding, problem solving, construction, editing, and final completion. We work well together and most of the time he knows just how to tell me to STEP ON BACK mom, this is my project. When I flip, and he doesn't know what to say it, I can see that I've lost it and am generally able to reel it back in. In the end, we have a great memory, he has a cool project, and he learned a boat load about the subject of his project, and the process of telling people about it. I'm no rocket scientist, but I'm thinking that's pretty much what it's all about.

Science night is tomorrow night so you know where I'll be, RIGHT? Hanging out with hundreds of other projects wondering why no one else's comes even remotely close to being as cool as Noah's. DUH!

m

Phil in the Box

I'm at home today with a sick Noah Bear. He woke me at some ungodly hour last night with a cough. I feel bad now because I didn't get up with him and (I think) told him to get a class of water. In my defense, I was in the middle of a wackiest dream ever that had me woefully confused. It involved one of my architect clients, who wasn't an architect, but a Catholic Priest. Then, this architect/priest was also my date who insisted I wear his collar. He was kinda pushy about it, too. Crazy, because the architect is no were near pushy, and the same can be said for Priests. This was just the beginning too, and for sure the only parts I can pull out of my head and put into poorly constructed sentences. Still, with this short description, I'm sure you can see why I might have been a tad confused? yes?

geeez. Whoa! how was that for an "I digress" moment?

Back to the story. Home with Noah, but still had to get the girls together and off to their schools. On the way back I stopped at Jack in the Box for the crucial First Diet Coke of the Day. While trying to order I started laughing, making me look especially crazy. All because I saw this:

For some reason, this cracked me up. Come on, that's funny. Okay, okay...maybe it's just me. I've always loved Jack. This love affair has grown over years and years, getting stronger with each new ad campaign. This year's "hang in there Jack" is no exception. I mean this,

The broken nose? GOLDEN! I don't care who you are, that's funny right there. I can't keep from giggling, even now.

Back to the drive thru. I pull up feeling kinda bad that I was laughing while the cute headphone girl was taking my order. They kinda know me there (kinda? they invite me to Thanksgiving) and I wanted to make sure she didn't think I was making fun of her. We got to talking and she told me that there was a message on the JITB voicemail informing management that JACK WAS

BACK! After the obvious laugh about how far this ruse is going, I came home and found this:

HOORAY! because Phil in the Box would have just sucked donkey butt.

m

could Pluto be the skinny planet

Peter, last night, on cooking a frozen meatloaf for dinner.

Him: "see, this is crazy. This package says it servers six adults"
Me: "and yet it only fed our three kids!"
Him: "right."
Me: "well that's probably right. You are supposed to only eat a playing card size of meat"
Him: "BAA! On what planet does that happen?"
Me: "skinny planet"
Him: "I'm not familar with that planet"

*snort*

If pluto were still a planet, it could be the skinny planet.

step away from the electronics

Once again, I've been a bad bad blogger. So many reasons, none of which you really give a damn about, so I won't go there. Things have been happening around here, mainly with electronics.

So let's talk about electronics. The fun, yummy, pink phone kind, to be exact. My beloved HTC smartphone found the hard side of the floor the other day and died a horrible death. No biggie really. With the three kids (none of which have actually ever hurt my phone, it's always me) I have the insurance, so I knew what to expect with the insurance replacement.

or so I thought.

Man oh man, what a pain. First, the "upgrade" phone was a complete POS. HATED it. I could not get rid of it fast enough. My breaking point though, was trying to check my email. 20 minutes later, TEARS, and still no email, I gave up. That experience was made even more horrible when Peter walked in on me. "Are you crying? Michelle, it's a PHONE!"

yeah pal, BUT IT'S AN EXPENSIVE PHONE THAT DOESN'T GET MY EMAIL AND I HAVE TO GET MY EMAIL RIGHT NOW OR THE WORLD WILL IMPLODE ON ITSELF AND WE WILL ALL DIE BEFORE I KNOW WHO TAGGED ME TODAY ON FACEBOOK!!!!

Clearly, I'm insane.

After much running around checking on every new phone on the market and comparing rate plans, I landed on the G1 from T-mobile. THIS PHONE ROCKS PEOPLE. I expect it will get up and make me breakfast tomorrow, it's that good.



Like the iphone, there are a million applications you can download. and believe me, I've been downloading. yummy...i love downloading. One of the first things was a set of wallpapers. This little guy was my first pic. Just look at him, is he not the cutest thing ever?!?? I dare you to frown while looking at him. OMG, i love him.



Another app I downloaded was PicSay. It's this cute photo editor where you can add silly graphics and props and crazy stuff. I took the liberty of "enhancing" the already goofy picture of Peter in his fake glasses. Then, I added it in my Five.

he's super hot!



m

to things forgotten

Is it a good sign, or a bad sign, that on Valentine's Day you and your hubby are in separate rooms; one playing video games, the other facebooking and doing website editing with her girlfriend? Me thinks that as long as both parties are happy that it's all good. At least I hope so, or else I'm in big trouble.

Peter and I aren't the sappy, horribly romantical type couple. Want proof? out of 6 anniversaries, we've forgotten 2. I was the first to forget too - our second one at that. We both forgot the 4th. Imagine the laugh we got when we both got an email from his sister wishing us a happy anniversary. DUDE, really? My sister-in-law remembered and WE BOTH forgot?! Actually, another SIL and our nephew remember too. That's just crazy.

I remember that 4th anniversary like it was yesterday. Well it was only 2 years ago, so not far off, but let's be real, I forgot our second one. Memory isn't my strong suit. But this I'm not likely to forget. I got this email and before I could call peter, the phone rang.
"Did you just get an email from Nancy?"
"yeah"
"we forgot again"
"yeah"
"happy anniversary babe. I love you"
"happy anniversary babe. I love you, too"
"think we'll remember next year"
"no"
"well at least we both forgot, so you can't be mad at me"
"pretty much. Oh and hon?"
"yeah?"
"be sure to thank Nance for the reminder"
"will do"


We did remember the next one though. And then the next one even. It's coming again in august, I'm pretty sure we won't go 3 for 3. So if someone wants to send me an email A DAY EARLY that would be fantastic. OH wait, I facebook now. Maybe the Internet will remind me.


Thank God for the Internet. and sisters in law.



Happy Valentine's Yo! Y'all rock!





m

Want a super easy Valentine Card?

Here's the little valentine cards I did for the kids. damn cute aren't they?!?!

They measure 3" wide and 4" tall. I've put two on one 4x6 and are having them printed at Costco. So for 7 cents each (well not including the candy) the kids will have cute, custom, Valentine's cards with almost no work.

I don't have a finished one yet, just sent them to print, but the idea is to put a mini chocolate bar at the back, fold over the top of the card so it covers the end of the candy wrapper and staple together. EASY AS PIE!

If you want a jpeg of either one of these cards, or both, email me at michelle@papertherapy.com. If I knew how to make a fancy downloadable link thingie for y'all, i would. But I'm pretty much illiterate when it comes to that stuff so email will have to do. UNLESS someone wants to send me a tutorial. That would be super cool :)

m