To You!

Happy Birthday To You!

Happy Birthday To Eric!

Happy Birthday To You!

It’s my sweetie’s birthday today!  We were up watching a movie last night and it lasted past midnight so Erica and I sung Happy Birthday To Daddy.  Then I pointed out how old he is and he was about sick.  Thirty three just doesn’t seem to old to me anymore.

I still don’t have anything in lieu of a present though.  I’m really stressing about it today.  I’m making him a home-cooked meal for dinner tonight.  That’s what makes him happiest.  We’ll have Steak in Social Suppers Sauce, Twice Baked Potatoes (what he married me for) and that Cream Cheese Corn.  Oh and I need to make sure I have A1 for him. 

Short of that story is the first meal I ever cooked for him was Steak and Twice Baked Potatoes.  I killed myself making that meal.  I set it down in front of him on a candlelight dinner table and he had the nerve to ask me where the A1 was!  I was so upset with him.  He hadn’t even tasted the steak yet!  So I always make sure he has A1 when he sits down to a steak.  Funny thing is, is he hardly uses it anymore.  Must still be shell shocked from almost 13 years ago!

He wants a homemade cake too.  Strawberry with coconut frosting!  That doesn’t even sound good to me.  But oh well!  It’s his birthday.  The girls will love helping me with that.

This kicks off a whirlwind of activity though for the next three weeks!  Tomorrow is my Dad’s Birthday, Monday we celebrate our 13th Anniversary, then the 10th is Ally’s and Eric’s Dad’s Birthday, then Father’s Day and then Eric’s Mom’s Birthday.  Oh, and then there’s the big scrapping sale on the 2nd!  Which means putting together page packets.  And then I HAVE to get Dittmer’s packets done before she disowns me as a friend.   

Okay, I definitely don’t need to be anywhere near this computer for the next three weeks!  (See you in a little bit!) 

I went to Independence and found a much better selection and sizes over there on the outfits I was looking for.  Saved a ton too!  Then Eric reminded me that I wanted to go to Sally’s Beauty Supplies.  I love the shampoo Grace washes my hair with and that’s where she told me they buy it from.  I ended up walking out with literally a gallon of shampoo, a gallon of conditioner, hairspray and some kind of spray to protect my hair from heat damage all for only $30.00!  Nothing makes me happier than saving money. 

It was so nice just getting out of the house just me and Eric.  I didn’t care where we went or what we talked about, I just wanted some time with him where I felt like we had each other’s attention. 

After we got home I put together a page packet to sell June 2nd.  It’s with the Basic Grey Gypsy line.  I even used my new Technique Tuesday stamps!  Yay!  And of course it wouldn’t be complete without stickles.  I’ve got everything cut, stamped, stickled, Cricketed and packaged.  Just need to make up directions.  It’s so easy though.  You ink it and then glue it together as illustrated.  And this is one I’ll even use myself.  It’s nothing spectacular, it’s simple, but I’m satisfied with how it turned out.  Hope Sara and Heather are too!

Anyway, without further ado, here is one thing I can check off my list:

I don’t know what it is, but I having been feeling so blech this past week.  Maybe it’s just been that I’m so busy and I’m out of my routine.  Or stress just does it to me.  I don’t know but I definitely need to snap out of it.  I hate feeling this way.  Everything in my life is going to great and there is no reason to be like this.  Eric asked me last night if I’m trying to sabotage our success.  I might now know why I’m feeling so blech, but that is definitely not it.

I can’t believe it’s been over a week since my last blog entry!  I get on the computer almost every day, but I’ve really been trying to spend more time with Eric and the girls so I’ve been limiting my time down here.  Although it would be so nice for Eric to come down here and work and have the girls playing in the playroom.  I would feel less guilty about being down here.

Trying to think back on what I’ve done since my last blog entry…  Friday night I went to a crop at Diane’s church and had so much fun with Karen, Diane, Nora, Renee and Carey (her SIL).  Christy wasn’t able to join us as she was busy with her garage sale.  I went and hung out with her though on Saturday at her garage sale though.  I couldn’t believe how much money she made!  Almost motivated to have one in our neighborhood.  Our garage and attic are full of things that we need to get rid of before we move.  I’d rather do it now and make a little bit of cash rather than when we are moving and just either taking it with us to store forever or giving it away.

Of course quite a bit of it is Erica’s baby stuff.  I know if we hold on to it for the next baby we’ll never have another one.  But the second we get rid of it all, we’ll end up pregnant.  That’s how we got pregnant with Erica.  Well okay, maybe there was more to it! 

Sunday night we took the kids to see Shrek 3 at the Drive In.  Eric and the girls really wanted to stay for Blades of Glory, but it was a school night and already past bedtime, and I was tired so we ended up coming home.  I felt bad being such a party pooper. 

Monday night was card swap.  Everyone had such fabulous cards.  And of course it was so nice having so many of us together.  Karen, Lillian, Denise, Terrie, Erika, Tempie, Nora, Kerry, and Christy were all there.  We were missing a couple girls.  So much going on this time of year. 

Yesterday was a much needed me kind of day.  I got my highlights touched up, my hair cut a little bit shorter than it’s been the last few months and my nails filled.  That Grace keeps me looking so good!    I then took Erica shopping with me for more summer clothes for me.  While I was trying something on she looked at me and said as loud as she could, “Mommy, you are so beautiful!  You look like you are in a wedding!”  Made me feel so good.  A lady walked past us as she was leaving a little bit later and told me I was the luckiest Mommy in the world and that she was in the dressing room next to us and heard all of her sweet comments and was so impressed with how well behaved Erica was.  That always makes a parent feel pretty good to hear a perfect stranger say something so nice about your child.

As for my day today, I’m going to go shopping for two more outfits for myself.  The store I was at yesterday didn’t have the size in the color I wanted to I’m going to try my luck at a different store.  Then I’m going to try to put together some page packets for the big sale Serendipity Scraps and I are having.  In addition to everything we bought from the Trustee from SD we are going to try to have some page packets to sell there too.

In case I haven’t mentioned it, it will be on June 2nd at Sara’s church in Raytown.  It is the Mother load of scrapbooking sales!  All paper will be a nickel a sheet and anything that has a price tag on it will be 75% off!  Now that is a sale! 

Okay, feeling much better now.  If you’ve made it this far, you need a prize!  And even better, I feel a lot better now and a lot less blech.  Maybe I’ve just been needing to blog!  It really is so therapeutic.  I know there are some that have stumbled across my blog and could really care less about the day to day life of Christina Graham, but I know my friends and family care some days.   

I’ll probably post again tonight if I can get everything done today that I want.  Especially if I get that page packet designed today.  If not, Happy Humpday!

For the most part.  I got the house picked back up (again!).  Got the laundry going.  For some reason that is the hardest part of doing laundry is just getting it going.  Once it’s started I’m like a machine and I can just truck through it.  Went shopping to add a few more things to Christy’s Birthday bag.  Wrapped everything up and made it to Nick & Jake’s for the surprise celebration!

It was so much fun!  We had Christy believing the whole reason why we were getting together for dinner after we just went to dinner the other night was because Jessica was in town (a total win win situation anyway).  Christy and I got there early and we were seated and she asked why there were so many seats reserved for us.  I told her I just overestimated and that we would only have about 5 people show up.  Then as more and more people that she didn’t expect to be there showed up she really started to wonder and we broker it to her that this was her birthday dinner.

I gave her my bag that I had totally lied to her and said it was something for Jessica and enjoyed watching her unwrap all her loot.  I altered this wine holder and put Tanqueray with Lime in it.  Then there was this really cute Trader Joe’s bag I found on eBay and had to order for both of us.  Then this Memorabilia Album that she had been eyeing at Hobby Lobby and a gift card.  I felt like I had done a pretty good job picking everything out if I may say so myself.  And I even stayed in my prearranged budget set by Eric.

It was so great seeing some of the girls I hadn’t seen in awhile!  I just love get together’s like this.  We spent so much time just talking and catching up.  It was most definitely a happy day!

Okay, it’s been forever since I’ve blogged last!  So much has happened since I’ve been here last!

Let’s see, the last time I blogged I had a funeral to go to the next day and then a big crop through Serendipity Scraps Saturday.  Well in the midst of all that, Sara and I went out to Independence to see if we could buy some of the displays left from the SD liquidation sale.  Before we knew what was happening we bought the REST of what was left!  Crazy!

The trustee handed us the keys Sunday afternoon and then began our efforts of organizing everything that had just been thrown onto the floor after people bought displays.  We figured it would be pretty stupid to just throw things in boxes as we would NEVER know exactly what we had.  So Sara, Zion, myself and Erica pretty much lived at the store from Sunday to Wednesday when we had to have everything out!  Lots of the girls from SS came to help and there was no way we could have done it all without their help or our husbands on Wednesday!  We have the best friends, the best kids and the best husbands.  I think I’m finally all rested up now.

Yesterday I went over to Alta’s house for a Partylite Party and let me tell ya’ I think I feel a new addiction coming on.  I also got to see her beautiful tanks and her bathroom walls that she has the coolest pictures painted on!  And of course she had the best Ooey Gooey Chocolate cake!  You make this cake in the crockpot and it turns out fabulous.  I think both times I’ve made it, it’s cooked too long. 

Today turned out to be a wonderful Mother’s Day.  I got to sleep in nice and late.  Jackie brought me breakfast in bed.  Eric took Erica out of the house for the better part of the afternoon while I sat down here and finished his Mom’s Mother’s Day presents, worked on a birthday present for Christy (Happy Birthday!) and worked some more on 23 Get Well Cards for two different card swaps I managed to find myself in.

A quick shower after Eric got home and then he took me and the girls out to dinner.  No cooking and no dishes!  Now that’s a Mother’s Day I can live with!  The girls were pretty well behaved at dinner.  Ally started sulking a little bit, but being her cheerful self couldn’t stay unhappy for very long. 

Now I’m on my way to cruise through everyone’s blogs and catch up on what I missed out on and then off to bed.  Just couldn’t let yet another day pass without blogging.  I’m thinking I’m back on track again!

I even woke up a decent time and it just felt like it flew by!

We were supposed to be hiring a housekeeper today, but she never showed up.  Eric called her about 30 minutes after she was going to be here, and she said something had come up with her husband’s car earlier this morning and would be here within 15 minutes, 30 minutes at the very most.  After an additional hour, Eric called her, she didn’t answer her phone so he just left a message politely telling her that she didn’t need to come.  So now we are back to looking for someone to clean the house.  We need 2 hours a day M,W,F and 1 hour with maybe another hour T & Th to do filing and stuff like that for Eric.  I just want someone to do the dishes, a load of laundry, our floors and the bathroom.  That’s it.  And maybe the kitchen!

After a quick run up to the bank and throwing mac & cheese (again!) at Erica for lunch I went ahead and took a nap.  I caught Erica’s allergies, who caught them from Eric’s Mom, and it was knocking me down.  Of course the girls were screaming back and forth through the house, the phones were ringing, and just about the time I fell asleep Eric got me up to take the girls out of the house as he had another Webinar with Michel Fortin. 

So, I took the older girls to Applebee’s, drove all the way out to Platte City and dropped Jackie off at church for Mutual, drove back over here and found another PERFECT album for our cruise (still haven’t attempted to scrap the pics yet), stuck an arm and a leg in the van for gas, and then picked Jackie back up.  Now I’m here. 

I did nothing spectacular today.  Nothing terribly exciting.  But yet, it just flew right past me!

Tomorrow is the visitation and funeral for Christy’s Grandpa.  I’m going to meet up with Vickie and we’ll go up there and show our love and support for Christy and her family during this time.  And sometime in my day I HAVE to figure out what I’m going to work on at the Serendipity Cinco De Mayo/National Scrapbooking Day Crop and pack.  I’m so excited.  Heather and Sara really have quite the crop planned for everyone.  I can’t wait!