Just Make Stuff

Around here...

It's been a really nice Sunday...I have all my papers for school finished...we have been pretty productive around the house...I made dinner...and here are some other  various details from around the house today...

I cleared off a shelf in one of our hallway cabinets to have a place to organize the growing collection of road trip stuff...I have been working on planning our trip here and last week ordered some great stuff...and several books and games for Mactoo...I'm going to make him a binder to collect up memorabilia in and make myself a binder for all my notes & plans (like all of of your suggestions that I copied and pasted into a word document so thank you again) ...and I'm going to make a little travel abum we can fill on the road...yeah I am not excited at all :)

 

I actually had a decent snack to try to ward off eating everything in the house before dinner was ready...for some reason it always makes me happy to put a tiny bowl inside a bigger bowl and then surround it...

I enjoyed the fact that the new room project is all painted and I really like the color...I'll tell you more about it assuming my plans actually work...

I wrapped a birthday gift for my mom's best friend...

and I made a note-card with the leftovers...

and that's about it. 

I have a story to tell you...

Okay follow me here...

Ten years ago this week I bought a couch...well not just me...it was Sean and I that bought the couch...actually it was a couch and this awesome upholstered rocking chair thing...so we basically bought living room furniture. 

Honestly it was an impulse buy...it was because we wandered into a furniture store...because we qualified for the credit and it was going to be like $45 dollars a month or something totally doable...and it would mean we had bona fide adult furniture...together...the two of us college students who had been dating for all of seven months. 

We joked about this fact...the joint furniture ownership...that now we had to get married.

So fast forward just a few days and now I am at that summer's Camp getting ready to run my second year of the Journal program.  In typical "Nora" style I concocted a grandiose plan of classroom decorations and book preparations that I did not have the time for...so as time ticked down and there was still a horrendous amount of stuff to accomplish before multiple groups of people came streaming in the morning I broke down in tears.

I stood on a chair taping up seemingly endless pieces of construction paper trying to create a New York skyline (kind of like this since we recreated it several years later) while Sean took care of an almost two year old McIntosh.  It was after midnight and I was decompensating fast.

Through my whiny tears I cried that I always do this...take on too much...can never get it done...poor, poor me...and I topped it all off by wailing why would Sean want to marry me anyhow.

He got me off that chair...sat me down at a table and placed Mac in my lap...he got down on one knee and told me how much he loved Mac and I, that he wanted to take care of us and always try to make me happy...and then he asked me to marry him.

It was 12:19am on June 29th 1998

I never have been able to remember the exact date and time, but Sean does...because he's that kind of guy. 

Everything he did in that few minutes that evening ten years ago exemplifies the guy he is.  He takes care of Mac...he's the guy that continually gets me down off the proverbial chair when I'm throwing a pitty party hissy fit...and he tell me he loves me.

We picked out a ring a few days later and were officially celebrating our engagement by the 4th of July.

I always find it reassuring that Sean asked me to marry him in one of my less than stellar moments...and I am damn lucky he has put up with much more of that kind of behavior from me...he has continually proved that he really meant what he said that night...and he's succeeded.  I am very, very happy.

The return...

of Fun Fridays...an idea I started last summer...since Sean and Mac have Fridays off we try to plan some kind of fun outing.

So today for our Summer 2008 inaugural Fun Friday we headed down towards San Diego to have lunch here since we saw it on TV here (always love that show) and then we went here...which helps that huge fish photo make a lot more sense, huh?

Here's some more photos of our fun...

 

Sean was very proud of his pose in the shark...

and when Mac and I got in apparently we were too boring...

so we tried to do a better a job...much more shark attack appropriate, right? :)

Now that Fun Friday is over Studious Saturday & Sunday must commence so that I am ready for my last week of summer school...

A little of this, a little of that...

Gotta love that I bought a book that I am supposed to read and write three 2-page essays on a week before summer school starts thinking how responsible I'll be getting ahead...then I get halfway through and put it down for the next four weeks...so as of today I had a 150 pages left to read...I read 70 earlier tonight and might try to polish it off tonight before I fall asleep...then I have a glorious weekend that includes writing those essays and preparing for my Women's Studies final...and I'll have one more paper due in Statistics, but our professor gives us time in class since we need to use this wonderfully magical statistics program on the computers to run the tests...if you had asked me five weeks ago if there was anyway that I might actually enjoy stats I would have looked at you as if you were crazy...but guess what?  I have actually enjoyed statistics...wonders never cease, huh? :)

Other than reading and going for a walk tonight , I spent a few dollars in I-Tunes and have been listening to my new songs over and over while trying my hand at a new scrapbook layout size...I figured if American Crafts was going to come out with 6x12 page protectors it was a sign that I need that size in my album too...

Okay off to read...

I'm not the only one...

who loves the bubble machine...it kept Paddy busy popping bubbles for a good half hour tonight

Do you believe this is the same puppy we got back in October?  He's all grown up...of course that's a relative term since he's still all off three pounds. :)

I need to get to bed, but before I go thank you so, so much for the travel suggestions and please keep them coming...gas has been over  $4.50 here so I figured $5.00 unfortunately isn't too far behind at this rate...oh and I will definitely need good bug/mosquito spray suggestions since I"m clueless about that stuff... the apparent trade-off of Southern California is high gas prices, but not that many bugs. :)

Even if gas is $5 a gallon...

and we go with a conservative estimate that our mini-van averages 20 miles to the gallon it should take us about $1000 to do a road-trip out to Iowa to see Sean's brother and his family...we were already thinking of doing a trip this summer and had discussed driving up the coast all the way to Vancouver, BC or flying to New York, but after our trip to Oregon we decided to capitalize on the opportunity to see Kyle, Steph and Bella since our visits are too few and far between...and it just is an appealing idea to drive right through the heart of the country...different states the three of us have never seen...it just seems like the quintessential Americana thing to do. 

So we made a trip to AAA last Friday for a glorious pile of books and maps so we can start to plan...

I'm thinking we're going to hit Las Vegas for just a couple of hours so Mac can see it...then into Utah and I think all the way to Salt Lake City and over to Cheyenne, WY (or through Utah and Colorado stopping around Denver--haven't decided yet) then through to Omaha, NB and then into Cedar Rapids for a weekend...but I do have a crazy pipe dream of going all the way north to see Mt. Rushmore...we'll see...

On the way home we want to take a different route...through St. Louis and then down to Oklahoma City (since we can stay with my Dad for a night) and then through Albuquerque, NM and Flagstaff, AZ and then back home...about 10 days or so...how fun does that sound?

So I'll be trying to plan...figuring out good places to stay and eat and see and shop...so if you have any suggestions about any of the surrounding areas I would appreciate it sooo much...please, please, please comment or e-mail with anything you're willing to share....thanks. :)

Simple stuff...

So it's an official pajama day around here...I'm pretending to get stuff done around the house and Mac is catching up on TV...important stuff the the Olympic Gymnastics Trials, Unwrapped, and Camp Rock.

Here's the couple of layouts I made last week...

Even though I most often do messy stamped & layered stuff I find that I am always drawn to the simple stuff...the layouts that have that one great detail...stuff like this and this...and my latest new favorite ...so here's my attempt at being simple just for fun...

Okay I have to go be responsible and read about five essays for a Women's Studies quiz tomorrow...oh and I was inspired to change my banner already with the 4th of July fast approaching...I went looking for a good patriotic quote and loved that one.

Summer Sunday...

Mac is out of school for the next two before he starts summer school and Sean starts teaching his summer school class tomorrow so that officially means we're relatively free of responsibility all things considered...and I am all too ready to enjoy it (even more when my classes are over in two weeks)

Today I made some soup with sauteed zucchini and onions to celebrate the fact that it was below a hundred degrees out

speaking of cooking...I have high hopes to really get back to it when summer school is over...a few weeks ago I envisioned a new recipe a day for a month...we'll see if I can pull it off

Even though Mac was gone all afternoon at a carnival with his Dad there was still this going on in the front yard

because I could not resist a new toy when we went to pick a couple out to give to Mac as a little "happy summer" gifts

this thing is way too cool...and it's made by that bubble guy we went to see back in March

I have a couple of layouts to share tomorrow...and at some point this week share our big plans for a summer trip (assuming the whole stimulus check is not a myth and will be arriving on our doorstep soon) oh and you know it's really summer if there's a can of paint in our house...and there is...we have some slightly tentative plans for some significant changes in the Griffin house yet again :)

I don't want to sound like one of "those moms"...

all bragging that my child is the best, but oh well I'm going to...Mac was amazing...his nailed both solos, did well with the acting and was just altogether incredible...I cried, I laughed, I shook almost uncontrably with nerves just about everytime he was on stage and I sweat (because the auditorium had no A/C and it was about a 100 degrees today)...but it was one of the best nights of my life...

 

He planned his curtain call bow weeks in advance...air kisses to his adorning fans...

and the best part is I get to see it all over again on Saturday night! :)

76 Trombones...

Tonight's the night that the "Wells Fargo wagon is a'coming"...it time for "Gary, Indiana Gary, Indiana Gary, Indiana let me say it once again"...and all the other songs I haven't heard sung in the shower for the last couple of months.

I cannot stand it I am so excited...cannot stand it!  He's equally hyped especially as my mom came over to do his stage make-up a few minutes ago...he'll be up on stage in just over an hour...did I mention I cannot wait !?! :)

I love my Tilly...

I got to pretend like I was photographer last Friday and take Matilda's birth announcement photos (just like I took her brother's last year)...I took about 250 & was pretty happy with about 6...

but the best part was cuddling her while I sat at the computer editing...

I've officially decided that having nephews and nieces is really just the best thing ever :)

Over and over...

I recycle ideas a lot...if I come by a clever idea or on the off chance think of one myself I usually use it more than once...in this case I don't know where I first saw the ribbon cake idea, but I started making them as cards a couple of years ago...like this one...

but then I saw this a few weeks ago here

and the ric-rac and flower on top inspired me to do this when I needed to make something to hold a gift card for Sean's grandma's birthday...

and I will definitely use this idea over and over :)

Ways I procrastinated yesterday...

Man was I super productive...all in the name of procrastination in light of the fact that I had a statistic's test today...a couple of things I accomplished...

Simple invitations to my street's 4th of July party...I save a computer file of invitations and tend to recycle the same exact wording every year just changing up the date or the "2nd/3rd/4th" annual stuff...I tell myself that there has to be little to no chance my neighbor's catch on to this year to year...

And I made a layout...the hearts are actually a notecard I journaled in

I also made a little something else that I'll share tomorrow...wow I would have never guessed three weeks ago that I could actually manage to balance statistics and a chance to still make stuff...it's a relief to think that hopefully I haven't been as boring as I thought I'd be during summer school :)

Finally done...

I started it last July...I wanted to make 9 little collages to replace the "welcome" I had spelled out in frames on our entry way...I made a couple then (that actually ended up being t-shirts which still amazes me that I was given such a cool opportunity)...I made a couple more a few months ago but never finished it up until yesterday...

Here's all nine starting with the two I shared last year...

 

The end is in sight...

Oh boy am I about totally ridiculously ready for our summer schedule to commence...we are mere days away from Mac and Sean being home earlier in the day with no homework or tests and only four days weeks...but before that we have the last week of school which will be extra busy with rehearsals since Mac has his musical next weekend.

So teacher gifts...Mac has two teachers, one right out of college and one with kids my age so I got the young one a super cute beach towel

And bought the other teacher a pitcher that I made a little tag book filled with various recipes for lemonade, punch, & iced tea...see I told you it was pretty much like I did last year...

I collected up recipes from All Recipes and used the little scalloped flowers as the simple decoration...I don't know if this will work but here is the word document I compiled them into...if it does work please let me know

Download drink_recipe_booklet_teacher_gift_61408.doc

And that's all I've got for tonight...it was great Father's Day around here...we watched the US Open and my mom and brother came over and together we made a big meal for Sean...grilled filet mignon & shrimp, crab cakes, risotto and individual strawberry trifles with mascarpone cheese whipped cream...and my mom made real lemonade and brewed iced tea so we could make Arnold Palmers...it was a feast!

There is a craft project I've been meaning to finish for almost a year now that finally completed this weekend but I'll have to share it sometime this week since right now I have more Sunday night stuff I have to get done...

Working on...

end of the year teacher gifts since this will be Mac's last week of school...these little tags are for a little book I'm making for one of Mac's teachers that is a lot like the idea I used last year...I'll be back later with more...

A little break...

No tests or quizzes tomorrow, a house that's fairly straightned up, and finally starting to reach a point where I'm kind of caught up with responsibilities meant I actually had time tonight to make just one page...which after seeing the scan now I think I accidently made it all crooked but oh well I'm just so darn happy I had time to make anything no matter how crooked it is...maybe if I'm super lucky I can find a little more time this weekend for more of this kind of fun and excitiement...maybe. :)

Minus this standard deviation crap...

So I've been studying for hours and I'm kind of freaking out about my second statistics test tomorrow, but before that today was a feeling like a pretty good day...I tried to be cute and was all matchy-matchy with my shirt and purse...for the most part I've been using I have been using the same one since I got it last year but today I decided to open up the purse closet and dust something off...and I realized that I even sort of matched with the little vase of flowers I picked this morning from our backyard...

In the face of statistics formulas I guess I have to turn to inane life details to find happiness in my day.

I also got Father's Day gifts off in the mail...my father-in-law always wants gift cards to buy more books so Sean suggested that it'd be nice to include some updated bookmarks with some photos from our trip last week since I made him some for Christmas awhile ago...

I made a card too...which means I actually got to make something today...oh do I already miss having lots of time for that (only four more weeks though)

Okay back to z scores and t scores and all kinds of yuck...

Sorry I've been busy...

cuddling my Tilly as much as I could this weekend...granted I had to share her with the rest of the family.  I don't remember last year if I properly appreciated all of Caleb's delicious newborness (because that's a word right?) but I am commited to soaking in every little bit I can of my new little niece...

Matilda Mae was born on Friday afternoon after my sister once again labored incredibly. She weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces which my mom pointed out lands her birth weight right in between mine and my sister's I was 6lb 14oz Peg weighed 6lb 12oz.  We were very excited thinking she might have brown hair like the rest of us Jordan girls but it seems as is her father's blond hair may have won out again. 

When my sister told us her name a couple of months ago I claimed (or begged depends on how you look at it) calling her Tilly...so I could be all cool Aunt Nora with my special nickname...my sister never totally agreed but then again she never disagreed so I'm going for it. :)

Here's a couple more photos from our Tilly-filled weekend...

No wonder...

The white-board calendar hangs on the back of my door in the hopes that If I can see everything I'm doing in a given month I might not forget anything...not exactly a foolproof system but at least it's something.

So the thought of this lovely month of June was really stressing me out and tonight as I sat writing, writing and writing some more I now have a visual representation of why...because I am going to be damn busy.  Hell this coming Saturday we have so much going on I had to smush stuff into the box...some of it bad like the dumb standardized writing test I'm obligated to take for school and some of it good like my Dad taking us out for prime rib since he'll be in town.  And did you notice Friday?  On Friday's schedule is a new baby niece arriving in the world...now that's a great thing to get to write on the calendar. :)

At least I'll smell good...

 

The highlight of my day was hitting the sale at Bath & Body Works...over the last couple of weeks I have been squeezing out every drop in the last bottle I had since I had received a sale flyer/coupon and was trying to patiently wait...now I have a plethora of various seasonal scents to choose from that will probably last me almost a year...all this for $51 made me a very happy girl...can't wait to get in the shower tomorrow morning. :)

And smelling good is about all I've got at this point since I'm exhausted from our trip and barely keeping my head above water in my classes and have an ever-growing to-do list for this month.

As for Oregon pictures I'll have to start with the ones with my father-in-law's tractor (that is a tractor, right?  I am SUCH a city girl) and leave it at that since I still need to get some homework done tonight...

Mac on his way to try to scoop up something yelling down the driveway "This one's for you Mom!"

 

Then getting scooped up himself...

And that was just the fun from the first morning...

Goodbye trees...

and listening to the creek at night while falling asleep...and beautiful cool weather with intermittent sun and rain...and really good (but oh so bad for you) food...and shopping with no sales tax (even though it gets you in trouble when you & your sister-in-law stay till the mall closes and are an hour late to dinner)...and the winding roads that I got to drive on by myself for the first time (which are much more fun than a California freeway)...and having light in the sky till 9pm...and family...that is by far the hardest goodbye of all.

We're on our way to the airport so we'll be saying hello to home...and unpacking and laundry and Mac's musical rehearsal and studying for the statistics test I have tomorrow...in about five hours...