Green eggs and ham

Since March is where we celebrate Dr. Seuss birthday, Marcus' school had a "wacky Wednesday" last week. The kids were told to wear wacky clothes (if they so desired) and of course my boy didn't want to be a part of any of that. He can be soooo boring at times. But I didn't push the issue, I figured if he didn't like it, it'll just be a bad day if I forced him to participate.

Anyways he said that for lunch that day (March 2nd) the lunch people made green eggs and ham. He thought that was the coolest thing. He doesn't get lunch at school because I pack him his own (it's cheaper and healthier for him that way) so he didn't get to "taste" it.

I told him to not worry and that we'll have our own Green eggs and ham breakfast on Saturday. We usually have cereal and milk on weekday mornings and Saturday's the only time I make a hot meal.

So on the following Saturday this is what we ate for breakfast....


The kids got a kick out of the color of the eggs. At first they didn't want to eat their eggs. The color grossed them out. Oooppss maybe I put too much food coloring in it! But after some pushing from us they eventually ate it and they loved the new twist to the regular eggs and ham breakfast.
Oh and the bread looked a bit different in shape because for the past month I've been making my own bread. I'm trying to learn new things and breadmaking is one of them. I love how this saves us money and at the same time I feel like the bread I make tastes better and is a bit denser not that light almost tearable ones we get at the store.








So that's our way of celebrating Dr. Seuss birthday this month. A breakfast consisting of green eggs, ham and some toast. Plus we recently read "Wacky Wednesday" again.

Thanks Dr. Seuss for fun stories we can share for generations to come.

Till next time,
Grace

Do I live a sad scrappy life?

Just finished reading this book the other day.



It was a light hearted and clean read. Plus all the scrapbook references made in the book just made me feel like I'm reading part of my life. I really liked it.

But it made me question something....you see the main character loved to scrapbook with her sisters and her mom has a "studio" in their home that the girls all create in. It's one of those "store" like rooms, kinda like mine. LOL.

Anyways she moved to a big city to follow her dreams and on a trip back to her hometown, she realized how much she enjoys scrapbooking with her sisters. She went back to the big city only to find that there are no groups that get together to scrap. She mentioned how sad it must be for scrapbookers that don't get together with other crafters to create.

Now my question to you....if you don't mind chiming in is....is it sad for a die hard scrapbooker like me that I have not "cropped" with anybody for years? I create pretty much everyday but it's been years that I've actually scrapbooked with somebody. Do I live a sad scrapping life?

Over the years, I have found that it's most convenient for me to scrapbook alone because (a) I can pick up a project anytime I have the extra minutes to spare (b) my stuff is so much that I don't think I can pack for a crop anymore and (c) I don't want the hassle of finding someone to watch my kids while I scrapbook somewhere else.

But then again, am I missing the bonding time with other scrappers that I could have if I were to go to a crop?

I guess I'm just rambling too much. Blame it on these....


Yes, spent another grueling morning yesterday at the dentist chair and these are the only things that are keeping me from crashing today.

Till next time,
Grace

Shamrock Pinwheels

Today I have been officially been in Colorado Springs for 3 months. In that span of time, I've gone through 5 major snow falls (in my opinion), visited about 7 unique places, learned how to adjust my baking/cooking time to higher altitude, my phone has become an instant accessory of which I talk to my family members almost everyday and I have learned that although my car (Ford Expedition) can do a lot of things....it CANNOT be driven in snow.
Mitch just bravely tried it on Monday when he took Marcus to wrestling and found out the hard way when he was pulling up our steep driveway and started sliding down sideways and hit his truck, breaking the back headlights.
He was irritated at this and what was my reaction?....a sly smile. I knew it and even told him about it but I guess he needed to find it out by himself. Oh the life we live now in Colorado!

So anyways today I wanna share a small home decor project I made recently with St. Patrick's day in mind...

Shamrock Pinwheels

remember this spot where I had placed a flower topiary last month? Well I've removed that and in it's place made this.


I just took a some pattern papers, preferably double sided ones, cut slits on the corners, folded it to the center and added a brad to hold it. I then added that pinwheel with brad through some Popsicle sticks which I punched a small hole through with my crop-a-dile. and voila, easy peasy pinwheels.


this small container was a recycled packaging container that I covered with pattern paper. For the shamrock design, I punched out three small hearts, adhered them to look like the lucky leaf, stuck a pearl in the middle and scribbled a little stem on the bottom.


and this is where it stands right now. I turned my milk glass container upside down to give the pinwheel a stand since it's kinda short.

So that's it for me on this Thursday morning. Have a great day.

Till next time,
Grace

Are you prepared?

I know I'm not the only one that's noticing the spike on gas prices. It's the talk of the town. Every "news" show you watch, they have a segment on how it's sky rocketing fast and the many speculations on why.

Well I'm here to tell you that that's not where our problem ends. When gas prices go up, it's just the start of more hardships. Gas being high will cause everything else to go up, pretty much everything we purchase will go up in price.

That's why when my husband had a thought that we need to replenish our food storage on Saturday, I was not against it at all. As a member of the LDS faith, we have been counseled by our prophets to have a one year food supply stored in our home in case of emergency. Emergency is not just defined as a natural disaster but also times where money will be tight (like loosing a job). Such was the case for us last year when my husband lost his job. Our saved up food supply really helped us make it through those hard times.

So since we have used our food storage then, we have depleted some of the items. So last Saturday we went to Costco to buy more stuff and after some reorganization in the storage room, here's what our stocked up food look like...


There was a business in the same street as my husband's old family business and they had these plastic containers that they were throwing away. My husband got some and that's what we use for most of our dried items like rice, beans, flour, sugar and pasta.


We date our items so it'll be easy to rotate them. As you can see, some we haven't used and others we needed to replenish soon.


I love these plastic containers because they're transparent enough to see what's inside of them and also they're water proof.


Here's a look at cans, big things of oil and our MREs (meals ready to eat)


When you're putting together your food storage, keep in mind what your family usually eats. For us, tomato sauce is a good starter for pasta sauce, enchilada, soups, etc. We also like top ramen noodles so we have that in our storage .


I know how to make my own bread now so I stocked up on more yeast. We also have canned soup and meat here.


this shelf/rack system is in our laundry room next to our extra refrigerator.


this one has more canned items. I not only get my storage items from Costco. I also look for items to stock up on at Walmart, Big lots and at my local grocery store. Make sure you stock up on your family favorites when they go on sale. Oh and at Big lots, you need to pay attention to the expiration dates. Sometimes it's so soon that they're not worth the purchase.


We eat hamburger helpers, mac and cheese and pudding mixes a lot so they're part of our storage too.

We also purchase some meats at Costco. I picked the big cut meats because they're cheaper and I can have a lot of options for them. We got some beef and pork roasts as well as whole chickens for our storage.

So that's it. I hope I was able to give you some information that will help you start or refill your food storage.

I decided to share this with all of my blog readers because WE ALL NEED TO BE PREPARED!!! There's no better time than today. Think about it....if you wait another month, you're 99 cents a pound of chicken today will be $1.99 a pound next month. Which price would you rather pay for the chicken?

And for more information to start up a food storage, check this website out. Very informative.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope I was able to put a little bug on your ear that will help you and your family in an emergency. Oh and don't feel obligated to fill up a room like we did in one shot. Our supply was not built in a day and yours shouldn't either. But the point is start now!

Till next time,
Grace

Spring card plus a whopping announcement.....

It's bright and snowy outside so I think this card fits on how I'm feeling right now....that is "I can't wait till spring arrives"!

Spring is here card

I made this card fro Clear Scraps. I used the fun buckle acrylic frame to emphasize the stamped image and card sentiment.


I used products from Pink Paislee and Cosmo Cricket among others which are part of the VIP Preferred product list from Clear Scraps.


and what could be better than a share of a card but a tutorial. Yes I chronicled my process in making this card. Check out the blog post here.

Oh and how rocking my weekend was...not only was I able to spend some good quality time with my family but on Sunday, I got a fun email from Cardabilities.

They picked me as part of their design team. See the announcement here. I can't wait to work on the April sketches!

Thanks for letting me share today.

Till next time,
Grace

Cheyenne Mountain State Park

Last Saturday was another great day here in Colorado Springs. We took a 15 minute drive into the mountains and checked out the Cheyenne Mountain State Park. We first stopped by the visitor's center, purchased some maps and went into the cashier to pay for a pass. Mitch was floored to know of the annual pass price which was a whopping $70 and a day's pass is $7. The day's pass doesn't seem that big but he kept on comparing it with how in Cali it's only $5 for a day's pass and an annual pass is not that steep. I guess in this situation, Cali has the better price.

Anyways, this specific state park has a ton of trails and being that this was our first time here, we decided to do a shorter trail with a 1.3 mile hike. Here's some photos of our walk....


On Friday it was cloudy with some snow falling and so it was not a surprise that the clouds were hanging low in this photo. The only thing that surprised be about this was that this was taken in mid day which I'd assume, the clouds have burnt off, but I guess that's another "only in Colorado" type of things.


I got to place my camera on a big boulder and adjusted it for a self timer shot.




This was the view of the valley below us. Fort Carson is actually just on the other side of the hill on the far right side of the picture.








I love how this brown dried leaves lends great color against all the bare foliage in the trail.


Maddie and I resting a bit on top of a big rock.


Maddie and I were walking together most of the time and here's our "in their shoes" photo of the day. :)


After walking for some time, the kids, especially Maddie was getting warmer and thus here's how she ended up wearing her jacket.


We were surprised to see some humongous bird's nest. We could just imagine the size of the birds that live in these kinds of nests.

So that's it. Happy Monday everyone and hope we all have a great week.

Till next time,
Grace

Maddie's first fallen tooth

We had a big milestone happen in our home on Friday night. No it wasn't that my son knows how to drive now or that my husband and I had celebrated a major anniversary. It was bigger than that! Or so it seemed to my dear sweet daughter who happened to have finally lost that wiggly tooth of hers.

It was her first one and she came running to my scrapbook room with tooth in one hand and blood coming out of her mouth. But don't be to gross out because she sure wasn't.

All she cared about was that it finally came out and that the tooth fairy can finally visit our home and leave her a good chuck of change.

Here's some photos of my funny and yet so brave of a child...

I say brave cause she actually pulled her tooth by herself. It was so loose that she was getting annoyed by it and just yanked it out! What a courageous little gal she is.


After we cleaned up her mouth, I noticed that the new tooth have actually sprouted. I think that's why her baby tooth was more wiggly and ready to be plucked out.


She was never more willing to smile for me than at this time.

and true to her word, the tooth fairy came that night, got her tooth and exchanged it with four quarters.

Maddie was definitely a happy girl waking up on Saturday morning.

Till next time,
Grace

Lucky Me! *Upsy Daisy Designs*

Happy Friday everyone. Today my goal is to go do some window shopping at the mall before the rain/snow falls. For some strange reason, I'm dying to shop! I guess it's because I'm feeling good at my running/yoga routine that I think....I think ....there's some results that I can celebrate with. I'll let you know how that goes.

Anyways today I want to share a layout I made for Upsy Daisy Designs. We were given free reign on products/paper line this month for our assignments and since it's March where we celebrate St. Patrick's day, I decided to play on the "lucky" theme and here's what I cam up with....

Lucky Me!

These photos are of me and hubby last Easter. I decided to use these phtoos because of the green in my outfit. Mitch doesn't like the photos that much because of how he looks when he kissed me on the cheeks but I still like them and smiled when he commented about them. He asked me if I'm going to be posting these photos in my blog and I said yes. After that he just shook his head. Hehehehehe.


Anyways, I used a bunch of green colored items here to emphasize the theme. I used papers from the Home Sweet Home, Vogue and A walk in the park lines.


I hand cut flowers from the Vogue line to create my own floral embellishments. I added some brads in their centers for a finished look.


The journaling was inspired by the quote strip that I added here. It says "life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain....". I love how it has given me the springboard to talk about how lucky I feel to have a husband to strong and courageous and how he helps me be strong amid the challenges as well. I journaled about the struggles we went through before moving here in Colorado. If you've followed my blog for sometime, you'd know that it we were separated for about four months because he had to start his job here while I and the kids waited for our home in California to finally close. It was definitely one of the hardest things I had to go through and I'm so grateful for a supportive and strong in faith husband.

So that's it. Make sure you check out the UDD products here.

Oh and before I go, I wanna say thanks for all the congratulatory comments about my Clear Scraps DT announcement. I have truly been in cloud 9 since then.

Have a good weekend.

Till next time,
Grace

I'm in.....AGAIN!!!

Can't believe my luck. When Clear Scraps announced that they were going to hold a DT call and all present DT's must reapply, my stomach was in knots the whole time. I was doubting my ability and if I had performed up to par to be asked for another term. But alas, luck was on my side and I'm in, AGAIN!!!

I'll be joined by these talented ladies...

A very talented new member- Adora
An Amazing designer we all know- Irene Tan
The most incredible artist and past DT coordinator- Cathy Schellenberg
A fresh new designer for Clear Scraps- Heidi Kelley
The beloved- Hilde Janbroers
Our very own Crafty Chic- Tonya Dirk
Our newest team member and always fabulous- Jennifer Priest
One crafty mom- Rita Barakat
and our Pinkalicious DT Coordinator- Cristal "Pinky" Hobbs

Check out the formal announcement here.

Now off to celebrate with some chocolate. :) :) :)

Till next time,
Grace

Through my lens minibook *Clear Scraps*

I don't have any lame openers for you today. My brain is fried I guess and to think it's only Tuesday. Oh well!

Anyways here's a mini I'd like to share today featuring the camera acrylic mini from Clear Scraps...

Through my lens
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I traced the shaped albums on the pattern paper and cut to create the shapes. I highlighted the opening on the front of the album with liquid pearl and placed my title around it.

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I smeared some stickles on the foam letter stickers to create the sparkling effect.

I used stickers, one size of photos and journaling blocks to fill up the pages of the album.
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I used perspective photos of our recent trip to the theme park.

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close up of the back side of the mini.

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sideview of the mini.

Thanks for stopping by and make sure you check out Clear Scraps website for more inspirational products.

Till next time,
Grace