What did I do today?

I read a book.
A whole book.
374 pages.
I started it, and intended to pause, and at least throw some laundry in. But I never found a place to stop. I kept thinking, in another page I will go get something done. And then the book ended.
I am so sad.
This was quite possibly the best book I have ever read.
I laughed and cried.
And I miss the characters now that it is over.

You can buy it HERE.
Or borrow it from the library--I was on the waiting list forever for it.
If you are local you can just borrow it from me.
I bought it on Half.com after I read it, it is a book I will want to re-read.
(Corianne--it reminded me a lot of Mrs. Mike.)
I also completed a layout using only Coredinations Cardstock.
I think this is my new favorite layout. I love the colors, and this photo of my girls.

I have many more scrappy assignments to work on.
And laundry.
And cleaning.
But no book to distract me this time. Heh.

Toolsday!

I know I have already sung the praises of the Johnson and Johnson Clean and Clear Deep Action Face Cleaner.
I found a new one:

Johnson and Johnson Deep Action Exfoliating Scrub. Yep. Has those grainy little beads that scrub your face PLUS the tingly minty feeling. I think it was five bucks at Satan's Warehouse. Find some! Treat yourself. I swear some days that is all I have to look forward to: washing my face at night with a tingly yummy soap before falling into bed.

Here is another one of my tools for this Tuesday.
I am so excited about this one!
Bo Bunny now makes these fabulous little tins called " All Stuck Ups." There are fabric flowers, brads and buttons.
They are magnetized on the bottoms of the tins, so you can hang them on any metal surface.
They are sold in color families, which makes me need all of them, but convenient for scrapping. Nice to have them handy and out in the open where I can easily grab them.



I attached a shelf bracket to the edge of my computer shelf to hang them on for now, until I find a permanent spot for them. I am thinking about sheeting a whole wall of my studio in metal. I like the magnet idea. I will keep y'all updated on that.
Bo Bunny also came out with some new rub-on's in metallic colors: silver, bronze, gold. I got to do a couple of samples using prototypes of the rub-ons. They were fun! Here are a couple projects using those:


And the last tool of the day?
This guy:

Who just turned twelve.
He is my oldest.
Heading to Junior High.
He is at that "crossroads" age.
Still wants to believe in Santa, and will secretly watch The Wonder Pets, but has his own opinions about hairstyles and clothing labels. Not quite sure if his parents still fit into the coolness category.
(Note to Jayden: We do.)

He is my right-hand, with his Dad working so much.
I depend on him a lot, and dang that kid always pulls through for me.
He's a good tool.
Happy 12th, Jayden!

Jurassic Fart.

A fantabulous 39 seconds, especially if you have a boy in the house.
Any age, really.
Husband?
You're welcome.

The new "Crocs."

You saw it here first. (snicker)

Girls Camp in pictures

Our campsite.
Not too bad. Nice flat areas without a lot of rocks for the tents to go.

Some activities:
Washing your hair in the freezing cold water spigot. NO thank you. The girls thought it was "refreshing." I say "instant headache."

Doing each others hair. Girls do this. Don't hate us.

Nightly gather 'round the fire. My favorite. You know, cause we had S'mores...and stupid human tricks.

Crafts.

Activities. This was a pop-bottle rocket shooter. Eventually any activity turns into a water-fight.

Lots of walking.

Morning and evening flag ceremony.

Silly camp skits.

Wildlife:




Very pretty area, huh?


And here is the whole group of us:

It looks so fun in pictures, it almost makes me look forward to next year...
Almost.

An on-time TOOLSDAY report!

You know how I went to camp?
Well, Sam loved me enough to allow me to take with me his baby.

He loves this flashlight.
Truth be told, he has this really weird obsession with flashlights.
He has the Maglite.
The mini-Maglite.
The grande deluxe Maglite.
Head-lamps.

(Don't you be making fun of the headlamp, it's actually nice to be hands-free. The function over-rides the stupid factor, much like the fanny pack.)
In fact, he had an entire secret cupboard in the house full of flashlights.
I told him I needed a flashlight for camp.
And he grinned ear to ear.
He askes me what I would be using it for.
What type of conditions?
Did I need LED?
How far did I need to see?
Do I need an adjusting beam?
I was confused.
I told him that I would just grab something at Dollar Tree.
I just needed to be able to find the bathroom in the middle of the night.
He looked like I had just sucker-punched him to the groin.
He opted to sacrifice and send me with the Mercedes of all Flashlights, and then he proceeded to call me, and check on it every night.
"How's that thing working for you?"
"I bet everyone has flashlight envy..."

So in honor of the Flashlight of the Gods, and Sam's weird nagging, The Leatherman Monarch 500 (available at Costco if you want the man in your life to pee his pants in delight) is my "tool of the day."

Delicious.

I realize this is my second post today, but I sat down to type and grabbed one of these bars, and really had to spread the love.
Really.
These things are awesome.
They are two weight watchers points each.
And they are big!
They are not like your typical 100 calorie pack treats, which I think are sad.
No one likes to open a treat, discover two cookies the size of your thumbnail, seven crumbs, and tasting like the cardboard box it came in.
Worse yet, the 100 calorie packs of Oreos.
THEY HAVE NO CREAM FILLING.
I know!!
What good is the Oreo, without the cream filling?
Let's be honest, have you not thrown those chocolate cookies things away, when you make your own "double stuffs?"
I thought so.
Most 100 calorie packs leave me wanting a real treat.
Not these fudge bars.
They taste like a lie.
A sweet, sweet, creamy lie.
Like the folks making these treats made them with full-strength calories and fat, and maybe EXTRA of both, and just put lies on the box.
"Let's just tell them they are 100 calories..." (snicker)
Maybe it is a conspiracy.
It sure tastes like one.
A sweet, sweet, creamy conspiracy.

Gag.

Remember when I went to camp?

And when I left, like I always do, I cleaned the house up.
I did leave laundry.
I knew I would have a lot of that when I got back, and that was okay.
I cleaned everything else though.
I have this thing with not wanting to come home from vacation to a dirty house.
My Mom always did that too.
She was always sleep deprived going into vacation, cause she stayed up so late the night before spit-shining the house.
I think perhaps subconsciously, we are thinking that if we DIE on a trip, at least the relatives combing through what we left behind won't be appalled at the state of our non-vacuumed carpets? Maybe??
Anyway...
I left half of a dishwasher full of dirty dishes. There wasn't enough to run the load.
I came home to THE SAME STINKY DISHWASHER AND AN OVERFLOWING SINK FULL OF DIRTY DISHES.
The smell.
Oh, sweet moses.
The smell!
I can't even describe to you what shredded wheat looks like after fermenting in milk, in the summer, in the sink for four days.
No one should ever know what that looks like.
Or smells like.
And the dishwasher...I opened the door, and almost passed out.
I am still gagging.

Non-camper.

I don't like camping.
Let's be honest, the only reason I ever go is for the toasted marshmallows.

I don't like bugs.
Dirt.
Smokey campfire smoke.


My contact lenses.
Trying to keep kids hands clean.
Sticky hands.
Helping kids squat in the woods to go potty.
Cooking things without the right pots/ingredients/utensils.
Trying to squat in the woods myself.
Amorous husbands...in a tent...really?
Being hotter than the blazes of hades, and then freezing my buttocks off all night on an AIR MATTRESS that has at some point in the middle of the night gone flat, and left you on the ONLY ROCK that the tent was pitched on.
Hooting owls, and frogs and well....nature is so freaking loud at night!
And the farting.
And the silly kids giggling alllll niiiight looooong. (okay, I like that one, but we can do that in the comfort of OUR OWN HOME!)
Not to mention the post-camping laundry.
Everything has to be washed!
I feel like one over-nighter a year is really "taking one for the team."
Can you guess what my boys are doing here?

Oh, and where might they have learned this important fire-maintenance survival skill?
MmmmmHmmmmm.

So guess where I will be next week?
Yes, I said WEEK.
Tues-Friday. (although I think I am coming home Thursday)
At Girl's Camp.
Camping.
In a tent.
In a camp.
Camping.

Lucky me.
So if I am not around...
There just better be enough marshmallows. That's all I'm sayin'.

A whole lotta sick going on.

I got some weird 24 hour bug.
It settled in my spine.
It was the strangest thing, my back hurt from my neck to my tail-bone.
It felt swollen and puffy.
I sat in the recliner all day yesterday.
Today I feel a little wiped out, but not like yesterday.

So I went shopping.

I went SWIMSUIT shopping.
I know some of you just just involuntarily groaned in horror.
And some of you knowingly smiled and nodded. In sympathy.
Have you been this year? Did YOU get a new suit?

Nothing like taking the last shred of self-esteem a lady in her mid-30's possesses, and tossing it into a wood-chipper.

I swear, the fun-house mirrors they put in dressing rooms don't help at all.
I know I can't look that wide.
Or white.
Or cellulite-y.
Where do they get those mirrors?
Seems like they would want to install the good carnival mirrors, those kind that make you look all skinny.
And dim the lights, for the love of all that is holy.
And make the tri-fold mirror that you can see your whole back-side with INSIDE THE DRESSING ROOM, instead of down the hall, where all the skinny girls try things on.

And the best is the "leave your underwear on to try swim-wear on."
Cause yeah, you get a pretty accurate look-see at the final picture with big 'ol granny panties hanging out the sides.

I ventured into Tankini-land.
It covered more than the one-piece suits.
I just hope like heck it doesn't float up in the water one day and flash folks my craptastic mid-section.

My old suit has served me well.
I think I have had that thing for like six years.

That is how long it has taken me to get the nerve to go trying swimwear on again.
I am proud of me.
Maybe this week I will also call the dentist.

Our garden this year:

We are growing Mud Pies.
It looks like a bumper crop!

Boredom Busters

Here are a few things we have been doing here. Now that it is July, we have our summer groove on.

Sleeping in, staying up late. It's the Wadley way.

The kids and I broke out a craft project. I got it in Family Fun magazine.

The LINK IS HERE for the instructions.

Even my boys got into it. Braiding the "legs" and everything. Except that they added extra eyeballs and some sort of weaponry, and called them Octomus Prime. Anyway...

We got a huge bag of yarn at the thrift store for like two bucks, and the Styrofoam balls came in a six pack for three bucks at Satan's Warehouse.

I think every boy needs to know how to braid hair. I remember having a boyfriend once, who liked to braid my hair. I am telling you nothing felt better than to watch a movie, and have someone combing my hair. Girls, back me up here...it feels nice. No, I am not sure if he ended up, um, a hair-dresser, or um, batting for "the other team."

My girls and I have been making a lot of these too.

My apologies to The Pioneer Woman, a blog I read frequently.
I stole the image right off of her cooking blog.
Here is the LINK TO THE RECIPE.
The best part about this recipe? My five year old can make them "self!"
Of course I pop them into the oven, but she can spread the peanut butter, and place the marshmallow.
Quick and easy, and she likes to tell people she made them.
Plus easy to keep those ingredients in the pantry. They are kinda like staples, really.

Then here is a link that we have been wasting a lot of time on:
WILL IT BLEND
Is it wrong that I suddenly "need" a $400.00 blender?
I hope I linked that one right, our favorite episode is the Chuck Norris one.

I was disappointed in the fireworks show last night.
I heard there was a firework shortage this year?
Or maybe that is the rumor floating around my little town that is actually code for "Jim-Bob streamlined the Pyrotechnics budget."

Either way, it was a sad display.
And this is my most favoritest holiday.
I would for-go Christmas for the 4th.
I love it that much.

Happy 4th anyway...(shrugs)

Hey! Why didn't someone remind me, it's TOOLSDAY!

I totally forgot last week too.

And I have plenty more good tools to report on.
This week I went to Costco, after a long, dry non-Costco run.

I was jonesin' for a hamburger, you see, and bought that mega-box of meat for the grill, then I had to get the cinder-block sized cheese brick to go along with it.

Sam makes fun of me for buying those bricks of cheese, cause we always end up throwing half of it away, it gets all moldy and stuff.

I am determined to use this brick.
The whole thing.

I made the burgers, and everyone had cheese on their meat.
Even the hot-dog eaters.
Had cheese.
On their hot-dogs.
Yeah, it was kinda gross, but I am TRYING TO USE CHEESE, MAN! Besides, hot dogs are just gross anyway. What does cheese matter?

So anyway, tonight we are having...dun, dun, DUN!
Grilled Cheese.

However, about a week ago, I threw away our griddle.
Yes, I certainly did.
We got it as a wedding gift, in 1994.
We laughed because it was so big, and there were only two of us.
And then we had five kids. We thought that was a good idea...
And then we laughed cause it was too small. I could barely fit six pancakes on it, and that is like three bites for my family now.
The legs broke. Sam glued them.
They broke again, and Sam wired them.
Then they disintegrated into plastic dust, and for the past six months I have used magnets as legs.
And then it hit me...
Much like the toilet seat incident.
Why am I hanging onto this hunk of crap?
So I chucked it into the garbage can.
It made a satisfactory thunk.
And today, I realized that I didn't have a grill just as soon as I buttered all the bread to make the sandwiches.
So I ran to Target, and picked this baby up:

My tool of the week.
It's bigger than our old one.
And I unwrapped it, and set it to work right away.
My first batch of grilled cheese sandwiches burnt to a crisp in 3.2 seconds.
Apparently they have taken great leaps in grill technology since 1994.
It cooks, baby!
Was I sad about the burnt-ness?

Nope, cause I used more cheese that way.