More me

So today I got to enjoy a little more me time.  Not necessarily the kind you plan out and fully enjoy, the kind that sneaks up on you and you just enjoy it for what it is.

My boys were both at events (one practice and the other a scrimmage) and I had a little time (about 2 hours) to just shop.  Not for anything specific, just browse and see and smell.  I hung out at the Bath and Body Works for a while putting on scents and rubbing things in...something I have not done in probably 3 years.  Then I wandered the mall, just looking and walking.  I happened across a new store...a gelato store.....YUM!  Oh, the choices.  I looked at everything and made my pick...then the server told me I could have up to three different flavors in my cup....oh joy!....so I had Tiramisu, Dulce De Leche and Sea Salt Caramel (sounds weird but yum!)  I took my fabulous cup of delight and sat on a bench and watched the people walk by.  I haven't people watched in a long long time.  And I must say...people are weirder than ever...lol.  I finished my treat and walked back outside to return to the school for child pick-up and was able to enjoy yet another treat, sitting in my car with the window open, reading a book, watching the sun set.

It was only 2 hours, but it was long enough to remind me of what it was like before I was a Mom running around like a chicken with my head cut off after kids....even though the reason I was even there in the first place was to pick up said child.

Treading water

Somebody (ahem ...Carolyn) convinced me I needed this particular punch from FISKARS.  During our training class at FISKARS on Saturday, Nikki told us that they had finally gotten caught up with all the backorders on this particular punch and they were readily available at stores again.  They had NOT anticipated how popular this punch was going to be and were not prepared for it.

So, on stop two after our visit to the FISKARS HQ we found a little scrapbook store, which I just happened to have a 40% off coupon for.  I printed out 3 coupons for us and two of us snagged the Treading Water punch...yippeee.

Since we had driven so far, there was no reason not to check out as many things as we could in Madison.  So our first stop after class was at Hobby Lobby.  Our closest HL is 90 miles away, so this is a treat to have one a mile away from our destination.  Stop two was to the Scrapbooking Superstore where I got my Treading water punch and we ran into MAYA who was shopping too.  Stop three involved the Archivers (we have to check out the competition) and small purchases from there..which involved using my coupons for free cardstock and some hot spot buys.  WE have WAY more stuff than both the Superstore and the Archivers.  Stop Four and five involved food.  We found a Mexican grill which was right next to a Starbucks...hmmm.  The Mexican grill was called Panchero's and when we walked in the door it was just like Chipotle and Burracho's.  The only difference was they actually made the tortilla fresh.  They had these little dough balls and when you ordered a burrito (which I did) they stuck the little ball in the squisher machine and flattened it out.  Then they peeled it off and put it on the grill to cook...OMG, this smelled SO GOOD.  What a difference that made.  It was delicious.  And their guacamole was fabulous.  Next we headed to Starbucks for a drink for the road...me, I just drank my Diet Coke because I don't like coffee.  Stop six was for cheap gas, only $3.69.  And then stop seven for CHOCOLATE.  
This is a larger photo of the CHOCOLATE shop we stopped at outside of Baraboo (near Wisconsin Dells)...and across the street from the Ho Chunk Casino.  I didn't buy any "Cow Pies" but they are really tasty.  It is basically a caramel turtle but really really large, probably 3-4 inches across. 

And that's the trip in a nutshell.

I am certifiable...

Me and the girls having a little fun at the FISKARS demonstrator class...those big scissors were so fun!

Our certificates...the serious shot.  Nikki, Dawn, Maya, Leann, & Barb

A little more fun...with cow pies...this one is for RITA!!

We took a different route back hoe and stopped by the "Cow Pie" factory....seriously.  There is a yummy chocolate called a "cow Pie": caramel, nuts and chocolate in the shape of a....cow pie. Super yummy.  I bought some "cow chips" (chocolate covered potato chips), peanut butter cups, mint meltaways, and some other chocolates.  I will have more photos of this stop later.

The gang again after our chocolate buying binge....better than a casino run!

I say this because when we got to this point the choice was turn left for the chocolate factory or right for the casino....we picked the chocolate because instead of losing $20 we got $20 worth of chocolate.....yummy wins over the possibility of nothing....

see ya later tater

Sit and relax, that is all I would like to do.  The last 4 weeks have been crazy.  I am so looking forward to school starting.  I need a little ME time.  I will get that today with my little trip to Madison for the day, but I am bringing a couple pals alone...so it isn't actually "alone" time...but a ME day nonetheless.

Since I like to have a photo on the bloggie....

That's one of the kittens to the left... "Squeaker" from the "Triple threat".  We have three kittens that look pretty much identical..just the grey patch on their heads that makes them different.  We also have three steps leading from the back door to the ground.  They have decided to EACH take a step for themselves and sit on them.  They especially like to scare the heck out of us when we come out the door and don't expect to see them in that spot.  Calgon, take me away.....

Taking a trip

I am heading to Fiskars HQ tomorrow!  I am going to become a Certified FISKARS Demonstrator.  I have been wanting to become a CFD since I found out it was even an option.  Thank goodness Carolyn keeps me informed of things going on in my area....what would I do without her....be sitting in my living room watching TV all day that's what.    Stephenie from Fiskars is planning to visit the store some time this fall and I was hoping to get more info on tools and things.  Maybe she will be there as well.  If not, I get to learn on some cool new tools first hand.

That is my exciting news for the day.

I have been fairly creative the last few days....I have them posted at the Scraparita site if you want to look.  I only post one a day....makes it looks like I actually keep up with my blogs...lol  The fact that you can set the posts to post at any time you want is awesome.

More tomorrow after my return from HQ in Madison.

Rootin' tootin'

Where to begin?  This one is going to ramble a bit.

Stupid Criminals:  3am Saturday morning I awoke to the sound of a loud muffler outside.  This isn't unusual in the country.  People park on the road that runs to the south of us all the time thinking "nobody actually lives on that road, therefor nobody can see us".....wrong....I can see everything from the bedroom window.  This particular set of geniuses got into their vehicle and drove through the ditch and into our hayfield...the one we just fertilized a week prior.  I got up and turned on the porch light and other house lights in the hopes they would see that "someone" had noticed their activities and go away...which they did after a couple minutes.  We could hear them burn out down the road and do a few more things as they went away.  A few hours later when we left to go to the hunters safety test (first photo) we checked out our field...which had 100 foot donuts in it.  From that point we could follow a path of destruction right to the neighbors door...literally!  DUH.  There were donuts in other fields too, and in peoples yards, signs missing....you name it.  The best part was when the Sheriff showed up to gather evidence and the kid denied doing anything...and the cop found soybean leaves still in the grill of the truck...which was parked at the end of a 30 foot skid mark in the guys driveway....DUH again...lol

Hunter's Safety:  Q passed with flying colors.  You are supposed to lay down to shoot, but the grass was so wet they didn't make them do it, they just had them sit and shoot for the final 5 shots.

Yummy food:  We had a nice dinner after the Safety class at Olive Garden.  They had a tasty appetizer that I just had to try to reproduce.  The "Caprese Flatbread" was so good and I can never make anything taste like it does in the restaurants, but I figured I would try it.  It looked simple enough.  Bread, tomatoes, parmesan, and some kind of creamy cheese as the base.  I figured it was mascarpone or something for the base so I bought all the things I thought I needed and set to making it for supper tonight.  I used a ciabatta bread instead of flatbread....and then I decided to look at the Olive Garden website to see the picture of it.....and the recipe is right there!!  And not mascarpone or cream cheese....mayonnaise....go figure!  Whatever!!...it was good.  I think I will do it again with the ciabatta, but I want to try a few other breads I found today in my quest for a "flat" bread to use.....who knew Olive Garden would use a refrigerated pizza dough??  This is NOT a low fat item...but I think you could make it better with a few adjustments.

PAZZLES Passion

This is my PAZZLES project for the month of June.  I just shipped out my August project yesterday so it will be a month before you see the July project on the blog.

This project was using Basic Grey's "Oh Baby" line with a theme of "simple pleasures".

Since we had just returned from a quick visit to Chicago, I had a ton of photos of the little girls...and this one with the pink sprinkle donut was my favorite one of Miss M.  Don't worry, these kids are used to me having my camera stuck in their face at all times....lol.

Other items in the project are the Dew Drops, which i love using too.  So much fun to add to a project.  I don't seem to use them in my own projects, but I do in these.  The bottom photo has a close up of the detail in the flowers.  A simple project, but something you have to do every once in a while.

Sky Watch

Well, not really.  I check out Jeanne's blog to see what she's up too and she has such great photos of the sky and landscapes and I thought I would share some of my favorites from vacation back in June.  This one is a photo of the architecture of  the WYNN or Venetian..not sure.  I took a bunch of pictures of things like this, just because they were pretty to me. 

I have more to share, but these are my picks for today.

Thursday things

Another photo from the long weekend we had with family.  The poor kittens were tortured for a few hours a day by the little girls.  They seemed to accept the holding and playing, but they are not used to being held for quite so long...and being kittens, they have "things to do".  So they escaped often, which led to a chase and more fun.  Good times for the whole crew.

My Thursday didn't go as planned.  My oil change turned into a quest for righting some wrongs....why does it end up this way with my car??  The oil change itself was fine, but the tire rotation was not.  Apparently when I had one tire fixed after a flat it was mounted wrong....duh, the tires have "outside" imprinted right on the tire....(not that I knew this until it was pointed out to me)...but as a TIRE STORE employee, you would think this would be an IMPORTANT thing to notice!  So, from the oil change place I had to run to the tire change place.  A one stop errand turned into 7....and I didn't even get my fun errands done while I was out and about, just boring household stuff.  I am not a happy camper!  Now I have to wait another 5 days for my Granola and Corn Jacks from the whole foods store.  I did buy a little consolation item to make myself feel better....I will post my new projects with the toys in a few days on the SCRAPARITA blog.  I have made 4 cards since I got home.

Later

Playin' with my toys....

I have gotten some of the new embossers and dies from CUTTLEBUG and have been having a field day with them!  Who doesn't love this machine!!!!

I have uploaded several to my other blog (the craft one) and this one repeats a paper design...so I figured I would post it here instead.

I have been busy this morning moving older posts from the old SCRAPARITA blog to this one so that everything on that blog is just crafty stuff.  I didn't want to lose all the past data...so if you go back to the beginning of this blog you will find some really old posts.  I love that you can change the dates on posts now and move info like this.  i didn't want to lose my photos either.

Nothing else happening in this neck of the woods.  Mr N has a party tonight so guess who gets to go pick him up at 11pm...me!  Ugh....and then I have to be up early to get the car to get an oil change in the AM...yeesh, what was I thinking?