What's in your bag.

An Iowa Mom posted about a show and tell where her son decorated a paper bag and put 3 things in it that showed who he is.  So she shared if she had to do the same project what would she put in here bag.  And asked her readers to share what they would do.

Now assuming it was a grocery sack sized bag...  here's what I would put in my bag.

1. My purple laptop, it shows all of me, my digiscrapping, Pictures/personalities/artwork of my kids. Also I do some stuff for work on it too.

2. This one would be tied between my phone (blackberry) and my camera. But since my phone also takes pictures I'll choose my phone. I use it for everything. To do lists, shopping lists. If I lost my phone I'd probably feel like an arm was severed.

A glimpse into either of the above shows you pretty much who I am in it's entirety.

3. Coffee mug. I'm a coffee junkie. But I always use travel mugs, never paper cups. I'm nutso when it comes to as little waste as possible.

So now I ask you... what would you put in your bag?

It's Real Life #3

So this weeks assignment is "where the magic happens" And if I were a magician I would magically transform our bedroom into a much larger, serene oasis. At this moment it couldn't be farther from that.

Lucky for me today is laundry day and I had already pulled the sheets off the bed. Surprisingly the bare mattress is actually prettier than what is actually normally on my bed. I really want new stuff but like everything else the bedroom decor has pretty much been forgotten about. My usual sheets are a lovely cream, navy and hunter green stripe. Travis' pillow cases match, mine are a dusty blue, they coordinate perfectly I assure you. *grin* The bed is rarely made, okay, never made. For covers we have uber warm, huge, fuzzy fleece blanket adorned with a wolf that I snuggle under in the winter. For warmer weather we have a lovely tattered and torn "quilt" It's one of those cheaply mass-produced horrors that I've had for ohhhh maybe 10 years. It's white with lots of blue, some pink and yellow and a tiny bit of red. That red ties in perfectly with my "beautiful" red walls.

The red walls where the first color paint we threw up when we bought our house. The red was a rebellion against the white rental walls I'd always had. I wanted COLOR and this red was just the ticket. Too bad we actually did "throw" it up because we did a pretty bad job painting. We never painted out the trim and it REALLY needs it. I'm sure the trim was at one time white. Now it's more of a yellowish cream. There's chips and gouges and red brush marks from where we got sloppy thinking we were just going to paint the trim white anyway. So how do we explain the brush strokes on the white of the ceiling? Ummmmm no comment.

So here is the tiny closet used by Travis mentioned in last weeks post. This door is as wide as the closet actually is. And that door is not even as wide as a normal door! The closet is deeper than it is wide.

Don't you just love my dresser! I want a nice antique type dresser someday, in the meantime this somewhat qualifies as a dresser. Travis has a matching one on his side of the bed. On top there's the lamp that I made when I was about 20, teddy bear given to me by Travis, phone book, roll of toilet paper, and a nursing pad!?! I've been done nursing for more than 2 months now! There's also lotion, I most nights put lotion on my feet and hands when I climb into bed. Or for a back rub once in awhile. The massager on the other side was part of Trav's Christmas present. I gave him that and some massage oil to throw him off, his real present was a massage at the spa. The massager is good for the back but if used on the shoulders you feel like your rattling your brains! There's also a binkie for those mornings I bring Jayden into bed with me so that maybe I can get a few extra minutes of sleep. She's almost kicked the binkie habit. Oh and the baby monitor we use to be able to hear Jayden over...
...the fan that we have to have running in order to sleep at night.

We jacked up our bed so that I could use underneath as storage. Primarily stored under there are books that I don't have time to read. Favorite authors: Stephen King, Danielle Steele, VC Andrews.

Oh look here's a bunch of decorating books. I was a big fan of these when I dreamed of owning a home and daydreamed often of how fabulously decorated it would be. Hmmmmm now I own my home and it's been many years since I've opened one of these books!

Somehow I doubt my mini-blind window treatment with the caution tag still attached would be a feature in one of those books!

It's real life #2

Here is "It's Real Life" assignment #2. So here is my real life in all it's glory.

Curb Appeal - I love my house. There's not a bigger yard in about a 8 block radius. No lie, I checked it out on our county treasurer maps. Problem is it completely lacks curb appeal. See that window on the 2nd floor? Yes, it's got plywood covering it. Not because the window is broken but because that is Trevor's room and the risk taker he is we were afraid somehow he'd break it and fall out. The window ledge is low to the floor and it wouldn't even take any climbing for him to be in serious trouble. So the plywood was Trav's solution. Ya know, we hardly ever go out front so I never really thought about what it looked like from the outside. Pretty ghetto I know. Don't mind the rickety stairs, they need to be replaced. Nor the copious amounts of weeds sprouting around the house. They took over the flowers that I planted two summers ago


Junk drawer - Pretty much your average junk drawer. Several kinds of tape, a flash light, pliers, fly traps, (we had nats last summer from some fruit gone bad) pink streamers from Jayden's birthday party I never got around to hanging. Don't forget the burnt out night light bulb, 'cause you never know when something like that might come in handy!


My favorite Jewelry - Well this one is a little staged. I tried to take a self portrait with my necklace while it was around my neck as it was at the moment but my stupid camera was doing a bad job at taking a decent picture. The locket was a Christmas gift from Travis. Don't ask to see the picture in it; because I've been to lazy to figure out how to print such a tiny picture. Oh wait I don't really print pictures at all. And of course my wedding ring. I ~heart~ my wedding set.

From whence I blog - You can see the last weeks post to see my office. Not much has changed, just a little bit of junk has been moved around. Some has been removed, only to be replaced. And quite a lot has been added I'm sure. It's too depressing to take another picture.

My Best Feature - I think it's got to be my eyes. Specifically, my eye color. Please oh please do not click the picture. I didn't primp of course for this one and I had no makeup on. Not that I wear much but ack! I looked at this one close up and it was scary!

It's real life

So this is a little fun blog fest hosted by Jessica. She's a most awesome chick who I went to school with. Hi Jessica! ~Waves~

Ok so here's my real life, and I did no prepping either. Obviously! Oh and don't mind the typos, spelling and gramar errors. It's late, I have a migrane, and I'm really really tired. Being that it's "real life" and all, I didn't figure you all would mind!

Here's our fridge. Yup it's as dingy as it looks in the pictures. A new fridge is on my "need" list. As I ~need~ to not have to look at it's uglinessness any longer. It served us well. I think we paid like $50 for it when we bought our house 4 years ago. Among many things are: misc. pictures, at Trevor magnet with no picture of Trevor in it, daycare "care" sheets for the day, my "I can be reached at _____ " from when I went to Arizona for work in April. What's on top, who knows, I really don't care to find out.

Though chaos may reign in most of our house, my closets are fairly well organized. Except for the entry closet by my front door. That one is REALLY bad. I have an extreme lack of closet space. The one in our bedroom is barely big enough for Travis, my closet is in Jayden's room. Plus my "craft" closet is in her bedroom. Here clothes currently are in what used to be my fabric and craft cabinets in her room. I'm in trouble when she needs a real closet. I think at that time we'll probably have to move. This is my craft closet in Jayden's room. It's just a tiny little closet, too small really to be a clothes closet. My kitchen sink at the current moment is kinda nasty. Keep in mind with the flooding last week I worked every day and a ton of hours. Combined with the fact that we were to limit water usage. Ok so I'm making excuses. But darnit I'm tired! Of course next to the sink is my favoritest cleaning product, very vinegar spray.

The back of the toilet being a flat surface is a handy little catch all for all sorts of things. At the current moment it is home to my flat iron, hair dryer, the bathroom night light with burnt out bulb, and The Toddler's Busy Book. Oh yeah, don't forget the roll of toilet paper because we're both too lazy to put it on the holder, plus you'd throw out your shoulder trying to reach it if it were mounted on the wall. Last but not least is another bottle of vinegar spray. If you happen to use my toilet, please remember to hold the handle down while you flush because it doesn't flush properly if you don't. Oh, and you might even have to do this 2 or 3 times to actually empty the bowl. A new toilet is also on my ~need~ list.

Here's my "Kitty-toes" Me-ow! My favorite work shoes were at one point uber comfy. I don't know why comfy-ness in shoes wears out so quickly. I wish I could somehow insert the soles of my crocs in my work shoes. Alas, I can't wear crocs to work. It's specifically forbidden in our dress code. These shoes are on my ~need~ list. They have a Pillow Top™ Comfort footbed, sounds comfy right? My favorite everywhere-but-work shoes are fantastic, I'm a barefoot kinda gal and these things the closest to being barefoot without violating the "no shirt, no shoes, no service" rule most establishments seem to have. They were $1 at the Dollar Tree last summer. If I would have know how much I'd love them I would have bought 10 pairs! Don't mind the chipped toenail polish. I don't know what happened to them, I painted them last night! Damn cheap toenail polish (3/$1 at target dollar section what a bargain! ~sheesh~

I suppose currently my favorite room in my house is our office. Well it's where I spend alot of time these days trying to scrapbook (ok organize scrapbook stuff.) Peaceful retreat? Not really, it's too cluttered. I need to work on that. My peaceful retreat used to be the laudry room in the basement, but now our basement is dank and damp and not a fun place to be because I have to wear shoes.

Right now my kids are sleeping, but when I snapped their pictures Trevor was loading up his mega blocks dump truck with stuff a driving it around. Jayden is walking around, yup, she's finally WALKING. That's a new development in the last few days. She also does this funny little trick where she sticks her butt up in the air as she's trying to stand up on her own. She can't quite do it yet but it's only a matter of time.

Laundry???? Which pile are you talking about? This one over here or that one over there? That pile in the corner? Or the damp pile of towels in the bathroom? We have laundry piles strategically placed all over the house it seems. It's gotten better now that I was actually able to finally use water to wash clothes. My basement depresses me lately so it's hard to keep up on laundry.

And here's my self portrait. Any idea how hard it is to take a self portrait with little ones trying to climb over you? Of course you do! Why yes I just got my hair cut! And of course these are new glasses! I own more glasses than shoes. When I get bored at work I just buy new glasses! Shhhh! Don't tell Travis!

50 Questions

Here are 50 questions for the people who are a little more "mature"...

1. What bill do you hate paying the most?Any medical bills, we have a TON!
2. Where was the last place you had a romantic dinner?lol, when you have little kids ANY dinner without the kids is romantic I suppose. Texas Roadhouse.
3. Last time you puked from drinking?Only once ever, during RAGBRAI when I was in high school
4. When is the last time you got drunk and danced on a bar?Never danced on a bar, I have on a table though. Probably 6 years or so ago in Omaha NE
5. Name of your first grade teacher?Mrs. Hill I think?
6. What do you really want to be doing right now?hmmm sipping margaritas on a caribean cruise maybe
7. What did you want to be when you were growing up?Accountant was what I was planning when I was in high school. I didn't like college accounting classes.
8. How many colleges did you attend?1
9. Why did you choose the shirt that you have on right now?Nursing cami... hmmm because I nurse my baby
10. GAS PRICES? Ridiculous! Though it could be alot worse. Some countries are the equivilant of $4/gallon.
11. Where would you move if you could move anywhere?I'd love to have a nice house in the country. In a school district with good schools. (And that would be affordable :o)
12. First thought when the alarm went off this morning?Please Travis get up and don't hit the snooze! LOL, I love being on maternity leave. The kids are my only alarm clock.
13. Last thought before going to sleep last night?Why can't I fall asleep, I must have fallen asleep sometime after 4am
14. Favorite style of underwear?Isn't this a little personal?
15. Favorite style of underwear for the opposite sex?dont really care
16. What errand/chore do you despise?Dishes
17. If you didn't have to work, would you volunteer?Yes
18. Get up early or sleep in?Sleep as late as the kiddos will allow
19. What is your favorite cartoon character?LOL, lately I've been watching alot of Diego, Dora, Spongebob, and Blues Clues
21. Have you found real love yet?Sure have!
22. When did you first start feeling old?I don't really feel old. Though I hated to turn 30
23. Favorite 80's movie?Maybe Breakfast Club or Pretty in Pink
24. Your favorite lunch meat?Smoked Turkey
25. What do you get everytime you shop at sam's club.Don't have a membership at this time.
26. Beach or lake?both
27. Do you think marriage is an outdated ritual?no
29. Favorite guilty pleasure?Carmel Mocha Frapachino from starbucks, slathered with whipped cream, chocolate and caramel syrup!
30. Favorite movie you wouldn't want anyone to find out about?I don't think there is one. Most people think Moulin Rouge is a crappy movie and I kinda like it.
31. What's your favorite alcoholic drink?Suicide Margarita with salt from Diamond Daves or long islands
32. Cowboys or Indians?neither
33. Cops or Robbers?neither
34. Who from high school would you like to run into?I don't know
35. What radio station is your car radio tuned to right now?92.3 "todays music" or if Trav changed it 107.9 (hard rock)
36. Movies or Documentaries?movies
37. The Cosby Show or the Simpsons?If I had to choose, simpsons. But really not a big fan of either.
39. Do you like the person who sits directly across from you at work?LOL, definately not. (The person sitting across from me is the customer!) Kidding really, I guess it depends on the customer.
40. If you could get away with it, who would you kill?noooooo. That would be bad Karma. :o)
44. Last book you read for real?Fiction: A Danielle Steele book Non-fiction: One of many Pregnancy/baby books. And what does one mean by reading a book "for real"
45. Do you have a teddy bear?I have a TON of teddy bears, I used to collect them. Now Jayden's room is going to be home to all of them.
46. Strangest place you have ever brushed your teeth?At work
47. Somewhere in California you've never been and would like to?Never been there, I'd like to see the ocean.
48. Do you go to church?Not as often as I'd like, I usually work on Sundays
49. At this point in your life would you rather start a new career or a new relationship?Career as a photographer
50. Just how OLD are you?32

Birthday Meme

Inspired by Jo

1. Go to Wikipedia and type in your birth date only -without the year.
April 1st

2. List 3 events that occurred that day:
1. 1572 - in the Eighty Years' War, the Watergeuzen capture Brielle from the Spaniards, gaining the first foothold on land for what would become the Dutch Republic. (Jessica: I thought seeing this was interesting. Was this the source of your daughters name by chance?
2. 1954 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
3. 1979 - Nickelodeon (TV Channel) starts

3. List 2 important birthdays:
1967 - Phil Demmel, American musician (Vio-lence and Machine Head)
1971 - Method Man, American rapper

4. List 1 death:
1984 - Marvin Gaye, American singer (b. 1939)

5. List a holiday or observance:
April 1 is known as April Fool's Day or All Fools' Day in many countries. Former New Year celebration day.